The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1906-09-17

floods on the Mississippi. attended as
they are with loss or life and property.
and particularly the fearful floods Of
the spring of 1903. in Kansas and Mis-
souri,. may be pardoned in thinking
that We in this country know what 4
river flood means. Yet the worst OF
all these catastrophes appears small
in comparison with those that occur
on the great Yangtse River. in the
middle kingdom Of China. the most
treacherous OF all rivers. For hun
dreds of years the Yang-tse has en-
acted its appalling human sacrifices.
though even now the worst Of these
disasters rarely find their way into
print. except through the chance
presence on the scene of some Ameri-
can or European. 4 letter to The
Chicago News" from the city of Suifu.
1000 miles up the Yang-tse river. gives
graphic account of the most recent
flood that has visited that i'll fated
district. as follows:
The ordinary annual rise OF the
fans-tse would be counted Il deluge
in many other parts of the world
Where the banks are low the river en-
pands into ponds and lakes. sometimes
miles across: where they are high. the
water rises on a magnificent scale and
sometimes with fearful rapidity.
Chuns-king. the last treaty port up
the river. has situation OF the latter
sort. the scale of the custom house
showing an annual rise of from 30 to
100 feet. So incredible did this seem
10 Enslishmeu that when it was noted
on the floor of the house of commons
from the report of Sir Archibald Lit
tie. the statement was not accepted,
and IS inches was suggested as the
probable intended reading. But the
fact remains. in spite of the English
mems inability to comprehend it that
the printer made no mistake when he
set up his type.
Every year there are few DAYS
when even the venturesome native
boatmen do not attempt to go either
up or down the river, and when the
ferries refuse passengers because of
the swiftneSs of the current. which
has been measured by the British gun
knots an hour. Add to this strong
eddies. swift swirls and uncertain
currents. and there seems to be good
reason. for even poor people temper
arily leaving their means of livelihood.
Yet. in spite of oft-repeatei lessons,
the careless Chinaman will plant his
garden or build his shed little too
low. gambling on the risk.
This year a week or ten DAYS rain
had brought the river very steadily up
10 its usual limit. Travel was more or
less interrupted: the channels were
f,1ll Da~h No
above the annual mark and reached
the line il makes every two or three
years But on Tuesday. August s. the
sun shone. and people who had been
getting ready to leave threatened
homes were treasured and put their
goods back into place.
Vain confidence. The water did not
go down appreciably during the day.
and as night approached clouds that
the afternoon had gathered gloomed
ominous!y. Darkness was hurried on
by the approaching storm. which ragged
throughout the night and day until
mid-afternoon Of the following day.
Fog and mist walled off one neigh
borhood from another, and only ghast-
~ rumor whispered what was going
On only a short distance away.
From the high water mark the river
rose and rose. every foot at this point
multiple of its predecessor in power,
bringing more danger than ten feet
had brought before. Many people liv-
ing by the rivers edge, still believing
that the water would recede, when
their floors were flooded went into the
garrets to keep dry. Here the pitiless
invader caught them. turning homes
into death-traps. In other cases the
insubstantial mud walls collapsed and
added to the debris. from which many
bodies are now being taken
The prefectural city of Suifu, im-
portant commercially, is situated
nearly two thousand miles up the
fang-tse and at the junction of the
Min, which flows down from the north
1t was here that the brunt of the food
was first felt, cloud having burst a
few miles further up in the hills Both
rivers as they pass the city flow
through deep gulches, where they are
converted into torrents. The main
river rushes along the south wall of
the city and worked most of it's de-
vastation there. and on the west side,
where the water backed up to form
lake that all but submerged the large
suburb lying just outside the wall.
The smaller river on the other hand,
was busy carrying off the water that
had backed up in the fiat country to
the north, wrecking buildings outside
the city as it came by the east side.
From adjacent hills it could be seen
that the two rivers had made channels
entirely around the city,
In the west suburb nearly all the
mud houses collapsed, the citys poor
houses were entirely demolished,
frame and plaster buildings were
Quilted and brick buildings had water
from six to ten feet deep standing in
them. Among the latter were several
temples whose contents were thor
oughly soaked and whose idols were
left to the will of the elements 1t
is said that even the river god him
self, who has his temple close to the
Yang-tse in this quarter of the city,
sustained terrible drenching and
barely escaped demolition. Many
groves of orange trees on this side
Of the city show the marks of the
muddy water almost to thei rtops, and
it is quite possible that next falls
crop in this vicinity will be seriously
affected.
The houses along the south wall of
the city, by which the big river flows,
were under water to their caves, many
OF the less solid ones being either
Quilted or destroyed. Where the strong
current was abetted by small angles,
even substantial buildings gave way
and solid masonry was badly wrench
ed. 1t is here that the greatest dam
age was done, both to life and to
property. Here families were drowned