Democratic Sentinel, Volume 17, Number 17, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 May 1893 — SAVED FROM THEFLOOD [ARTICLE]

SAVED FROM THEFLOOD

MANY FAMILIES RESCUED ON HORSES. Water Fills the Street* of Steelvllle, Mo., to a Depth of Four Feet—Five Men Are Drowned—High Water at St. Paul, Minn., and Other Points. Angry Rivers Rising. Advice from Southern Missouri and Northeastern Arkansas are to the effect that the third flood this year In the White and Black Rivers is pouring down those streams and doing great damage to all kinds of property. A large part of Poplar Bluff, on both sides of the Black Elver, is submerged and people have been obliged to abandon their homes. The Iron Mountain Bailway track is washed out in several places on the bottom lands. At Steelville, on the Meremeo River in Crawford County, Missouri, water poured through the main stfeefc-four feet deep, flooding houses, and, peopl® had to be taken from their homes bp horseback. The branch of the St, Lbuis and San Francisco Railway between Steelville and Salem, which runs through an Iron-mining region, is Wished out in a dozen places and bridges have been swept away. Near Searcy, Ark., five" men lost their lives in the raging current of the Little River. The river is very high as a result of the recent heavy rains, and the current is very swift. Allen Brown, Robinson Caruth, Joe Scott, Sandy Cooksey, and Allen Booth were employed at the Government rock quarry two miles south of that place. They got into a small boat and attempted to cross the river to go to their din: er. When they had reached the middle of the river the raging torrent overcame their strength, and the boat was thrown violently, against a rock, wrecking it. The men were thrown into the river and soon carried down with the current. Their bodies have not been recovered, Ahrm Felt at Quincy.

The high water in the Mississippi in the vicinity of Quincy, 111., has commenced to create alarm, and much damage will result if the flood goes much higher. All the unprotected low lands are already submerged and the river Is now seven miles ‘wide there. The water is still two feet below the danger line on the levees and none of them yet show signs of weakening, but much damage has been done by the accumulated surface water resulting from the hoavy rains. Hundreds of acres in the low lands of the leveo district are submerged under a foot of surface water and much damage has been done. The river is still rising steadily and is fifteen feet four inches above low-water mark. The two Wabash rivers are on a boom. The recent heavy rains have given a fresh start. Thousands of acres of wheat and other crops in the river bottoms are under water, and the waters are still rising rapidly. The planting of spring crops at the very best will be delayed for weeks. Farmers ate very much discouraged at the outlook. At St Louis, for the present, at least, danger of lurtner damage from high water seems to be past. The river lms become stationary at a height of :m feet, within 4J feet of last May’s highest mark. High Water at St. Paul. At St. Paul, Minn., the Mississippi River has passed the danger line, and now registers fourteen feet two Inches, the highest reached at St. Paul In twelve years. To add to the gloominess of the outlook a blinding rainstorm raged. The Bohemian flats are inundated and nearly depopulated, for not more than half a dozen families now remain. In West St. Paul the flooded district has greatly increased. From the Lafayette School building to tho base-ball park and fol owing the State street elevation and the grade of the Nortwestern Railroad tracks extends a vast lake of many hundred acres, with many little Islands surmounted by small houses and live stock. From Inquiry at the office of Maj. Jones, government engineer, it is learned that the government reservoirs arc as yet holding all the water at the head of the Mississippi, and that above Aitken the river is at a comparatively low stage. The lumbermen's dams are also holding considerable water, which will come down later. There is still a large quantity of snow in the woods further north, and-the heavy warm rain will give the river another boom that will send it far above the mark of 1881.