The Wisconsin tobacco reporter. (Edgerton, Wis.) 1877-1950, 1912-04-12
FLOOD IS GREATEST
IN RECENT YEARS
Eiqht Persons Drowned and
1000 More Homeless.
Sweeping Waters and Factories,
Houses, Lumber Yards, ETC.,
are Borne Away.

Seven thousand people homeless,
10000 more fleeing or preparing for
instant fight, eight persons drowned,
property loss extending into the
tens of millions, dozens of cities up
and down the river under water or
inenaced, and levees giving way be-
fore the pressure of the vast wastes
the story of the greatest food in late
history.
Everywhere grim and determined
hight against the great father of wa.
ters" is being waged. Millions of
bags of sand and dirt are being used
to strengthen levees, long since weak
ened by the pressure of the flood and
by long continued rains Everywhere
in the entire water-swept valley men
are working with but one idea or pur-
pose that of staving off impending
breaks that would sweep away homes
and perhaps lives. In the wake of
the flood is the grim spectacle of
pestilence which may result from the
0. erf1ow when the waters recede.
The fve-day fight of the people of
Cairo to save the Cairo drainage dis
trict ended in a complete rout and all
hope of saving the industrial and agri-
cultural district Of 5000 acres just
north of that city was abandoned. In
place of beautiful alfalfa fields and
fine manufacturing plants there is a
sea of tUrbid water The break in
the Mobile anG Ohio embankment was
the beginning of the end.
Water ran through the crevasse all
day, but hope was entertained until
late in the afternoon Of stopping the
flow at the Illinois Central right of
way. About p. m. a fresh break Oc-
Cured in the Big Four embankment
near the plant Of the Pioneer Pole and
Shaft company. With a rush the wa
ter swept in, hurting houses and lum-
Der piles before them. All along a
five-mile stretch of levee from the IL
iinois Central bridge to Cache river,
Ihe water was up to the very top of
the levee. There was nothing to build
on and no hope whatever of checking
the flow. Hundreds of workers were
strung along this levee. They were
hastily rushed back into the city for
fear that they would be caught be-
tween the breaks and drowned. At
the plants of the Chicago Mill and
Lumber company and the Weis Peter
son Box company men were put to
work in desperate effort to remove
the veneer material before it was
washed away.
Reports from Arkansas towns back
of the st. Francis Ievee, across the
river from Memphis, state that many
of them are partly flooded from back
water in the inland streams The ST.
Francis levee protects an area as large
as the state Of Delaware and 100000
people. Thousands have fed to the
hills
The Ohio and Wabash rivers IN IN
diana, already racing over their
levees in many places, have not yet
reached their highest mark. The
weather observer at Evansville, Ind,
predicts the crest will be reached next
Tuesday. Most of the levees are
strained to the breaking point now,
and can never hold out with a contin-
Ued rise until next Tuesday. In some
places the Wabash river is fifteen
miles wide and considerable live stock
has been lost. 1t is estimated that
losses from the flood along the lower
Ohio will be the greatest since 1884.
The arrival at Charleston, Mo-, Of
mail by boat from Belmont, Mo-,
brings tidings that the latter town has
been wiped off the face of the earth |
and the citizens housed in a house
boat where the postoffice is doing bust |
ness. Loss in property and live stock |
is beyond estimate and many have
lost the savings of a lifetime Tt is |
feared also many lives have been lost !
IL this section.
A high wind caused the breaking of |
tue government levee six miles below !
Hickman, Ky. Hickman itself is part !
~ submerged and a majority of it's |
citizens are refugees in nearby towns |
The break came at p. m. and left |
hundreds of thousands Of dollars dam |
age in it's wake No lives were lost |
as far as can be ascertained
The Mississippi is eight miles wide |
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