The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1910-11-30
AN INSATIATE RIVER.
HOW THE MISSISSIPPI SOMETIMES
EATS UP REAL ESTATE.

Captain King of Greenville Tells How
the Father of Waters Swallowed Several
Thousand Dollars Worth of His Propert,
In One Night.
"No use talking, the Mississippi river'is
the most contrary thing on Garth" re-
marked Captain S. H. King of Grcenville.
Miss. "During tho civil war, it will be
remembered, there was a double bend,
much in the shape of the letter ), or the
river at V%icksburg. General Grant, yot
know, wanted to change the course Of tho
river by cutting a channel through DE
Soto peninsula, thus cutting OF the upper
bend and causing the river to flow straight
across below Vicksburg and leaving the
town high and dry. Grant could then
have sent bis gunboats by Vicksburg and
escaped the shelling from the upper bat
teries OF the Confederates north OF the
town. He put General McClernand n
several thousand men to work at cutting
this channel across the peninsula In front
of the town, and they worked for some
time, notwithstanding the harasslnenf
from the lower batteries Of the enemy.
But the contrary river wouldn't show the
least desire of accepting such an artificial
channel anyway. The plan was finally
abandoned and Grants gunboats had to
make the run before both the upper n
lower batteries. But in 1876 tho Missis
sippi river, of it's own accord, cut it's way
across De Soto peninsula below Vicks
burg, but farther up than Grants artificial
channel was started. De Soto peninsula
Is now Do Soto island, and the body OF
water in front of Vicksburg Is now known
as Centennial lake, taking the name from
| the year that the Centennial was held at
Philadelphia. This is only n OF many
instances showing how the Mississippi re
| fuses to submit to the dictation Of civil
| engineers and how it follows its own stub
born course, winding and washing Its
way here and there ut its own will.
"By the way, the Mississippi washed
| several thousand dollars out Of my pocket
In one night about Is years ago. At that
time I owned q row Of houses which began
| almost three blocks away from the river
In Greenville, Miss. One day q govern.
| ment engineer said to mo, The river will
| some time wash away it's bank here, and
your buildings will tumble in
WCll, i 1uuSuSu du ulH' - boAn
was rs feet high, and, besides, the river
was quito low. One morning 1 awoke to
| learn that there had been a big cave In OF
| the river bank the night before, and that
q couple of my buildings had been carried
away. I Joined tho crowd of people that
rushed to the river bank to see this de-
struotion, and, I tell you, I never ap
preciated the terrible power of the Father
of Waters until I witnessed this scene.
| While I was standing there talking with
| friends another big slice of land, a block
| In width, crumbled away and fell into the
river, carrying with it several moro of my
buildings. You can imagine how ! felt,
| because I had been drawing ON income OF
81, 900 O month in rentals from my build
ings. Now over half Of them were O mass
| of debris floating down the river, and my
| real estate was only so much dirt In th5
| bottom Of the channel.
Gas stood there watching my build
| ings and ground slip away into the river
q citizen approached me and said, Cap.
tain, I'll give you $1,000 for the remain
| der Of your property
"'Nor I'll not take less than $1,000
said I.
1.-THE words had no more than left ms
| tongue when there was another cave in,
and two more of my lots and buildings
tumblcd into the greedy river. The citizen
then remarked to me, Captain, III give
you 81, 600 for your property now
II refused to entertain this proposition,
which, of course, was q pure speculation,
as no human agency could stop the cave
In. Pretty soon another n Of my lots
and its building went into the river, and
my speculative friend then offered mo $500
for the remainder o. my property. BY this
time I had concluded to trust to luck and
stand all losses, and I refused to sell at
any price. I now had one lot and one
building left. During the excitement OH
old colored woman'came up and said to
me:
"rSee heah, cap'n, will ye give me dem
brick what's in dat cellar under yer
house?'
81 told her she could have the brick. ]
had O pile of new brick in the cellar under
my only remaining house. The old col.
ored woman gave her husband % cents
to hire O team and wagon to haul away
the brick. Now, upon my word of honor,
what I am now going to say is true.
While tho old colored man was gone for q
wagon another cave in occurred, and my
last house and lot, brick and cellar and
all, tunbled into the river. The cave in.
came 80 suddenly that the crowd of people
standing on the bank had to fee for their
lives. After the excitement had somewhat
subsidized the old colored woman exclaimed:
CLAWS O. massyl Dere's my brick in
de bottom O. dc ribber, IN I done los my
quatah.'
"Of course, while the old woman was
out % cents, I was out another 81 1000.
During this series of cave ms that day
efforts were being mado to place "a long
frame store building on rollers and move
1t to q place of safety. But before the
building could be raised 1t began to tilt,
and the men were compelled to desert 1t.
Soon the store building slid into the river
and went kerchug to tho bottom of the
channel, as completely out of sight as If 1t
had been the only pebble on the beach,
sin my opinion the Mississippi river is
all right-when it doesn't come my way. !
built q nice residence in Greenville several
years ago and had a beautiful flower be.
decked lawn between the house and the
river, which was a block away. That lawn
has long since been swallowed by the 7o-
raoious nav of the Mississippi, and today
nv residpnce stands on the elge of a bank