The St. Charles herald. [volume] (Hahnville, La.) 1873-1993, 1917-05-12
time to waste, there's more need for

/
Now it takes time for water to rise
| five feet, even in Il cloudburst or
succession of them. The rain constant
| ~ seemed to increase as the wind
| drove it on. Nandeyenter knew that
| the dam was doomed, that the sluicc
and the half-finished SpillWay com
bined could discharge only II small part
| of the flow. but he knew that he would
| have two hours at least to work be-
fore the water could pass the crest,
undermine, and batter down the pail
! side and begin to triCkle over. just
| as soon as it did roll over the top,
unless they could stop it, the whole
! thing was gone. For those two hours
the Supermen labOred unrenittingly in
the downpour with persistent and he
! role courage that should have been re-
corded in song and story but which
Was not. 1t was remembered after
Il while by none save a few. To the
work :"
i The undersluce in the side of the
/ dam which would later serve as head
| gate for the canal had been intended
| to pass the smaller floods which might
occur during the construction and had
| been open since the rain began. 1t
| carried off great volume Of water,
| but h0pelessly little in comparison with
the flood. Foot by foot in the torren-
tial downpOur the water rose. At half
after eight it reached the level of the
| Spillway and commenced to rush
! through in ever-increaSing volume, but
the flow into the reservoir was far
greater than the spillw0y's capacity.
Still the sight of the rushing water
encouraged the men. Every one of
them felt that if the palisade held the
discharge would be increased enough
to stop the rise, but at present the eff
feet was small. By nine o'clock it was
within foot Of the top. They began
to measure its rise by inches. Although
the dam had been carefully kept level
as it was built, the trample of horses
and men, the present digging and pali-
Sading and revetting had caused little
depreSsionS. Now the water rose to
the level Here and there it began to
trickle over!
The rain coming down from the
mountain tops was as cold as Ice, yet
the men were in q fever of excitement.
They had got their second wind. They
were too enthused, too desperate, to
feel their WEAKNESS. They had not
worked before as they did then. 1t
was the last possible nervous outburst
with most of them. They could keep
it up little longer-till they dropped
dead. AS the mad thoroughbred falls
in his stride on the track, pushed be-
yOnd his power of endurance, as even
the common carthorSe can be made TO
go until he drops, so these men, white,
haggard, nervous, drawnfaced, sweat
mingling with the rain on their sodden
bodies, would go till they broke. They
had not quite reached that point yet.
There were some five hundred heavy
cement bags which had been filled with
sand and piled up on the roadway at
convenient points. AS q forlOrn hope,
as a last try, Nandeventer called all
the diggers and ditchers, and hewers
and drivers and babe them tackle the
Sandbags. The timber wall that rose
to four or five feet was now packed to
height of three with an unequal wall
of earth.
The waves were beginning to roll
against the rampant, although their
force as yet was broken by the brush
wood. Vandeventer jumped up on the
paliSade near the center. There were
some large logs there where he could
clear view of the whole top of the
dam as was possible through the driv
ing rain.
"There," shouted the engineer, point
ing to q red trickle-it seemed to hin
like blood, taking its hideOus hue
from the red clay of the banks-whcrt
the water had found low spot anC
was washing across the top anc
, trucking through the new wall ant
down on the other side. Even as he
, pointed, the trickle became q STREAM
and the stream babe fair to be a flood
Men ran ana uFOppeu SdlluDdSS over
in front of the paliSade, right where
the leak had occurred Other meI
heaped up the earth behind the wall
seeking to smother it and stop it. The
water chpc'-ed there. they We're forced
to do the same thing at another place
, Desperately they dropped their sand
bags. sturdily they Piled their Shovels
in the mud; scrambliu@ and Yelling
they ran from leak to leak. They lift
ed the heavy bags Of sand IS if th"l
: had been loayes of bread and iImmat
them down. They swung pick ano
shovel like toys, although the rail-
! made all the earth sticky mud ant
the work all the harder. The water
was clear over the top Of the dam now
and streaming through the rcVr,m"n'
of brush and surging against the pail
sade. Where it did not let the water
: through. the line OF stakes was begin
ming to bend backward.
The men who had expended thcil
sandbags and could get no mora, il
, one final effort ran 10 the palisade du2
their heels mGdIy in the Wet, Shiny
, earth and put their shoulders a@a!H~
the bending stakes aS if 10 hold the"
no by main strength. Thin stream
I.,.,, s,,,I -1a..rb rItt1- IL,