The evening times. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1895-1902, 1901-09-16
MISSOURI RIVER CHANGES.
The Stream Turns East and Attacks
the Town Bank.

! LINCOLN. Neb., Sept l6.-The Missouri
River has started east again. With one
I of its sudden periodical changes il has at
tackled the Iowa bank, and just north Of
Omaha is making Nebraska soil with
great rapidity. Fifty years ago the river
was headed north. twenty-five years lat
/ or II took into its head that the south pre-
scented Ersaer attractions, but in recent
years it has favored the east with its dis
I tuguished consideration. So far there has
/ been no uprising on the part of the people
/ of Iowa to stay its progress, but its ma
UcuvriuEs have greatly added to the in
come of Omaha lawyers Ten cases.
QuarreIs over the right 10 the accretions,
are now before the Supreme Court
The fact that there is 10 other river in
/ the United States which exhibits such va
carries ana INDUCES in such meandcrings
as the Missouri sets at naught the Orji-
nary rules Of law as TO apportionment Of
Z aocretiOus and puzzles the courts as TO
/ proper distribution. In some instances
the shore lines of property have received
additions 20 the extent Of 900 20 500 feet,
tine DIT Of property 20 tight over, espe-
eially when some squatter comes along
and builds his shsuty. claiming the right
20 IL as Government land II all depends.
too, upon tho basis Of measurement from
the meauder line on the old survey line.
whether the acCrctiOns are upon one plot
of land or another.
The whole trouble lies in the fact that
Z the Missouri courses through a valley the
substratum soil Of which. as a result Of
the deposit Of distant centuries. is large
ly Of quicksand. The current is far above
the average in raEidity. and by reason Of
[ the SHOWS on the mountains there are
two rises, in April and June Of each year
I The large volume of water coming down
. at those times has great and rapid action
upon the banks Where there is de-
post Of solid soil above the quicksaud
the wasting out Of the latter often cause
a simultaneous falling or great stretches
Of the river bank, in some instances. be
low ST. Joseph and AtchisOn. eating up
railroad tracks as it did before the rail-
road managers became wiser
Where the law becomes confused is that
the land thus taken from one side Is not
deposited directly upon the opposite bank
and no engineer can, in fact, tell where
the fallen earth goes TO- All that is
known is that there is gradual nIIiug
up on the other side The river is about "A
quarter Of mile wide on the average
along the Nebraska shore and there has
. been little change IN this width as the
years pass.
once in a while. as in 1871. the river
seeks an entirely new channel, leaving
large areas Of land available for Occll-
pancy, and il Is generally over these &C
CretlOnS that the larger lawsuits occur
. Ia some years the river has Travelled 10
the cast one 10 two hundred feet a year
but since ripraDs have been put in on the
gumbO soil its progress has been but ten
or fifteen feet. At present the Nebraska
bank OF the river is from half n mile
10 a mile east Of where IL was in 1856
The law OF accretiOus is something Of a
. curiosity. As laid down in the books the
rule is nrst To measure the whG.e extent
Of the ancient bank and compute how
much each riparian proprietor owned on
the river line, and then 20 divide the new
ly formed bank or river land into equal
parts and appropriate Dr0D0Tti0late
amount 20 each proprietor. The troubles
in applying this Law TO the Missouri lies
IN the fact that the new lines are general
Iy cOuyerEent and that the sharp pro
JectiOus OF deep iudentatiOns caunO- be