FLOOD ZONE AT A GLANCE 

 Shaded Portion Under Water. White County Not Included 

 Here. 



"HERE'S WHERE ITS THE WORST." 

 A. R. Wright, left, H. A. Spafford, State Sanitary Engineer. 



to Harrisburg from his farm five miles 

 east and north of town. "There's a two 

 story house that floated across the pave- 

 ment between here and Eldorado," he 

 said. "We have 7 to 8 feet of water at our 

 place. Lucky I had another set of build- 

 ings up on the ridge. We're hving up 

 there. My new house is in bad shape. The 

 waves have knocked the windows out on 

 one side and I'm afraid we'll have to re- 

 build part of it. The water is up within 

 two feet of the second floor. I lost 700 to 

 800 bushels of oats and the hay and 

 straw, also a steer and all the chickens. 

 But I saved the rest of the livestock. I 

 estimate my loss at around $4500 to 

 $5000. There's 9 feet of water over the 

 Big Four tracks north of town." 



But Gates wasn't worrying about his 

 money loss. He was alarmed about the 

 possibilities of typhoid and other human 

 diseases from drinking contaminated 

 water. "If we have our health, we can 

 go ahead," he said. "But with our wells 

 polluted, I'm afraid of what might hap- 

 pen when the water goes down and 

 farmers return to their homes." 



At Carbondale H. A. Spafford, sani- 

 tary engineer connected with the state de- 

 partment of health told us that 37 men 

 were out working to safeguard the water 

 supply and health conditions in the flood 

 zone. "We expect to go from farm to 

 farm, pump out the flooded wells, and 

 chlorinate them if we can get there be- 

 fore the people return to their homes. 



Gallatin, the hardest hit county, had 

 80 per cent of its farm lands under 

 water. And that means the best land 

 and best farms in the county. In Saline, 

 40 per cent is under water, in White 27 

 per cent, Massac 20-25 per cent. Pope 

 7 per cent, Hardin 10 per cent, Alex- 

 ander 50 per cent, Pulaski 20 to 25 

 per cent, Johnson 5 per cent, Hamilton 

 4 to 5 per cent. 



At the crest the flood this year stood 



between seven and eight feet above the 

 1913 mark. By Feb. 10 the flood had 

 receded more than five feet from the 

 high mark. Even then, rail service in the 

 area had not been resumed. Telephone 

 and telegraph service to the river towns 

 such as Shawneetown and Metropolis 

 was still out. W. W. Wesselius, Illinois 

 director of the Red Cross, at Marion told 

 the farm flood relief committee com- 

 posed of A. R. Wright, F. E. Longmire, 

 and E. C. Secor that it was guess work 

 to estimate how many homes were 

 wrecked. The Red Cross, he said, would 

 rebuild some houses and help the needy 

 families get re-established in a home. 

 It will not give permanent aid to those 

 who have resources or credit. Some aid 

 would be given to destitute farmers. 

 "We must get down to individual family 

 treatment," he said, "based on needs and 

 resources. Case workers will determine 

 who is to receive aid. We will have a 

 branch office in each county and expect 



RED CROSS HEADQUARTERS 

 in Marion. Director Wesselius, left, and 

 Wingate. 



Mr 



to work in close co-operation with the 

 County Farm Bureaus in handling farm 

 cases." 



In Saline county, Farm adviser Harry 

 Neville said that the seed problem would 

 be serious there. "We have 432 Farm 

 Bureau members and half of them are 

 flooded. Their straw and hay are gone. 

 Most of the grain feed is under water. 

 The flood covered our best land and best 

 farms. It came up about two inches an 

 hour for a while, then slowed down. 

 Today (Feb. 10) it has fallen 5.34 feet 

 since the crest on Feb. 3." He estimated 

 that it would require at least 10,000 

 bushels of corn and 10 carloads of hay 

 to take the rescued livestock through un- 

 til grass. 



In Gallatin, F. L. Drone, president of 

 the Gallatin County Farm Bureau said 

 that about 200 horses and mules were 

 drowned out of some 4600 listed in the 

 census. He and Farm Adviser Roll put 

 on hip boots and worked day and night 

 doing what they could to relieve flood 

 sufferers and livestock. Farm advisers 

 in the other flood counties were equally 

 as busy. 



"Yesterday (Feb. 10) I went 14 miles 

 by boat and walking through water in hip 

 boots," Mr. Drone said. "I worked New 

 Haven, Gold Hill and Shawneetown 

 townships. There are horses, cattle, and 

 hogs marooned all over the county. On 

 Round Pond Hill there are about 1000 

 hogs, 700 cattle, and 900 horses and 

 mules. (Gallatin is heavily populated 

 with livestock). This ridge has about 

 80 to 100 acres in it, mostly barren 

 ground. The livestock had eaten all the 

 shrubs, the bark off the trees, and the 

 branches up as high as they could reach. 

 Much of this stock will die from starva- 

 tion. Some of it is dead already. When 

 an animal gets weak and drops, the hogs 

 (Continued on page 10) 



I. A. A. RECORD 



