The Wolf Point herald. (Wolf Point, Mont.) 1913-1940, 1927-04-29
SPREAD RUIN And DEATH
OVER BIG SOUTHERN RIVER AREA


dented disaster being wrought by
floods in the valleys of the Mis-
sissippi and its tributaries. The
story follows:
:" and l looked and behold
a Pale Horse; and his name that
sat on him was Death -
The Mississippi valley region to-
day is one vast valley of desola-
ton
Beneath the sodden rain clouds
that driving wind whips low
over the great waste of waters,
over $4,000 people are homeless
and one who is so minded can
hear the ghostly hoof-beats of
three of the -Four Horsemen of
legend, riding on a mission of ia
mine, pestilence and death down
a thousand-mile pathway that cuts
through the heart of the conti-
nent.
For mile on uncounted mile the
horizon has dissolved in gray
waste of water The Mississippi
has become an ocean; its tribu-
taries have burst their bonds, and
towns, villages, plantations and
homesteads are dissolving before
their waves by wholesale.
A Great Disaster
The rest of the country does
not grasp the extent of the floods
/ devastation and the imperative
need for real relief work.
1t does not realize that southern
! financiers estimate it will take at
least five years for the south to re-
cover from this blow; that the
flood probably will be the great
est in history; that the recon
struction problem the valley will
face when the flood subsidies
and bear in mind that the waters
have not yet reached their crest
will be serious as anything the
south has faced since the recon
struction days following the Civil
war Dire poverty for several
years faces thousands who have
lost everything in the swirling
food waters.
Fully 100000 acres are under
water today. The property dam
age probably will be at least $780,
/ 600 600. The death toll of storms
and foods already is close to $50.
Five states lie directly in the
path of the ghostly riders of desc
lation.
The Mississippi and its tribu-
taries have inundated western
Kentucky, southeastern Missouri
the eastern half of Arkansas,
western Tennessee and western
Mississippi.
On Wild Rampage
In most of these states the flood
ed area extends % miles inland
for the full length of the Mis-
sissippi In Arkansas a strip OF
so square miles known as the St.
Francis basin is under water
The Mississippi in it's wild rise
had abandoned it's old channel, IN
many places, and is ruthlessly
cutting out a new one, miles re-
moved. 1t is making islands OF
whole cities 1t is cutting some
towns in half 1t is transferring
farms and plantations from one
state to another.
Lands prepared for spring plant
ing are under water Thousands
of farms will be totally unpro-
ductive this year and next. A
huge section of the south will
have to live on credit for many,
many months possibly few
years.
Credit Badly Needed
But the credit machinery too is
being swept away on the raging
food tides. carried downstream
with the more tangible assets ike
harms and houses and corn cribs.
The bad cotton year had already
taxed bankers in this region TO
the utmost. Nearly every farmer
in the affected neighborhood was
already in debt, either to the cor
ner store or to his bank, before
the flood came. Bank after bank
has been forced to close it's doors;
when the food is over many more
will have TO follow suit
Fifty years of progress have
been knocked out by the rising
waters. Charity is needed, badly;
but more than charity will be re-
quired in the Mississippi valley
this summer. Outside capital
must pour in if the whole region
is not to sink into one of the worst
slumps in history.
when the food goes down
that is the phrase on everyone's
lips. But the crest has not even
been reached yet; and one gets
the impression, in going through
the devastated region, that the
waters somehow are not going to
recede. 1t seems as if nature,
dissatisfied with the Mississippi
had undertaken to make it
over completely, turning valleys
into lakes and hills into islands,
and wiping out the results of dec
AIDES of slow toll.
Only the Red Cross
One wonders, too, what the coun-
try at large would do if it could
be made to realize the extent of