My friends - I know that most of us have, this week, been captivated and, at the same time, horrified at the events surrounding the destruction caused by Hurricane Katrina. I know that we send our hopes and prayers to those who have suffered as a result of this amazing natural disaster. Of the 750 subscribers to this List, I am aware of about 40 who reside in the LA and MS area. Since I do not know where most of our subscribers reside, there may be considerably more who have been affected by this storm. We know, too, that the residual effects of the storm, as it continued to move northeastward, left flooding rains in its wake in the Tennessee Valley area. As I understand it, radar indicated that this storm still had a definable eye in its center even after landfall, as it crossed out of the LA/MS area. Truly remarkable. In thinking about Mother Nature and floods, I decided to see what could be found about the JP region in that subject area prior to 1900, in the early, big-city newspapers. Exempting the New Madrid earthquake in the 1812 time frame, which was probably the greatest natural disaster to ever hit that portion of the US, there were some large floods. One such large flood, which was devastating, occurred in 1862, in which Cairo, Illinois near the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, was almost totally under water for a period of hours, and the east side of the Mississippi rose as high as 30 feet above norm in some place, inundating the west portions of Ballard and Hickman Counties, with a somewhat lesser involvement of Fulton County. I have a lengthy newspaper article, out of a Chicago newspaper(which, naturally, gave slightly more coverage to Cairo and the Illinois parts, than to KY) about that flood, its destruction and its effects on the war effort, which I will not post here, due to its length. But if anyone would like a copy, I do have an image file of it that I can send - just request it by private e-mail to me. -B ====================================================================

Bill's message which included the flood at Cairo reminded me about another flood which occurred in the Jackson Purchase area. This flood I believe took place in 1927 and affected the present day town of Columbus in Hickman Co. The original town was on low ground at the base of the bluff. The flood was so great that the townspeople got together and somehow managed to move some of the homes from the low ground to the bluff above it. When the flood had receded there was nothing left of the town. Some who lost their homes built their new homes on top of the bluff, which is the present location of the town. Even though Columbus is now a small community of a few hundred residents, it is still thriving and has a very nice state park (Columbus-Belmont) next to the city cemetery. At one time Columbus was among the towns which were being considered as a new location for our nation's capital. However a decision to keep the capital as Washington DC was made. This decision makes you wonder how things could have been changed had Columbus been named the new national capital. One thing has not changed - People will not give in to Mother Nature's ways and will rebuild their communities, their homes and their lives no matter how long it takes from scratch. Seeing this happen in our own time gives you a partial insight to what our ancestors did in their lives including moving from their roots to a new place to call home. Even though it's still a few months until Thanksgiving, let's take time this Thanksgiving to remember what our ancestors did and sacrificed for not only their own lives but that of their descendants (past, present and future) in addition to remembering those who will be trying to begin rebuilding their lives in the coming months. Debbi Geer __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com