The True Story of Our National Calamity of Flood, Fire and Tornado

L >> Logan Marshall >> The True Story of Our National Calamity of Flood, Fire and Tornado

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CAIRO FACING CRISIS

As usual, Cairo feared the worst from the on-sweeping flood of the Ohio
River. The Cairo executive flood committee late on March 30th sent an
appeal to President Wilson asking for aid for Cairo and towns nearby:

"The worst flood ever known in the Ohio Valley and the Mississippi is
now expected. All previous records at Cairo and south may be broken in a
few days. We are making every effort in our power to take care of local
situation, but the river communities near us should have assistance.
Boats, sacks, food and other supplies are needed. May we not have the
help of your great office for this district?"

The Big Four levee, which protected the "drainage district," went out on
April 1st. It was about five miles north of the city. Accordingly, as
workmen were able to battle no longer with the levee situation in the
drainage district, they were brought into Cairo and set to work along
the river front. The state troops were sent in squads of five, each
accompanied by a policeman, to visit the rendezvous of men who were
unwilling to or had refused to work.

All places of business which did not handle goods needed for the comfort
and necessities of the people were closed in order to give opportunity
to get out the strongest working force possible. Employees of closed
concerns responded willingly for duty and reinforced to a great extent
the work along the river front.

The Rev. M. M. Love, of the Methodist Church, who has had charge of
relief work in former years, was again at the head of the relief
committee. He was given about twenty assistants and a temporary
hospital, which was arranged on a large wharf boat in the river.

The Seventh Regiment, which had headquarters in St. Mary's Park, moved
its equipment into another large wharf boat. This placed all the
quarters of troops on boats. About one half of the population had left
the city. They were chiefly women and children.

SITUATION HOURLY WORSE

On the evening of April 2d, the city was in a state of anxiety never
before experienced. The river gauge at 6.30 o'clock stood at 54.4, a
stage three-tenths of an inch higher than any previous record.

The inundation of the drainage district north of Cairo was complete. The
flood waters were on a level with those in the Ohio River, and were
prevented from flooding into the Mississippi only by the Mobile and Ohio
levee. There were from 7,000 to 9,000 acres from seven to twenty feet
under water. The greater number of industrial plants in the section were
submerged up to the second-story windows, and many houses were
completely under water. For more than a mile beyond the Illinois Central
tracks and for several miles to the north from the big levee surrounding
the district from Cairo there was nothing which was not touched by the
vast field of water.

Offers of relief, which were made by the Chicago Association of Commerce
and the city of Peoria to Cairo, on April 5th, were accepted. The
Chicago organization offered eight boats and sixty men to man them. From
Peoria came word that a steamboat equipped for life-saving purposes was
waiting for a call to Cairo.

CHAPTER XXIX

THE FLOOD IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY

FLOOD OF THE MISSISSIPPI INEVITABLE--SOUTHEASTERN MISSOURI
THREATENED--BAD BREAK IN LEVEE AT HICKMAN--STRENGTHENING THE
LEVEES--MEMPHIS IN PERIL--DANGER ALL ALONG THE LINE--RIVER AT RECORD
STAGE--RISING HOPE--A NATIONAL PROBLEM.

On March 30th the Mississippi Valley was facing one of the worst floods
in its history, and the steady advance of the river threatened a large
section of country. The breaking of the levees along the Mississippi
itself, an inevitable result of the great floods in tributary streams,
had already begun. The district below St. Louis was a foot or more above
the flood stage, although the big rise had not arrived. Preparations
were being made to withstand a flood equal to that of 1912. Although the
levees had been made higher in some places, it was not to be expected
that they would be strong enough all along the river from St. Louis to
the sea. In the lower sections of the Mississippi Valley it was feared
there might be a repetition of the recent disasters in Ohio.

At Charleston, Missouri, on March 30th, the flood conditions were
growing more acute every hour. The city was filled with refugees from
all directions. Belmont and Crosno, on the Mississippi River, south of
Charleston, were submerged, and the residents fleeing to places of
safety.

East Prairie, Anniston and Wyatt, on the Cotton Belt Railroad, were shut
off from the world and obliged to receive mail through the Charleston
post-office.

