MILITARY CAMP DESTROYED BY A FLOOD. 103 



U.S.A., who were encamped upon the river Salado, 

 near San Antonio, Texas, just after the close of the 

 Mexican war of 1849: 



" The stream was then a thread, over which it was easy 

 to step." " In the small hours of the morning, when the camp 

 was buried in repose, a sentinel nearest the stream found his 

 coat covered with water. The night was perfectly clear, 

 though dark; and for a few moments he sought in vain for 

 the cause. Hearing a rushing sound towards the stream, he 

 noticed that its bed was bright with running water; and on 

 approaching, he found it already more than bank full, and 

 that he was walking in the water of an approaching freshet. 

 Discharging his musket, he alarmed the camp. Everybody 

 tumbled out of bed, and, to their astonishment, into the 

 water. All was alarm and commotion. The water rose 

 steadily, but with wonderful rapidity; and the men were di- 

 rected to make their way to the high land, as best they 

 could; horses were brought, and the ladies, laundresses, and 

 children carried on their bare backs, over nearly two miles 

 of water, often up to the horses' bellies, before arriving on 

 the safe high ground. Not a thing was saved : nearly all the 

 command were in their night clothes. Tents, provisions, arms, 

 everything, was carried down by the stream and totally lost. 

 The bottom was so wide that the water was nowhere deep, 

 and only one life was lost. The next morning the thread of 

 a stream of the night before, was a mighty river, twice as 

 wide as the Mississippi at Memphis." * 



The moral of all this, of course, is, never to encamp 

 close to the banks of dry stream beds, but if possible 

 to chose a location well raised above the reach of the 

 water, in case of a possible flood. In all probability 

 it was only the wide, flat nature of the valley that in 

 this case, saved the lives of the whole command. That 



* The Hunting Grounds of the Great West, pp. 85, 86. 



