Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1903-03-17

HE rapid melting of the winters
snow IL the uplands. together with
the heavy rainfalls of the last
three weeks throughout the West
and Northwest has swollen the
tributaries of the Mississippi and caused
a Good which threatens to be uuprece-
dented in its disastrous effects.
Hundreds in Nebraska. Illinois. Indi-
ana and Kentucky have been compelled
to abandon their homes, ana in many
river cities the waters have invaded the
streets, and residents of these sections
travel to and from their homes III boats.
In Nebraska the Platte is on the ram
page and q number of railroad bridges
have been swept away. Whole towns
are under water and much valuable prop
erty has been destroyed. The drowning
of one young woman is reported. Three
children were drowned in Louisiana by
the carrying away of a bridge South
ern Illinois is suffering from the .ood,
the Illinois, Ohio and Mississippi rivers
contributing their share to the damage.
The adjoining States also are having
their troubles. Throughout the South
overlooking rivers have caused damage
and at several points along the lower
Mississippi fears are felt for the safety of
the leyees. Three breaks already have
been made in the leyees north of New
Orleans.
Rowboats are of much more use just
now in the streets Of some parts of
Pittshurg, Cincinnati, Louisville and 9TH
er Ohio river cities than are carriages
and automobiles, for the stream is ON a
rampage. This is no unusual thing in
the early spring, but this year there have
already been several freshets which have
reached flood proportions.
Pittsburg is an especially heavy spf-
ferer this year. Floods coming down the
Allegheny and Monongahela rivers, which
meet and form the Ohio just above Pitts
burg, have put out fires in the big iron
works which are supposed to be out of
the reach of high water. But these
floods are of short duration. coming in
a day and passing quickly away.
Further down the river is slower to
anger, but more deadly when it does
get out of its banks The water creeps
slowly up, invading the lower streets
of the cities, and spreading out over hun
dreds of square miles of farm lands. In
Cincinnati it has interfered seriously with
traffic in the Union passenger station,
and in New Albany, Ind, some of the
railroad tracks are covered.
The Mississippi river is large enough
to carry off the foods from the Ohio
without much damage being done, but
this year the upper Mississippi, the Mis-
souri,, the Ohio and the lower tributa-
ries are all rising at once, and grave
fears are felt that some of the lcvees
which have been decades in building rlay
give way. The Wabash, Cumberland
and Tennessee rivers are all at food tide.
So far the ley,e remains intact at all
the higher points, but only a Few feet
remain between them and an overflow
from Cairo south. Already opposite
Memphis, where the bottoms stretch
westward for many miles, Lee and rit-
tenden counties, in Arkansas, are mum
dated. Farmers have been driven from
their homes at numerous points. One of
the most alarming pieces of information
from Paducah, Ky.-is to the effect
that, although the present stage of wlter
is higher than in the great flood of 1854
it is still rising.
The upper levees of the Mississippi,
particularly those between Memphis and
Cairo, are constructed to withstand an
unusual strain, and their strength had
not been fully tested at last accounts;
but at points to the south the volume of
water is constantly increased in Yolume
by tributaries, and is likely to work dire
mischief.
A great deal will depend upon the
care which has been taken of the levees
during the last few years. However, the
weather bureaus prediction that fifty
feet of water may be expected at points
below Cairo leaves little reason to hope
that the levees can withstand the strain
even north of Memphis, while below that
point it is only reasonable to look for
breaks that will inundate the country for
miles on each side of the Mississippi.
The levees of to-day are not much bet
ter than those of twenty-five years ago.
In certain neighborheods, as. for in
stance, at Cairo and in the vicinity of
river cities generally, the levees are sci
entificaHy and substantially built, but
along great stretches of the river, save
In Louisiana, where the people are CON
stantly on the alert and where the levees
receive vigilant and intelligent attention,
neglect, of proper precautions is rather
| the rule than the exception.
/ Aside from the fact that the people
of the lower Mississippi country are. row
warned long enough in advance of the
| foods to save themselves and some of
| their belongings, it cannot be said that
any real progress has been made in pro-
yiding them with protection.