SOUTHEASTERN MISSOURI THREATENED

The St. Louis and San Francisco embankment between Kilbourne and
Kewanee, in the extreme southeastern part of Missouri, was cut early on
April 5th at the direction of the railway officials to prevent the
flooding of a large section of the track if the levee should break at a
weak spot. The gap permitted the drainage of a large volume of overflow.

One of the most thrilling of the stories was brought by Captain S. A.
Martin and Captain H. A. Jamieson, of the Sixth Missouri National Guard.
They were rescued in a launch from a section of levee which broke away
at Bird Point, Missouri.

Thirty-six of their men, they said, were on the levee section, which was
two hundred yards long and ten feet wide, and was floating down the
Mississippi.

Commander McMunn, of the Naval Reserves, at once arranged for a steam
launch and started out to rescue the Missouri soldiers. There was a
swift current in the river, and the safety of the men caused their
commanding officer much anxiety.

BAD BREAK IN LEVEE AT HICKMAN

The levee at Hickman, Kentucky, broke shortly after midday on April 4th,
after a night of continuous rain, followed by a driving up-stream wind,
flooding the factory district but causing no loss of life.

The break, however, did not relieve the river situation at other points,
because the water running through the break there was turned back to the
main stream by the Government or Reelfoot levee, two miles below the
town. The section flooded was occupied by several factories and the
homes of hundreds of workmen.

STRENGTHENING THE LEVEES

All along the Mississippi men were at work strengthening the levees. The
Government on March 29th prepared to rush 20,000 empty sacks to Modoc
and other weak points in the St. Francis levee district. They were
loaded on barges belonging to the Tennessee Construction Company of
Memphis. The boats, which were from one hundred and forty to one hundred
and sixty feet in length, were used to house Arkansas convicts sent from
Little Rock to do levee work.

This trouble was felt in many places when the rising tide threatened
life and property. Industrial anarchy and chaos reigned, and
overwhelming, paralyzing fear seized the people.

MEMPHIS IN PERIL

On April 5th the protection levee along Bayou Gayoso gave way, flooding
a small residence section in the northern portion of Memphis.

The break occurred at a point just west of the St. Joseph Hospital, and
within an hour several blocks of houses in the poorer section of the
city had been flooded.

Before night a section of the city three blocks wide and six to nine
blocks long was covered with from three to six feet of water.

DANGER ALL ALONG THE LINE

The banks at Hopefield Point early began to cave in. More than an acre
slid into the water just south of the point. The main shore line began
to crumble, indicating that the oncoming high water would wash more than
half the old point away.

Gangs of men were busy working the north levee in Helena, Arkansas.

Major T. C. Dabney, of the upper Mississippi levee district, sent out
crews to raise the lowest places. Major Dabney did not anticipate great
trouble, but said he believes in being prepared.

A break in the levee in Holly Bush and Mounds, Arkansas, in April, 1912,
put all the west bank lines out of commission for ten days. Miles of
track were washed away. Fearing a repetition of this, the railroads and
shippers agreed to operate a daily boat between Memphis and Helena.

The first break in the main Mississippi River levee occurred on April
8th on the Arkansas side, just south of Memphis. Three counties were
flooded by water which poured through a big cut in the wall. No loss of
life was reported, the inhabitants having been warned in time that the
levee was weakening.

RIVER AT RECORD STAGE

It was predicted that the Mississippi River from Vicksburg, Mississippi,
to the Gulf would go two feet higher than the highest stage reported in
1912, according to a flood warning issued by Captain C. O. Sherrill,
United States Army Engineer, on April 2d.

In 1912 the maximum of the river gauge at New Orleans showed nearly
twenty-two feet. At that height, and even with the tide reduced by
several immense crevasses, waters came over the New Orleans levees at a
number of places, despite the fact that they were topped with several
rows of sandbags.

Captain Sherrill ascribed the unprecedented flood entirely to the rains
in the river bed caused by last year's crevasses. He issued orders to
have the levees from Vicksburg to Fort Jackson on both sides raised
above the flood stage of 1912, and men and material were sent to all
points along the river to combat the expected high water in the lower
Mississippi.

Colonel Townsend, head of the Mississippi River Commission, ten days
previously predicted a stage as high as that of 1912, and sent out
warnings to all engineers in the valley. It was acting upon his advice
that Captain Sherrill began to assemble barges, quarter boats, bags,
material and tools to be sent to points between Vicksburg and New
Orleans for possible emergencies.

