I9II.] STKVKNSON— FORMATION OF COAL BFDS. 541 



the flood of 1897 ^\'t'i 'ts predecessors as far back as 1858 and he 

 has given details in all parts of the drainage area for that of 1897. 



In 1897, the Ohio river was out of its banks everywhere from 

 Pittsburgh to Cairo and the tributary streams, also in high flood, 

 were miles wide for long distances, the "bottom," at times, being 

 covered with 20 feet of water, while the overflow reached into the 

 upper portions of cities along the banks. At the mouth of the river, 

 the lowland was flooded for 4 to 6 weeks and the city of Paducah 

 in Kentucky was flooded for 7 weeks. The river rose 50 to 60 feet 

 along the whole distance of more than 600 miles from Pittsburgh to 

 Cairo. Similar conditions prevailed along the Tennessee river, which 

 for 60 miles was 2 miles wide, reaching to the hills on both sides. 

 In the upper Mississippi region, the river s]:)read from blufl' to blufl^, 

 3 miles wide for 147 miles along the Iowa border, and a great area 

 of farming land in lliat state was inundated. Imperfect levees gave 

 way and along the Illinois river an area of 500 s(|uare miles was 

 flooded, making a continuous body of water from the Illinois to the 

 Mississippi. Central Arkansas was submerged for long distances 

 along the Arkansas river; while below Cairo, several levees gave way 

 and the flooded district in that region embraced more than 13,000 

 square miles. 



When one comes to sum up the effect of this disastrous flood, as 

 given by the local observers, he discovers, that as far as the geolo- 

 gist is concerned, they were comparatively insignificant. The damage 

 to manufacturing interests by destruction of machiner\ and by de- 

 posits of mud in mills was very great ; the railroads lost much through 

 washing out of embankments, the ruin of bridges and the removal of 

 ties and lumber; but loss to the farming population was only mod- 

 erate because Weather Bureau warnings led them to transfer movable 

 property to higher land. Small houses, l)arns, lumber and other 

 loose material were floated ofl' to be used as battering rams against 

 bridges; but, for the most j^art, farms overflowed by the ra])id cur- 

 rent were little injured. Where wheat had come U]). it was drowned, 

 not removed ; where seed had been sown, it rotted ; where the 

 flood became sluggish, it left a deposit of sand, which made the land 

 worthless, but elsewhere, as soon as the water withdrew, the farmer 



i:}9 



