Emmons County record. [volume] (Williamsport, D.T. [i.e. N.D.]) 1884-current, 1910-03-17
THE BIG MUDDY BREAKS Up
At Date Much Earlier Than Usual, the Ice in
tne missouri River Gives Way, Rendering
Crossing Impossible for Few DAYS
An Ice Gorge Below Bismarck Dams the Stream
and Causes Flood to Cover the Lowlands.
Steamboat Sunk--Mandan Under Water


Hismars. rriiluu,
With the highest stage of water
at the bridge that has been record
al for twenty-three Years. the mud
dy waters Of the Missouri river creep,
steadily over the bottom lands south
OF the city all day Yesterday, ad
vancing continuously and gradually
| like the oncomng of an army. Early
4 IN the morning. from the gorge Of
I immense ice floes south Of the city.
! reaching over a distance of sevcra!
| miles. the water backed over the
| low lands. and the stage of water
increased during the day until at {
TO clock last evening there was a
depth of six on eight feet over the
| lowest lands of the river bottoms,
| and a depth of eighteen inches on
tpo feet over the lands Immediately
southu of the railroad tracks
'Ihe whole of the bottom lands
bore the appearance of AN angry and
muddy sea, bearing ON its bosom
immense ice foes, tree stumps,
| branches and other debris Of various
sorts. All along the upper bench a
crowd of interested people stood
| during the day and watched the ad
vance of the waters. And, while
| the water advanced from the south,
| il broke over the river banks west
of the city and crept in with flank
movement until the water advanced
over the river bottoms from both
| south and west
Residents of the low lands made
preparations early in the day to
i move in case the water rose enough
To threaten their homes, and all
yesterday afternoon they We're busy
packing household goods and furni
t,lre that would he injured by the
water and hauling of such goods.
| I'm "A number of cases residents OF
the low lands remained in their
houses until the water he'd reached
a depth of a foot or more about the
porches and doorways. Then drays
and hacks were called into service 10
bring them out, and when the last
of them were brought away the
horses that hauled the vehicles were
belly deep i'm the water. which near.
| ly came in upon the bottom of the
| vehicles that We're used to transport
| them. Live stock was removed
| from the barns early i'm the after.
noon In a number of cases flocks
of chickens were driven out OF
their coops that were threatened
with submergence. only to squawk
loudly and fly back again through
the muddy waters. There were
many amusing and at the same time
pathetic scenes as the residents OF
the flats were forced to abandon
their homes at the rising Of the
waters which crept steadily up from
two sides.
All along the river as far as the
eye could reach was a dense and
II
broken eNpanse of dirty. grinding
rolling ice. a little distance south
| of the bridge the ice moved slowly
downward. bat the gorge held solid
below. and there was no sign OF
movement of the ice mass. And, as
| the water came down from above
| the stage of water in the bottoms
steadily increased AT one or two
| places along tn, shore the ice broke
through the thin hedge Of willows
| and underbrush and was swept
/! acros the bottom lands with all the
| force of the current of the stream
| About some of the houses while
|
the water was approaching from the
1 south through the grass and under.
brush. appearing here and there in
shining and shlmmering patches
| another stream If water curled in
| from the west, and. had the water
/ not risen so gradually. the escape OF
some Of the people might have been
/ cut Off As it .Vas. they had time to
haul away their belongings and then
stand and see the water rise grad
ually and threaten to enter the
| abandoned houses.
In the main channel of the river q
huge elevator leg that was swept
away from the warehouse at the
| river landing vas carried slowly
| down the stream, moving at the
! rate of half mile an hour. show
ing the slow novement Of the upper
| ice. The dark mass looked like one
Of the river steamboats, for time
until il nature could be discerned
with a glass. 1t moved down to a
point about a mile below the bridge
and then lodged in the mass Of
channel ice and staid there. The
molemet Of the zee began Sunday
morning and for time it seemed
as though the channel would be
cleared without flooding the bottom
lands But the Ice was extremely
| heavy, and the mass Of it lodged al