Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 69.djvu/259

Rh and more than one half of that city was under water. Forces were set to work building a protection levee in the city and moving goods to a place of safety. As far as can be ascertained no lives were lost. Little or no loss in crops was sustained, as the flood came before the planting and the area was largely drained before that season arrived. The losses were mainly in live stock, fences and buildings. In contrast with the security so easily shown, in the reports of the commission, to be the experience of the inhabitants of the Yazoo Basin, the engineers in charge of the levees seem to congratulate themselves that no other crevasses occurred, for many weak places developed that required the utmost care and attention to hold intact. They state as their expectation that crevasses are liable to occur at any high-water season and at any point in the system or 'until all levees are brought up to a sufficient section to withstand the long-continued strain due to the water remaining for weeks near the top.' Although the statement quoted, on the face of it, rather begs the question, we are at liberty to infer therefrom that too much confidence had better not be held in the protective value of much of the present line. So near to disaster do the floods approach oftentimes, that every element which the engineers can control is considered a necessary ally in cooperation for the protection of the levees. During the 1903 flood, the river boats were required to run at a reduced speed along a portion of this basin front. So full was the river and the waters stood so near the top of the levee that it was not considered wise to subject the embankment to the wash of passing steamers. It may be stated in this connection that a storm, arising as the water is nearing the crest of the levees, can not be so summarily dealt with; and it often causes a day or two of apprehension, if indeed the beating waves do not tear their way through the structure.

A harsher note is sounded by an observer of the Weather Bureau than is struck in the reports of the commission. There were favorable and mitigating circumstances which decreased the volume of the 1903 flood. Two factors materially modified the destructive feature of the flood; one of these was an early occurrence and the other a shorter duration. Both these factors spring from the same cause. Notwithstanding these compensating qualities this writer reports that the water during a period of two weeks was higher at Greenville and Arkansas City than it had ever before been known to be. The destructive work of the flood is summed up as follows: Some loss of stock in the basin; 115 houses evacuated in Greenville; 200 acres of fine farming land badly washed and left covered with sand; suspension of traffic on the Yazoo and Mississippi Valley Bailroad from March 27 to April 17, and on the Riverside Division from March 27 to May 7; 1,460