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lAA and Farm Bureaus Start Feed 

 Supplies Into Flood Stricken Area 



y^^ 4 «. HEN the water started backing 

 ^>^y 1/ up from the Ohio, James 

 Q ff Basham who farms three 

 miles north of Harrisburg in Saline coun- 

 ty, took steps to save his livestock and 

 feed. He, like many others, recalled the 

 1913 flood. This one couldn't possibly 

 beat that one. He led his horse and four 

 mules up into the hay mow. There he 

 also put the 32 hogs and 100 chickens. 

 With 14 tons of baled clover hay and 

 some grain for the hogs and chickens 

 everything looked rosy. "Let 'er come," 

 he thought, "I'm all set and I got all my 

 stock under one roof." 



And the water kept coming . . . higher 

 and higher. It shot past the 1913 mark. 

 It was making new flood history, some- 

 thing to tell the coming generation about. 

 Many of the neighbors drove their stock 

 to high ground, or at least ground they 

 thought was high. But Basham was no 

 quiter. The rest of the family got out. 

 •He staid in the barn with his livestock 

 until the floor of the hay mow went out. 

 all his livestock was dumped into the 

 cold water that formed ice where it 

 lapped up against the buildings. Every 

 horse and mule, every hog and chicken 

 was drowned. Mr. Basham saved him- 

 self by clinging to the roof. He was 

 later rescued when a boat put out and 

 broke its way through the ice. 



In eight counties of extreme southern 

 and southeastern Illinois bordering the 

 Wabash and Ohio Rivers nearly 4,000 

 farmers have been drowned out by this 

 record -smashing flood. Few people out- 

 side the Illinois flood area realized how 

 serious it was. The news dispatches told 

 of the flood at Portsmouth, Cincinnati, 



Louisville, and Cairo. They didn't tell 

 about the thousands of horses, mules, 

 hogs, cattle, and poultry that were lost. 

 They didn't record the fact that hundreds 

 of square miles of fertile land growing 

 winter wheat and alfalfa were inundated, 

 farm families marooned with livestock 

 on knolls and ridges, and buildings 

 wrecked by the pounding of high waves 

 if not swept entirely away. 



Depth soundings showed that the flood 

 varied from ten to 30 and 40 feet or 

 more in the stricken Illinois counties. 

 At the Farm Flood Relief conference 

 called by the I. A. A. committee in Marion 

 Feb. 11, Farm Bureau presidents and 

 advisers from White, Gallatin, Saline, 

 Franklin-Hamilton, Pope-Hardin and 

 Pulaski-Alexander careful estimates were 

 made of the losses. Most of the poultry 

 was drowned or died from exposure in 

 the flood zone. Most of the livestock 

 was saved although losses of horses, 

 mules, cattle, and hogs, it was estimated, 

 varied from 100 to 300 or more of each 

 to the county. The number that starved 

 because of the impossibility of getting 

 seaworthy boats to haul feed out across 

 miles of open water whipped into white 

 caps by strong winds will never be 

 known. 



At Harrisburg, a farmer, Bob Hughes, 

 and two deputy sheriffs, Ezra Tolbert and 

 Gilbert Healy were drowned in 20 feet 

 of water when they set out in a Jackson 

 Park lagoon rowboat brought down from 

 Chicago. These brave men were taking 

 food supplies and medicine out to ma- 

 rooned refugees southeast of town when 

 high waves capsized their little boat. 



In Saline county I found farmers bit- 



iherifft-" 



P 



"NOW WHAT'S THE SITUATION" 

 F. E. Longmire, standing, at Farm Bureau presidents and 

 advisers Flood Relief Meeting. Marion. 



ter over the official red tape which pre- 

 vented them from getting a couple of 

 seaworthy boats from the National Guard 

 to haul feed to starving livestock. 

 "There's plenty of boats for the sight- 

 seers and officers but none for the farm- 

 ers," one man said. 



The Red Cross has done and is doing 

 an excellent job of caring for some 30,- 

 000 refugees quartered in scores of pub- 

 lic buildings and camps throughout the 

 lower end of the state. Most of these 

 people, many from Cairo, Mounds, Me- 

 tropolis, and the larger towns, must be 

 supplied with food, some with clothing 

 and medical aid. In a few instances the 

 Red Cross and the Resettlement Admin- 

 istration have supplied feed for stock. 



B. D. Gates, president of the Saline 

 County Farm Bureau, had come in by boat 

 (Continued on page 6) 



PRESIDENT I. E. POLLARD, left, and Thur- 

 PRESIDENT F. L. DRONE and Adviser Ray ^ man Wright, Adviser, White County. 'They 

 Roll of Gallatin. "Their County 80% Flooded." Fed Starving Livestock." 



H> 



at the C 



BO I 

 "He 

 1 7 miles 



