Thriller Thursday ~ 1884 Flooding of Catahoula Parish

From the May 22, 1884 edition of the National Tribune in Washington, D.C.:

Courtesy of Chronicling America

Transcription:

Appeals for relief continue to pour in upon the Secretary of War and upon General J. Lloyd King from the residents of the flooded districts of North Louisiana.  Almost the entire congressional district represented by General King, an area larger than the entire State of New Jersey, is under water, and the condition of affairs there is most distressing.  A letter from Mrs. H. E. Bowman, postmistress at Wild Wood, Catahoula parish, says that the nearest dry land is thirty miles distant.

The 1884 flooding of Catahoula Parish was caused by the overflow of the Ohio River which in turn caused private levee failures on the lower Mississippi River.