Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1899-09-10
MISSOURI FLOOD OF r844.
Surprising Conditions Recalled by inc Recent Rising of the
 Brnzos River.

The flood of the Brazos river in Texas was without precedent for that leeal- jty It still puzzles the government meteorologists, and they can only ac- count for if by most unusual conditions of rainfall. The fact is interesting to recall that q similar surprise occurred in the Missouri valley over half q cen tury ago. As "the great flood of 1844," if has place in the local history. From the earliest Indian traditions to the present time that stands as the great est flood of the lower Missouri. There had been nothing to compare with be- fore. There has been nothing like it since. In the records of the govern ment weather service these data about the food of 1844 are preserved:
 The stage reached on the present scale of river measurements was q feet on June 20 at Kansas City, 16 feet above the danger line. At Bonneville the river reached 33.G feet 2Is days later, which was 13.6 feet above the danger line at that place The flood was caused by the coincidence of un-
 
 with what is known as the 'June fise,' the melted snoWs from headWateTs. 1t is said that about the middle of April the rains began to fall in brief show CTS nearly every other day. After few weeks it began to rain every day It poured down for days and weeks. al- most without cessation. The river was rising quite rapidly but no danger was anticipated, for the oldest settler had never seen a general and destructive overflow, and did not know that such a thing could occur. The river con- tinued to rise, however, at the rate of 12 to IS inches day. until June 5, when 1t went over it's banks. and the situation became alarming. The chan mel was full of driftWood; occasionally a log house floated down, with chickens and turkeys on the roof. In several in- stances men, women and children were seenonthe topsof houses floating hither and thither, and turned and twisted about by heavy logs and jams, but the people were rescued by parties in slsil1s.
 fOn June 20 the water had reached its highest point, and the next day be- gan 10 fall but the damage done seemed absolute and the ruin complete. The flood extended from bluff to bluf. gem erallY two miles. There was not am acre of dry land in the river bottoms from Kansas City to the mouth of thc river. The rains subsided. and the river fell rapidly. A few persons moved back to their farms in what was then
 s,,f, e-,,4 fI.tfi t,..v5,f, f1 though it was impossible to do any farming until the latter part of .lnly, it is reliably reported that enough corn was raised that season for the people in many places to subsist on.
 Where Kansas City now stands the flood was about three miles wide In what is now known as the packing house and wholesale district. where the Union depot stands and all the switch ing grounds are located, the water was about ten feet deep The flood extend cd over the present site of ArmoHrdalc and Argentine, in Kansas near the mouth of the Kaw but there were few settlements at the junction of the idis- souri and the KaW in those days, \ de- plorable consequence of the great flood was the season of sickness which fol- lowed and the high rate of mortality. It is said that it was impossible to find well person on account of the miasma resulting from the deeaying animal and vegetable matter. Chills and fever pre- vailed in their most malignant form, followed in the winter by spinal menin- gitis, then called head disease, which proved very fatal. An important fact connected with this flood was that steamboats going mp the river found it as low as usual above St. Joseph. Mo. All the tributaries of the Missouri, in the state of Missouri. are believed to have everfowed their banks in 1s44 very extensively. although in that early day there was scarcely anything 10 damage along the streams in the WAY of personal property.-St. Louis Globe Democrat.