In explaining why the river from Vicksburg to the mouth of the river
would be higher than last year, Captain Sherrill pointed to the fact
that crevasses both below and above the stretch in 1912 lowered the
river there, whereas upon the present rise, with levees expected to
confine the water, the crest naturally would be higher. Because of this
fact the brunt of the high water was expected to strike that stretch,
and any possible trouble to be looked for could be expected there,
although the levees between Old River and Baton Rouge might also be in
danger.

RISING HOPE

The hopes of the people began to rise as they learned that the entire
Mississippi levee system was to be made two feet higher than the record
of the flood last year. It was expected the work would be completed
before the crest of the Ohio River flood reached the lower Mississippi
Valley.

On receipt of reports that two hundred families had been driven from
their homes in the lowlands of the Atchafalaya River, near Breaux
Bridge, Louisiana, owing to high water, and were in a destitute
condition, local relief committees from New Orleans rushed a large
quantity of supplies to that section.

The appeal said if immediate aid was not received it was feared many
would die of starvation. Inhabitants of the district were principally
foreigners, who had reclaimed a part of their truck farms, which were
destroyed by last year's flood. Their newly planted crops were
abandoned.

A NATIONAL PROBLEM

It is a curious fact that the Mississippi has done as much to kill the
old doctrine of states' rights as any other influence. For instance,
Louisiana, after spending thirty millions of dollars on river problems,
was quite willing to concede that the Mississippi was a national affair
and that Federal aid was altogether desirable. But it is plain that the
resources of the individual states as well as of the nation must be
utilized for the prevention of floods. This is a task so vast that a
united effort is required.

CHAPTER XXX

DAMAGE TO TRANSPORTATION, MAIL AND TELEGRAPH FACILITIES

GREAT DAMAGE AND WASHOUTS--TICKETS SOLD SUBJECT TO DELAY--REPORTS OF
TRACKS GONE--PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD A HEAVY SUFFERER--HEAVY LOSS ON
BALTIMORE AND OHIO--ESTIMATED DAMAGE--FLOOD PLAYED HAVOC WITH
MAILS--GENERAL PROSTRATION OF TELEGRAPH AND TELEPHONE WIRES.

Only one railroad was working between New York and Chicago on the night
of Wednesday, March 26th. That was the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern.
Over the line were speeding the trains of the New York Central and
allied lines, the Pennsylvania, the Baltimore and Ohio, and the Erie,
passenger and freight service combined. Many trains were derailed in
flooded territories.

The following bulletin was given out at the office of W. C. Brown,
president of the New York Central Railroad:

"The main line of the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway to
Chicago is not affected to any extent by the heavy rains, and trains are
departing practically on schedule between New York and Chicago.

"The situation south of the Lake Shore line, however, is serious and no
trains are being started out of Cleveland for Indianapolis, St. Louis,
Dayton, Cincinnati and intermediate points. Through passengers for
Columbus are being transferred at New London, Ohio, and handled through
to destination."

TICKETS SOLD SUBJECT TO DELAY

Trains went out of the Grand Central Station of New York just the same,
but no through western ticket was sold unless the purchaser was informed
that it must be accepted subject to delay. When the Southwestern Limited
left at four o'clock its ordinary Cincinnati sleeper had been renamed
the Columbus sleeper and the Cincinnati man had to take a chance. When
its other western expresses went forth the other Ohio, St. Louis and
southern sleepers were all running on conditions.

REPORTS OF TRACKS GONE

The Erie Railroad west of Olean, the main line, was out of commission.
According to reports received, there were at least one hundred and
twenty washouts along that line farther west, with many bridges gone.
Some of the washouts were a mile in length and with the tracks had gone
the roadbed. Twenty trains bound west were stalled at various points,
but all were in big towns, so the passengers did not suffer.

PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD A HEAVY SUFFERER

The Pennsylvania Railroad suffered more damage than any other. The
service west of Pittsburgh was badly crippled. All through trains from
the East to points on the Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis
Railway west of Pittsburgh were temporarily discontinued.

[Illustration: RAILROAD MAP OF THE FLOODED DISTRICT IN INDIANA, OHIO AND
WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA]

On the lines East, in the vicinity of Pittsburgh, Oil City, Erie and
Buffalo, serious washouts developed, aggregating in length on the
Allegheny Division, about two thousand five hundred feet of main track.

