Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1908-12-01

of the fact that the rise was uneX- pected and that it means more dam- age to property here by the eaving of the river bank. It is freely pre- dicted here that unless the ragin 7 river is combated with successfully that the most attractive and valuable section of Pine Bluffs business sec . tion will be gradually washed away. { The magnificent Hotel Jefferson. the costly Jefferson county court house, Berlin Brothers big sales and livery stables and two blocks of business houses, one on each side of the court house, will doubtless be in imnled;- ate danger when the swift current of the Arkansas river starts to eat it's way into the very heart of the | business section.
 For the past several weeks. follow fns tie complete destruction Of dykes which protected the river front here, the river bank from Chestnut to Ten nessee street has been caving at an ; alarming rate and on last Saturday. when it was thought that the eaving had ceased, and while preparations were being made by the government fleet to begin the work of repairing
 the revetments and rebuilding dykes i along the river here, a heavy rain lfall was recorded at this place and within few hours the river bank be-
 gan sliding into the apparently calm stream in big chunks. Now comps the startling announcement that the Arkansas river is again or a ram page and that heavy rains in the up- umes of water into the lower Arkan- sas valley within the next few days r. City is Helpless.
 Pine Bluff is almost helpless as far as protection along the river front is Concerned. Hundreds of men have
 been put to work again making large quib fascines and tying them along the waters edge, but if they prove ef- fectiye against the vicious current of the river it will have a tendency to only lessen the expected damage 10 property ill this city
 A mass meeting of the business men and property owners of the city was held in the County court room at III o'clock Monday morning and the advisabllity of cutting a canal through the neck of land, just north of Pine Bluff, thus permitting the Arkansas river to change it's Course and make the Current strike the south bank. two miles below the city, was dis cussed Many ideas were advanced as to the most effective way to prevent further damage here, some of the property owners declaring that the,r
 would go so far as to cut the gov ernment levee, which was recently
 river near the Boyd place. This levee was constructed to keep the river from leaving Pine Bluff. Now the un-
 animous opinion is that the riveb'
 ought to be made to leave the city.
 By cutting new channel across t,.e
 Boyd place the river would leave this
 city and flow one mile away
 To Ask Government Aid.
 County Judge James Gould pre-
 sided over the mass meeting and stat
 ed that he believed that the cutting |of new channel was the only relief
 for Pine Bluff He said there were
 legal complications and the United States government to go against when
 the people of this city attempted
 anything of this kind, but it was ab- solutely necessary. He did not wish
 to take the whole responsibility
 Dr. J. l.. Caldwell, secretary of the
 Pine Bluff Board of Trade; Charles
 Veil. who has already lost much
 property in the cave-in; D. c. Bell.
 secretary of the Pine Bluff Trust
 Company; P. P. Byrd. County Sur
 veyor J. B. White, W. N. Trulock,
 owner of the Hotel Jefferson; City
 Engineer W. J. Parkes, F. G. Bridges and others were heard Most of them