The weekly tribune and the Cape County herald. (Cape Girardeau, Mo.) 1914-1918, 1916-02-04
RIVERS CREST
ARRIVES; STAGE
ALLCUESS WORK
Water Reaches Journals OF
Passenger Coaches and
Goes Over SO Feet.
Carlo SAFE WITH 52.3
FEET; PUMPS WORKING
Slide At Cape Rock Demoralizes
st Louis Train Service
This A. Nj.

The river early this morning reach
ed mark which it is believed will be
its crest and it is anticipated that the
fall will be more rapid than the rise
last week.
There is no official gauge upon
which the stage of the river may be
accurately measured and everyone
who visits the river front at Themis
and Water streets has a new guess as
to what the exact size of the flood is.
The government guage which quits
at 80 feet has been buried at the edge
Of Water street and now we'll may be
considered in the middle Of the river.
Beyond that mark no official guagc
as been fixed and tits impossible to
,b5ain figure.
1t is quite certain that the river has
.ican far more than one foot higher
than the end of the government gauge.
Early this morning, as Frisco passen-
,er train SOC plowed up Water street
through the flood to the station, the
5urfa2e CT the water rose above the
bottom lines of the journal boxes.
Railroad men agree that the journals
f . passenger coach are nearer two
ct above the rail than 8 inches to a
foot.
Men who waded about in the water
long the railroad track, sank almost
o the knee in places. About 4:30
clock this morning, the water was
piping three inches away from pass
1g over the door sills of the stores on
he corner of Thenis and Water
treets, and the high water had cut off
ny traffic about that corner.
The water now extends about 80
ct west along the curb of Themis
rect The current is scarcely half
block out from the line Of the build
2gs on Water street.
Late las. night q slide was reported
Il The Frisco tracks at Cape Rock and
midnight, the wreckirg crews to-
ether with track repair men were
allied to go to work at a. m, clear
ng the slide. Early this morning the
ork train was hauling crashed rock
from Hely's Quarries to make fill
Frisco train No. sos, southbound
rom St. Louis early this morning was
fas held this side of cambridge for
veral hours b. the slide at Cape
Rock.
Trains were being detoured to get
hem into st. Louis from the South
The river rose six-tenths of foot at
Cairo yesterday according 20 a state
lcnt over the long distance telephone
asst night The river stage there last
hight at 10 O'clock was 52.3 feet. Mon
,ay night it was 51.7.
The city's pumps have been kept in
constant operation, forcing water
rom the city sewers over the levees
nto the river. The reports sent out
rom there declare that the only water
n the city is that gathered from the
precipitation in the city and the natur-
Il flow from inland.
They assert they are in good shape,
Though a few days ago a large sewer
;aved in on Twelfth street, leaving a
ole in the street several feet deep,
bout q block long and several feet
vide.
No word was received from Mcclure
N the East Side yesterday and it is
that the persons left there
ire marooned in their homes midst
.-e high water.
Mayor Rage yesterday gave orders
tor the salvage of as many of the
IOod paving blocks as possible.
A. NJ Tinsley yesterday evening de-
Jared that the power plant in North
Cape has been untouched by the flood
Vater. A large supply of sand-filled
,ags is kept at hand, ready to block
Up doors and windows in the event
hat the water encroaches that far, he
aid. The sewers were plugged up at |
nc beginning of the high water.
Several families in Smelterville |
ought aid of persons living in the |
ape, after they had been driven from |
heir homes by the water. They were |
AIRED for.
Mayor Rage was appealed to for aid |
rom the city by Evan Meek, who to-
,ether with his wife and two children,
rere driven from tent on the College !
arm, where he said he was doing some
Tearing work. When the man and /
woman appealed to the Mayor, they
declared that none of their family had |
naten for two days and they were des-
itute.
The Mayor gave them sufficient
money to obtain food for the emer- !