Benjamin McKeen, general manager of the Pennsylvania Railroad's lines,
west of Pittsburgh, informed Broad Street Station, Philadelphia, on
Thursday, that all lines were blocked on both passenger and freight
service, except between Pittsburgh and Cleveland by way of Alliance.

"We are gradually getting our lines of communication established so that
our information seems a little more definite, although the lines are
working very unsatisfactorily yet at many points.

"We have now gotten the Fort Wayne road open from Chicago to Mansfield
with single track over the points where the breaks were, and we are
actively at work, both east and west, for a distance of about seventy
miles between Canton and Mansfield, where there are four bridges gone
and quite a number of washouts, and the best figures we have now are
that we will probably get the Fort Wayne line open by Monday morning.

"We have found out definitely that our bridge at Piqua is still
standing, although there are vast washouts at each side of it. We also
know definitely that our bridge at Dayton is gone; also the four-span
bridge over the Muskingum River at Zanesville is gone and there is some
question as to whether our bridge over the Scioto River at Circleville
is gone or not, as we have no definite information on this.

"We have men and material all assembled and starting actively at work
here and there wherever the water has receded sufficiently to permit
us."

On the Pennsylvania Railroad alone the loss amounted to millions of
dollars. There was not only the tremendous loss due to the loss of
tracks, roadbed and bridges, but also the loss of passenger and freight
revenues. Everywhere it was conceded that the tie-up was the most
serious and extensive in the history of the road.

[Illustration: Photograph by Brown Bros.
Hundreds of substantial buildings were lifted from their foundations and
piled up like broken cigar boxes simply by the awful sweep of the wind]

[Illustration: Photograph by Underwood & Underwood.
Some of the most prominent society women and girls in Dayton shouldered
hoes and shovels in the work of cleaning up the city]

HEAVY LOSS ON BALTIMORE AND OHIO

The financial loss to the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad aggregated
millions of dollars in the destruction of property alone.

President Willard was asked on Thursday for an estimate of the damage
wrought by the floods. His reply was:

"I cannot tell. I haven't an idea. I wish I could say that it would be
$2,000,000, but I cannot.

"I know that half a dozen bridges on the Cincinnati, Hamilton and Dayton
have been destroyed and bridges on the Baltimore and Ohio have been
washed away. We have lost one of our largest bridges on the main road to
Chicago, at Zanesville, Ohio, and it will probably be six months before
we will have another completed bridge there, although we will have some
bridge there soon. We hope to have our main line to Chicago open in
twenty-four hours, and our main line to Cincinnati open in the same
time. We cannot tell when we will have our line to St. Louis open."

ESTIMATED DAMAGE

Conservative estimates of the damage to railroad property in the flooded
Middle West, plus the loss entailed by the suspension of traffic, ranged
from $10,000,000 to $15,000,000.

The entire railway system of Ohio and Indiana was practically put out of
business for five days by the floods in the Middle West. To repair and
replace the railways affected by this disaster, railway officials
stated, would practically wipe out the surplus earnings of many
railroads. In other cases dividends were threatened. The reason was,
they said, that all such damage must be retrieved out of current
earnings and could not be charged to capital.

As an illustration of how the railroads spend money in such an
emergency, it may be said that the Pennsylvania sent one hundred and
fifty expert bridge builders out West from New York in one day soon
after the flood. These men received record wages; they traveled in
sleepers, with special dining cars. The company was sending
steam-shovels and pile-drivers on limited trains and a first-class
laborer could get a private compartment quicker than could a financier.

"There will be improvements in railroading through all the districts
every day from now on, but there will not be anything like a restoration
of former conditions for months," said one railroad official. "It takes
time to rebuild steel bridges, especially as the big steel plants have
been experiencing a little trouble of their own."

FLOOD PLAYED HAVOC WITH MAILS

Storm, flood and fire in the Middle West played havoc with the United
States mails. Postmaster-General Burleson announced on March 26th that
the destruction wrought by the floods in Ohio and Indiana was so serious
that it would be ten or twelve days before a regular mail service could
be resumed with the remote districts.

Reports showed that never before in the history of the service had there
been such a serious interruption to the mails on account of floods.
There was practically no local service on the railroads in the
territory bounded by Cleveland, Toledo, Columbus, Cincinnati,
Indianapolis, Terre Haute and the Ohio River.

