Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1912-05-14
THE RAGING MISSISSIPPI.

The Mississippi river has been
source of especial interest to the
whole country for a month past and
just now that interest Is increasing
rather than diminishing. While ev-
cry spring brings its freshet, caused by
the melting SHOWS up at the head-
waters, augmented by tremendous
rains along various tributaries, dam
gerous floods occur only occasionally
They are not as frequent as they used
to be. The levee system, which had
It's origin a great many years back
first for the protection of individual
plantations, has under district de-
partments of the various state gov
ernments, been extended until 1t now
reaches from below New Orleans to
away up above Cairo, Ill. So high and
so strong had the levees become that
people living along the river began to
feel a sense of secure assurance that
there never would be any more really
dangerous floods. The readers of the
newspapers, however, are pretty gen.
ally aware that the waters have done
more damage during the past few
weeks than during any previous year,
and lust now they are high over all
records.
While of course everybody feels
general interest in the situation, there
are a good many in this county who
feel a particular interest because Of es-
pecial familiarity with conditions, and
conspicuous among these is Mr.. R. c..
Allen, cashier of the First National
bank of Yorkville. Mr.. Allen was
born in Mississippi and spent the
greater part of his life there. He Is
familiar with conditions along the
river, particularly about Vicksburg
from several hundred miles above that
city down to and beyond New Orleans,
and that the flood news should be the
first thing to receive his attention in
the morning papers just now is quite
natural.
With a view to securing information
that would give the average reader q
more comprehensive grasp of the sit
uation, Mr.. Allen was asked a few
questions about the river a few days
ago and what he said is of interest.
The questions applied to the width OF
the river at ordinary low water and
at flood stage, the height Of the banks
under ordinary conditions and the ar
rangement Of the levee system.
Speaking of the river, say in July
and August, Mr.. Allen explained that
while conditions vary, the banks are
generally high and steep even where
the country is fiat and level. They
teen or twenty feet. This will give
you the idea," he explained. In the
old days before coal came into COM
mon use on the steamers and there
were a great many more steamers
than there are now. wood was the fuel
for making steam, and | remember
when my grandfather owned a tre-
mendous woodward on the river. The
woodward was situated not exactly on
"a bluff: but as near as practicable to
the bank, and wood was loaded on the
steamers by means of chutes. l can
not give you the distance exactly; but
II would say that these wood chutes
were at least 200 yards long, and they
of wood down by gravity. The floors
of course were very slick. When a
steamer would put in at the yard, the
end of a chute would be placed on the
deck, and a gang of negroes would
start the wood flying down in an end
less stream until the steamer had all
II cared to carry. Now you can imag-
inc something of the difference when
| tell you that sometimes in the
spring the water would get up high
enough to carry off all the loose, unse-
cured wood that may have been left
about the woodward.
There are no levees at Vicksburg,"
Mr.. Allen said, because the town Is
built on pretty high ground mostly. A
part of the town. lying closest to the
river, however. is subject to over
flow. l have seen it overfowed more
than once, and have travelled through
the streets in boats The business
people in that section take it all as a
matter of course, and some Of them
keep on doing business even with sew
eral feet of water in their places of
business. They are prepared for It.
Some of these places have floating
platforms that rise with the water,
and from these platforms do business
with customers who come in boats.
They stay in their places of business
until the platform rises to where they
have to bow their heads to the ceiling
and by that time, their goods have
been moved upstairs into the second
stories.
The width of the river" said Mr..
Allen, "of course varies, but roughly
speaking it is about a mile wide-in
some places wider: but when the
freshets come up and break through
the levees there is no telling where the
water will go to. I read in one of the
New Orleans papers the other day
where a reporter got into a launch and
went over $50 miles without sighting
land but twice: but did not take 1t
that he was going directly away from
the river all the while. Even that.
though seems nossible"