The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1910-09-28
AN lNSATIATE RIVER.
HOW THE MISSISSIPPI SOMETIMES
EATS UP REAL ESTATE.

the Father Of Waters Swallowed Several
Thousand Dollars Worth Of His Property
In One Night.
"No use talking, the Mississippi river Ia
tho most contrary thing on earth" 70.
married. Captain 5. III. King Of Grccnvillo,
Miss. "During tho civil war, it will be
remembered, thoro was a double bend,
much in the shape of tho letter ;, Of the
river at Vickshurg. General Grant, voc
know, wanted to change the course Of the
river by cutting a chaEnel through De
Soto PENINSULA, thus cutting off tho upper
bend und causing the river to flow straight
across below Vicksburg and leaving the
town high and dry. Grant could then
have sent his gunLoats by Vicksburg and
ESCAPED tie Smelling from tho upper bat
teries Of the Confodorates north Of the
town. He put General McClernand and
several thousand mon to work at cutting
this channel across the peninsula In front
Of the town, and they worked for some
time, notwithstanding the harasslnent
lIOlu UlO IOhC u III VAN SAS@'y'
But tho 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 and
lower batteries. But IN 1876 tho Missis-
sippi river, of it's own accord, cut its way
across Do Soto peninsula below Vicks
burg, but farther up than Grants artificial
channel was started. De Soto peninsula
Is now De Soto island, and tho body OF
water in front of Vicksburg is now known
as Centennial lake, taking tho namo from
the year that the Centennial was held ut
Philadelphia. This is only one of many
instances showing how the Mississippi re-
fuses to submit to tho dictation OF civil
engineers and how itfollows Its own stub
born course, winding and washing ito
way here and there at its own will.
"By the way, tho 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 a govern.
ment engineer said to me, The river will
some time wash away It's bank here, and
your buildings will tumble in
"Well, I laughed at him. The bank
was rs foot high, and, besides, tho river
was quite low. One morning 1 awoke to
learn that there had been q big cave In OF
the river bank the night before, n 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, l 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 more OF my
; buildings. You can imagine how I felt,
because I had been drawing an income OF
81 COO q month in rentals from my build.
inga. Now over half Of them were a mass
Of debris floating down the river, and my
real estate was only 30 much dirt In tbs
bottom Of the channel.
CAS- stood there watching my build
ingsl and ground slip away into the river
a citizen approached ME and said, Cap
, tain, I'll give you g. 500 for the remain
dor Of your property
Ono, I'll not take less than So, 900,
; said L.
1.-THE words had no more than left ing
tongue when there was another cave In,
and two more OF my lots and buildings
tumbled into the greedy river. The citizen
! then remarked to me, Captain, I'll give
you 81, 900 for your property now.
II refused to entertain this proposition,
which, Of course, was q pure speculation,
as no human agency could stop tho cave
IN. Pretty soon another one Of my lots
. and Its building vent into the river, and
my speculative friend then offered me $500
for the remainder of 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 al
old colored woman came up and said to
me:
"'See heah, cap'n, will ye give me dem
brick what's In dat cellar under yer
housep'
II told her she could have tho brick. ]
had q pilo of now brick In the cellar uhdeE
my only remaining house. The old 80.
ored wo1man gave her husband 90 cents
to hire o team and wagon to haul away
the brick. Now, upon my word Of honor,
what ! am now going to say Is true.
While tho old colored mar was gone for q
wagon another cave In occurred, and my
last house and lot, brick and cellar and
all, tumbled into the river. Tho cavo In
cnme so suddenly that the crowd Of people
standing on the bank had to flee for their
lives. After tho excitement had somewhat
subsidized the old colored woman exclaimed
CLAWS O. massyl Dere's my brick In
de bottom O. dc ribbcr, an I done los my
quatah.'
"Of course, while the old woman was
out 25 cents, l was out another $1,000.
During this series of cave ins that day
efforts were being mado to place a long
frame store building on rollers and move
1t to O place of safety. But before the
building could be raised 1t began to tilt,
and the men we-o compelled to desert 1t.
Soon Ehc store building slid into tho river
and went kcrchug to tho bottom OF the
channel, as completely out Of sight rs II IL
had been the only pebble on tho beach,
"In my opinion tho Mississippi river is
all right-when it doesn t come my way.
built q nice residence in Grcenvillo several
years ngo and had q beautiful flower bo'
decked lawn between the house and the
river, which was q block away. That lawn
has long since bcull swallowed by the yo.
, r%acious nav Of the Mississippi, and today
my residence stands on the edge Of q bank
that Is rs feet high."-St. Louis Globe
Democrat.