The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1902-06-30
PATROL IN TWO FEET OF WATER
American Bottoms Swept by n Surface
Torrent.

The storm conditions in Illinois. which
| in the American Bottoms had assumed
grave proportions Saturday, became inten-
sifed through the night and Sunday. AS
| a result, in Madison County and adjacent
territory there are many instances where
cities and towns are absolutely cut on
from communication with the outside
world. Railroad tracks are washed out,
telephone and telegraph lines down and
the public highways quilted and traversed
by torrents of surface water.
Besides the farmers, the railroads are
the heaviest losers. At Edwardsville the
situation Is becoming more critical than
in the great floods of 80. '92 and SO. Sat
lrday night Wabash Roadmaster J. T.
Welch ordered out all section men, and
sometimes waist deep in water they pa
trolled the rfght-of-way all night in water
two to four feet deep. Mr.. Welch also or
dered engine No. 2Gi and a passenger car
from the Edwardsville branch and person
ally inspected the Thirteenth district Of the
Middle division. In which the floods are
most severe. After midnight the Big Four
began running trains over the Wabash,
having had washouts on their line be
tween East Alton and Bethalto.
CahUkia Creek rose four feet in the night,
and at daybreak had backed over the
fields until a solid eXpanse of water
stretched Tor miles from Nitche's bridge,
north Of Edwardsvile. to Poag on the
south The Wabash fill at Honey Bend
gave way at this time and train of forty
cars of rock was hastily dispatched there.
From EdwaTdsville Junction to Nitche's
the main line is from six to twenty inches
under water, a veritable sea pouring across
the rails. This particular section is heay-
fly rock ballasted, and inspectors find that
1t is undamRg Rged, but the water reaches the
fre-boxes of locomotives. No. II, the Chi
cago Flyer. felt her way cautiously through
the food at 10 o'clock and was followed
by a Big -Four eastbound passenger. and
these were the last to cross. No south
bound trains were permitted.
At noon Captain II. E. Taylor. in charge
of the Edwardsville branch. who had the
only available trains in the district, was
instructed to take out strings Of loaded
freight cars and leave them standing on
all wooden trestles, north and south, and
this was done. The main line is hence
blocked from the necessity of weighing the
wooden bridges. No concern Is felt for the
steel structures.
The Illinois Terminal started for Alton
Sunday morning, but found that the tor
rent had forced the Indian Creek bridge
bodily half foot out of alignment They
were forced to return and may possibly
not be able TO run to-day. The Commercial
Traveller, on the Clover Leaf eastbound,
encountered a huge tree blown across the
track near Peters. but was only slightly
delayed. The wreck at Alhambra was
cleared at 10 o'clock Saturday night Near
Horseshoe Lake the water surrounds the
Clover Leaf tracks, but there has been but
one washout, and II has been repaired. The
Illinois Central ran as usual, but reports
the creeks greatly swollen: The electric
line ran cars Sunday only to CollinsviIle.
The hurricane Of Saturday night ruined
many trees in the city park and at resi-
dences at the county seat, but little was
thought Of it in comparison to the dam
age of the waters. In the night the flood
crept across the prairie for mile to the
west, and at o'clock Sunday morning
crossed the main street at Wanda and was
tapping the steps at the Post Office Resi-
dents and neighboring farmers are prison.
ers in their homes until the flood subsidies
Not one of the telephone toll lines radi-
attng from the county seat was in working
order Sunday and many of the telegraph
lines were blown down by the storm. The
dikes and legees toward Poag have been
cut and farm lands inundated Through
out the day rain fell continuously and resi-
dents dread to state their apprehensions
of what will be the outcome as the rains
were equally heavy to the north and Ca
hokia, Silver and Indian creeks now have
attained width of mile each, and still
growing.