Rensselaer Union, Volume 10, Number 27, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 March 1878 — Fighting a Flood. [ARTICLE]

Fighting a Flood.

Such a storni as raged in Sacramento on Wednesday and Wednesday night was nover experienced before, and nothing but a change of wind prevented an overflow from the south side. The scene on the R-street levee, yesterday afterndon, was a grand one. The wind whistled and hissed, the waves roared and dashed and leaped upon the soil in glee, as if laughing at the impotence of man’s work when the elementary legions sounded the charge. The foam and spray sprang upon the railroad and rollecf back 'again to join the invading force. The pitiless rain came down in torrents, beating in the faces of those wfib marched out to the rescue. The water leaping on the track, aided by the torrents of rain, had mlde it so Slippery that it was difficult to obtain a foothold, and the 'wind, rushing violently through the open space sonth and coming with such tremendous force, ngade It difficult walking.

In the face of this blinding storm the citizens turned out nobly to the rescue. Bankers, doctors, lawyers, brokers, journalists, the wealthy and the pov-erty-stricken, some in elegant suits and others almost in rags, with one common impulse, worked like beavers in a common cause. The water dashed a*ound and over them, and the rain ceased not. in force, the wind blew in heavy gales, and slush and filth were ankle deep, clothes were ruined, arms tired and stomachs hungry, .but still t.hcy worked on side by side. The sitnation was dangerous for a time. The angrv waves were eating slowly but surely into the earth, as if anxious to tear out the very heart of the levee. Men were ankle deep —some waist deep —(n water, while the storm never ceased and the waves still dashed on. Shovels were plied with astonishing rapidity, and sacks filled almost as soon as found. The wealth and cream of the city shoveled dirt for the poor to carry, or stood in the storm and slush while some poor fellow, almost in rags, filled the sack he held and conveyed it to the weak spot. From one until after seven o’clock they stood at their posts in all the rain and slush and storm, and only left when all was safe and the danger ended.— Sacramento (Cal.) Bee.