The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1908-06-10
OF SHORT DURATION.
A Fall Is Expected to Set in
This Afternoon.
Dykes Built I'm Amourdale Gave
Way Last Night.
Railway Traffic Badly Demoral-
ized on All Lines.

l AdAodS Sityp June 1U-W1th the nOO0
waters from the Kaw reaching within
one block of the Union railway station.
covering one-quarter of the lower part
! OF the stockyards. rendering useless
some Of the railway tracks coming in
from. the west and beginning to creep
into the Easements of the big whole
1 sale houses in the west bottoms, Kan
sas City this morning found herself In
the throes Of the most serious flood
| since that of 1903.
The flood stage of 1904. was passed
| last night. There is no possibility.
| however, of the great flood stage of
1903, when millions Of dollars damage
was done. being reached, and there was
every indication this morning that the
crest of the flood would be reached by
| early this afternoon and that in anoth-
| er "a hours both the Kaw and the Mis-
souri, rivers at this point would begin
to fall as their waters drained OF above
| Kansas City.
This overflow is bound to cause trou-
Bile east of here as far as st. Louis. it
is predicted as it reaches into the Mis-
sissippi and north along the banks of
the Missouri, as far as Omaha. To the
west, at Lawrence and Topeka the
| Kaw is falling rapidly and from now
on conditions in this part of the flood
district, it is believed will gradually he
bettered.
Until midnight last night, while the
kaw had caused much damage to the
low lying parts of Kansas City, Kan.
and had flooded the streets of Armour-
dale, it had not molested the west bot
toms on the Missouri side, nor touched
Argentine, Kan, adjoining the railroad
yards on the south. Shortly before mill
night there were two breaks in the
, Kaw dykes erected in Armourdale. one
at the Twelfth street bridge. which
crosses from Armourdale+sto ArEentins,
and another near the Swartzschild &
Sulzberger packing plant. No great
damage was possible at those points.
however, for the packing house EN-,
ployeS had been busily engaged for
t hours previous removing everything
portable to places OF safety and the
residents of Argentine, or most of
them. had already moved out.
In Wholesale District
A little later came the first break in
: the wholesale district where is situated
dozens of implements grocery and
: | general warehouses when water began
; to come in near the Union Pacific
bridge. Residents in the west bottoms.
mostly occupying huts, had until that
time believed themselves secure. Gangs
of men were speedily gathered and
soon small army of workers were
| making hurried Attempts to get their
belongings out of dangers way.
| In the wholesale houses additional
gangs worked hard all night carrying
goods to upper stories or carting them
away from the district. Daylight found
hundreds still at work with the water
rising slowly and mNlkiAg further in
, roads eastward toward the union rail-
way station, into which run 20 different
, railways.
At o'clock this morning the water
had reached within half a block of the
station. The Missouri Pacific, whose
low bridge across the Kaw has caused
| the water in that stream to back up
and spread out into the bottoms had
| abandoned the bridge and today began
sending out it's trains from the Kansas
side, while the Chicago, Milwaukee &
ST. Paul railway used it's outlying sta
tfon. up town at Twenty-second and
Grand avenue not attempting to
reach the union station.
The Great Western railway whose
tracks skirt the Missouri river just to
the north of the station also exper-
fenced trouble and the prospects were
that it would have to abandon its
bridge during the day. It's tracks were
threatened and the water was within
a foot of the bridge.
Train Service Demoralized. rs
All Santa Fe. Union Pacific and
Rock Island trains for the west were
forced to use the tracks of the St
j. Louis & San Francisco, the only OUT
let The other railways reach the sta
tion from the east either by trestle or
on the higher ground, and they were
81 practically out of danger. To stop
Z these the water must rise several feet.
7 and this appears unlikely. All train
service, however, was demOralfzed,
and but few trains in any direction
were running on time.
L When the crest of the flood has
, been reached it is predicted 1t will not
have covered more than part OF the
west end of the main railway yards,
and will then quickly recede.
: At the stock yards business was near
ly at a standstill. One-quarter of the
pens on the Missouri side were under
: water that stood from one to six feet
!, 1 deep This flooded district covered 90
Il acres of the 200 acres set aside for pens.
On the Kansas side a third of the quar-
antfne division was under water. The
, stock exchange building also suffered
: much Inconvenience. water seeping into
the basement, which is lower than the
! street and forcing the railway stock
agents to move their furniture to up
| per floors Eugene Rust general man
: ager of the stock yards company, IN
| sisted that they were continuing to do
business and would be able to take
care of the situation, Notwithstanding
| arrivals were light and the packing
! houses were buying but little butcher
: stuff.
Railroads Are Blamed.
ii The principal trouble in the present
food has been laid at the door OF the
) Missouri Pacific and Union Pacific.
whose bridges spanning the Kaw, acted
| as dams that caused the water to