The Topeka state journal., 1908-06-11


| ter of a few hours to move their goods
down from upstairs and place them on
display again.
Work. and lots of it. is the order Of
today in North Topeka. The task OF
resumption as accomplished today by
the n n0rchant and householder has been
made easy by the spirit in which all
went about this task. The members OF
|, the old guard who went through the
| flood of 1903 are cheerful Their exam
pie has been Contagious and has been
communicated to the newcomers. They
are all working to put their houses in
order and get back to the daily routine.
Not man or woman OF any conse-
quence in North Topeka can be found
sitting around in the dumps today
respondent or grieving over their mis-
| fortunes. On the contrary. they talk
| and look and act in a cheerful manner
and are only anxious to get back in
their homes and stores and clean away
| the last traces of the flood.
1t is estimated that about two-thirds
| of the residences and store buildings
| in North Topeka were again occupied
today by their owners who were forced
to leave Sunday night by the rising
waters.
| The State Journal Of Wednesday went
with some detail into the remarkable
| manner in which these people again
| took possession of their stores and
| houses SO soon after the flood had gone
today. The women are as brave and
| helpful as the men. Mrs. Herring, the
| landlady of the Cottage Home, entered
| her house in a boat when the water
was still a foot deep on her floors By
night she was ready to feed her board
ers on the freshly mopped floor Of the
dining room- The water was still deep
enough in her back yard to float
boat.
All day today the women went into
| action armed with brooms and mops.
| They were accompanied by men with
| shovels. These women entered wagons
and buggies and splashed away up or
down some street to their homes and
proceeded to rout the enemy from their
| firesideS and clean UP their homes. In
| most cases they were able to cook sup
| per for their tired brothers and hus-
| bands.
| Practically the entire business sec
| ton of the town had resumed at noon
| TODAY. The water receded to Fairchild
street at 9 o'clock in the morning and
| the merchants followed close upon its
retreating heels.
| The blow from the flood was severe
one but the town has rallied like a
strong man. The damage to property
| in North Topeka by the flood can be
| covered by few thousand dollars. or
| course, the loss of the railroads and the
expense of moving out and IN ana
| cleaning up is excepted from this esti-
mate The latter loss Will total sew
eral thousands Of dollars. The splend-
| id spirit of her citizens and their quick
| return to their own Will practically
| wipe out even the bad effects of the
| food Their bravery has saved their
property values. couple of miles OF
/ we'll built leveeS will raise these values
| still higher and keep them firm. The
| flood of 1903 might have broken through
| levees. but they would nave kept out
the flood of 1908.
C{i nx-nr a
| foot of water in Kious street in the
| low places and in Morse and Van
| Buren, streets. 1t was damp over in
! Little Russia this afternoon, but the
| Russians were moving PACK INTO tnelr
! little houses with stolid indifference to
| the. water.
About 1000 ties were washed out OF
the yards of the tie treating plant and
at least hundred of these were lodged
against the approach of the Santa Fe
bridge The U. P. tracks are washed
and damaged more or less from the
depot west for a distance of three miles
but will be repaired by tomorrow. The
river was out of it's banks from Mon
day morning at daylight to Thursday
morning. exactly y hours. North To-
peka was covered for so hours. This
was not long enough nor the water
deep enough to cause any particular
damage. BY tomorrow evening little
trace of bad effects OF the flood Will
never been a case of flooded town re-
sunine so quickly. This quick reSump-
tion has saved the people over there
thousands of dollars.
II had always supposed that about
5000 people lived in North Topeka"
said detective Hopkins. who formed
one of the bridge patrol for three days.
.but 1 will declare now that at least
20 900 people live there. At least that
number have so declared to the patrol
here on the bridge.
Street Cars Run.
The street cars run across the
bridge today and carried hundreds of
siehtseers over to the North side. The
| bridge patrol was relaxed. but the po-
lice station No. 9 is still maintained
| over there and about twenty county
deputies are still on duty in the town.
| No case of disorder or looting has yet
! been reported but the patrol will be
| maintained until over Sunday.
Wednesday evening the mail and
paper carriers went over that portion
| of the town not covered by the water.
| In some cases the mail men waded to
| the front porch and tossed the letters
| up to the waiting women on top of the
| roofs of the. porches There was an
insistent demand for the State Journal
| and the boys waded into yards and
| down streets to supply the demand.
| Lots of hard work yet remains to
| be done and when the reaction sets in
| after the excitement and the work
| there will be tendency on the part
of many of the sufferers to become de-
| spondent, but the worst has passed.
The battle was really won Wednesday
and Thursday when the people clean
| ed up and took possession of their
| homes and stores. 1t is Impossible to
| believe that these men and women of
such spirit will give way 10 any reac-
ton. The flood has come and gone
and North Topeka still stands and
/ ofH
| wise just the same as ever.
Little Damage to Street Railway.
| An examination of the tracks today
i hxr Officials Of q railWaxr