Mails to New York from points in Kentucky and Tennessee, from Pittsburgh
and Cincinnati, Ohio, and all points south of the Ohio River came by way
of Washington and were from five to seven hours late. The Arkansas and
Oklahoma mails traveled by way of Chattanooga and Memphis.

The representatives in the field were directed to be in constant
communication with the department at Washington and to make every effort
to supply the people in the flood districts with mail as rapidly as
arrangements could be completed. Mails for distant points which
regularly passed through the flooded sections were detoured north and
south, resulting in unavoidable delay.

GENERAL PROSTRATION OF TELEGRAPH AND TELEPHONE WIRES

Never before in the history of the United States was there such a
general prostration of telegraph and telephone wires as during the great
flood. Chicago was "lost" to the East for part of a day, and it was
found impossible to reach that city via the South. Throughout eastern
Ohio service was paralyzed, and such few wires as could be obtained were
flickering and often going down.

The Western Union and Postal Telegraph Companies in New York announced
on March 26th that they did not have a wire working in the thousands of
square miles roughly marked by Indianapolis on the west, Pittsburgh on
the east, Cleveland on the north and the Ohio River on the south. The
Postal had but two wires working between New York and Chicago and these
were routed by way of Buffalo. None of its wires south of Washington was
working.

An army of 10,000 men was sent into the region to repair the wires, but
their work was almost impossible because of the inability of the
railroads to transport their equipment.

The American Telephone and Telegraph Company had the only facilities in
the stricken sections and turned them over without reserve to the press
associations, believing that in this manner the public could best be
served.

At the offices of the American Telephone and Telegraph Company and the
Union Telegraph Company in New York, on March 28th, joint announcement
was made as follows:

"In the use of the necessarily limited wire facilities reaching the
flooded districts of Ohio and neighboring states due importance is being
given to messages to and from public officials, relief associations, the
press and to such urgent messages as have to do with measures of relief,
believing that thus the public will be best served until full service
can be restored.

"There has been no time during the past week when the combined
facilities of the two companies have not afforded communication with the
larger cities and towns, but local conditions render it impossible in
many cases to deliver telegrams or to make local connections by
telephone."

CHAPTER XXXI

THE WORK OF RELIEF

PRESIDENT WILSON PROMPTLY IN DIRECTION--WASHINGTON ASTIR AS IN TIME OF
WAR--BACKING OF CONGRESS PLEDGED--AMERICAN RED CROSS TO THE
RESCUE--RAILROADS BRAVELY HELPING--RELIEF FROM STATES AND
INDIVIDUALS--AN ARMY OF PEACE.

The sympathetic response of the American people never fails to measure
up to the summons of any calamity. Relief is plentiful and prompt. The
awful story of the flood and tornado was no sooner told than the
machinery of government, the organized forces of the Red Cross and
individual efforts in every city within reach were co-operating to
provide succor and supplies to the sufferers. Tents for shelter, cots,
food by the trainload, hospital and medical supplies, were almost
immediately on their way to the stricken district.

WASHINGTON ASTIR AS IN TIME OF WAR

The Federal Government was alive to the needs of the flooded districts
of the Middle West with activity that almost surpassed the hustle and
bustle of war times. Every department from the White House down,
directed its energies toward the relief of distress and suffering in
Ohio and Indiana. As the result of appeals from Governor Cox, the
American Red Cross and others, President Wilson issued an appeal to the
nation at large to help the sufferers.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

President Wilson's Messages
For the Relief of the Stricken States

To Mayor Dahlman, of Omaha:

"I am deeply distressed at the news received from Nebraska. Can we
help you in any way?

"WOODROW WILSON."

To Governor Ralston, of Indiana,
and Governor Cox, of Ohio:

"I deeply sympathize with the people of your state in the terrible
disaster that has come upon them. Can the Federal Government assist
in any way?

"WOODROW WILSON."

To the Nation:

"The terrible floods in Ohio and Indiana have assumed the
proportions of a national calamity. The loss of life and the
infinite suffering involved prompt me to issue an earnest appeal to
all who are able in however small a way to assist the labors of the
American Red Cross to send contributions at once to the Red Cross
at Washington or to the local treasurers of the society.

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