Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1903-06-12
Receding Waters Of the
KaW' River Uncover
Bodies of the
Dead.
Not Since the Galveston Horror Has
There Been Such a Flood as That
Which Overwhelmed the Kaw
Valley from Brookfeld,
Kan, to Kansas City.

Kansas City, Mo-, June S.-The
twin cities at the mouth Of the Kaw
river-Kansas City, Mo-, and Kansas
City, Kan-have the past week I'M
dergone the most appalling calamity
in their history. The loss of prop
erty in the two cities, including Ar
gentine and Armourdale, will run up
into the tens of millions and the loss
ofe life will be great, possibly so.
From Saturday night, May 30, until
Monday, June'1 all was chaos in the
territory. Street cars were stopped
because of the lack of power and
electric lights were dead, the light
plant being submerged. The water
works plant was il1ewist shut down
and the city in peril of fire. Except
for stretch of country to the south,
Kansas City was an island and it's
main wholesale and manufacturing
centers were several feet under a
raging sea of waters. It had com
munication with the outside world
by rail only toward the south-the
Frisco from Rosedale. Fire was
raging in many places in the west
bottoms and no means existed for
fighting. No communication was in
any way possible for "a hours be-
tween the two Kansas Citys, Argen-
tine, Armourdale and Harlem. All
that was left of Argentine was the
high bluff toward the west and the
only way it could be reached was by
horse over the hills south of West
port. I The top of the Santa Fe
roundhouse was all that indicated
MI A o l. IL
fore. Freight cars on the tracks
were completely submerged. Ar
mourdale was off the map entirely;
the three-story buildings which had
marked it's site went down in the
onslaught of water and the river
carried on it's turbulent bosom all
that was once city. The six great
packing plants showed the tips of
their upper stories as islands in the
food. Tens of thousands of tons of
meat were ruined.
The entire west bottoms of Kan
;sas City, Mo-, were under five to so
feet of water. The water was up to
second-story windows beyond the
depot and was six feet high in the
waiting rooms of that ancient struc-
ture. Not a train went in or out of
it for a week. Fire swept up long
lines of box cars and several build
ings burned. The stock yards were
under rs feet of water Harlem is
gone. The buildings foated down in
the stream and the site of it was
buried under the turgid Missouri.
The Missouri river at the crest of
the food June 1 registered nearly 81
feet, which far surpassed all pre-
vious records. Even the high APP
proaches to the historic Hannibal
bridge. were covered with water. The
Kaw rose faster than the Missouri
This was shown by the terrific cur
6rent which forced across the west
bottoms at railroad speed. The
"back water" theory would not APP
ply to this food; it was all live wa
ter, coming from up stream and COM
ing fast.
Monday afternoon, standing on the
west bluffs skirting Kansas City,
Mo-. scene of desolation met the
eye. Away in the distance, through
a haze of driving rain, was Kansas
.City.o Kan: To the left was the tall
tower of the Armourdale elevator,
which alone marked the site of the
submerged. suburb. Dotted about here
and there. on gaunt spider-like pill
lars of iron, was all that remained
of II bridges; in the foreground were
half-burned houses, the tops of box
cars and passenger coaches and the
occasional funnel of a hopelessly-
compressed locomotive. About it
eurged the. great sea of water, tear
ing along in impatient haste, bat
tering each surviving lone mast with
huge bulks of timber, masses of
united houses, carcasses of stricken
beasts and all manner of debris, as
if striving to remove even the last
vestige- of mans handiworlS.
One can. scarcely grasp the full .ex-
tent of the disaster which has over
taken Kansas City--it is too tremen-
dous. Millions of dollars will not
cover the loss to the Armourdale
packing houses alone. No. one can es-
innate what the financial loss will be
in the bottomS. it is incalcula BILE.
Millions again will not repair the
railroad losses; their rolling stock,
shops, roundhouses and motive pow
er, to say nothing. of the stations
that were all submerged. and their
tracks washed away. The big whole
sale houses had cellars stocked with
goods: these, with their first floors
stocks are ruined, and hundreds of
buildings are damaged Icy the mill
race-lille current running across the
bottoms.
Not since the. Galveston flood has
such a calamity been visited upon
any community in the United States
The submerged area extended from
Brool<field. Kan, to the mouth Cd
the Kaw-a50 miles. The river was
2 TO Is miles wide and water covered