Photos around Cape Archives

April 29, 2011December 27, 2015

Flood Pits Neighbor vs. Neighbor

The controversy over breaching the Bird’s Point levee that’s putting Missourians against Illinoisans isn’t anything new.

A dam erected by farmers in 1967 pitted neighbor against neighbor.

My film envelopes were slugged “Dutchtown Dam 6/22/67,” and I thought the photos were taken south of Hwy 74 between Cape and Dutchtown. The newspaper story, however, describes it as “south of Cape Girardeau and east of old Highway 61 between that highway and the Mississippi River.”

Bits and pieces of the story ran for days. You can read the one that ran with my photo in the June 23, 1967, Missourian.

Farmers on the “wet” side of the dam contended that the structure would cause water from the Diversion channel to back up on their land earlier than it would have normally.

Threats to blow up the dam

The Cape County Sheriff’s office received at least two threats to blow up the dam. Some of the farmers stood guard over the earthen structure at night. At least one of the men in this photo had a rifle or shotgun. I’m going to surmise that it was probably more for snakes than potential bombthrowers.

A story on June 26, said the Little River Drainage District had ordered the dam removed. A flood story on the 27th said it was still standing. A story on June 28 said that attorney Jack O. Knehans was contemplating filing a suit seeking $50,000 to $75,000 in damages from the dam builders.

I scrolled through papers for the next few days and never did find how the issue was resolved.

April 28, 2011March 28, 2024

N’Orleans Stands Empty

Tables in the N’Orleans Resturant sit covered with white tablecloths for customers that won’t be showing anytime soon. The landmark eating establishment is closed.

Built as hostelry in 1806

I’m not even going to try to rehash the history of the place.

One marker says that it was the “site of the first hostelry in Cape Girardeau, built in 1806 by Capt. Wm. Ogle, one of the first west of the Mississippi River. In 1868, the Turner Society erected the present building as turnverein or a community center. Masonic Order owned the building from 1888-1891. Later became known as an opera house and many famous personages appeared on its stage.”

Opera house, Masonic Lodge, newspaper office

The building has been used for many things over the years.

A marker posted by Old Town Cape says, “Royal N’Orleans: Turner Hall, as this building was once known, was built in 1868 with contributions from members of the community. Designed by Nicholas Gonner, an architect, civil engineer & contractor in 1888, the Mason’s purchased Turner Hall & it became the opera house and Masonic Lodge. In 1904, the Naeter Brothers started and published the first issue of The Daily Republican on these premises. In 1954, the Royal N’Orleans was opened.”

Dead plant in the window

I shot this the day before seeing the screaming plants at the Plaza Galleria. If it had been the other way around, I wouldn’t have given this a second glance.

Protest in the 60s

SEMO students picketed the N’Orleans in 1967. See more photos of the rowdy group here.

Photo gallery of the N’Orleans

The place has been called the Royal N’Orleans, the Petit N’Orleans and is now just N’Orleans. Click on any photo to make it larger, then click on the left or right side to move through the gallery.

April 26, 2011April 26, 2011

Follow the Bouncing Balloons

After we finished in Dutchtown Sunday, I wanted to drive down to the Diversion Channel to shoot the water levels there. Just before we got to the bridge, Robin or Brother Mark spotted this amorphous blob rolling and bouncing across a wet field.

It was a cluster of green and black balloons that could shape-shift around any obstacle. I pulled over and backed up. It was the strangest thing I’ve seen in a long time.

There would be more video, but the last big gust of wind carried with it driving rain. Discretion and dryness being the better part of valor, I made a beeline for the shelter of the car. You don’t pay me enough to get wet.

Video of the bouncing balloons.

No telling where they came from, nor where they ended up.

A lot has changed

A lot has changed since this photo was taken Sunday. By Monday afternoon, the wet field had several feet of water on it. I don’t know how much is on it Tuesday night. I heard that both 74 and 25 are closed at Dutchtown.

Obligatory goodbye photo

I hit the road about noon Tuesday and made it to just north of Atlanta. I didn’t get hit by a single raindrop all the way. I didn’t know what to make of blue skies.

See y’all sometime this summer.

April 26, 2011April 26, 2011

Dutchtown Gearing Up for Flood

I was planning on getting out of town around noon Monday (which really means around 2 PM). I piddled around waiting for the rain to break so I could load the car and getting a couple of posts ahead on the blog so I could send updates from the motel room along the way.

By the time I got the car loaded, I still had to drop some stuff off in town, so I opted to leave early Tuesday morning. I’m glad I did because the weather was lousy from late afternoon through the evening.

Water’s almost up to Hwy 74

Someone posted on Facebook that Hwy 74 had water almost up to the road. That meant that our property in Dutchtown that I mentioned yesterday might be starting to flood. On the way down to check on it, a state trooper at a roadblock told us that they’re starting to build a levee across the road ahead, so we’d have to turn around.

We took the back way around through Jackson and down Hwy 25. Just as we were pulling into town, we noticed that several houses had tractor trailers backed up in the driveways. They were packing up.

Mother stayed in the car after I pulled into the lane leading to our spot. I walked back up to 74 to see the Fruitland Fire Department setting up a pump on the corner and having a hard time getting it started (more about that later).

Owners trying to fight the water

Most of the activity was around one house directly north of our land. Several of the neighbors had built a makeshift levee between us and them several years back. When Mark, Robin and I were there Sunday, we commented that it didn’t look like it had been maintained since the last flood.

We wondered if anybody would start getting excited once the water was visible in the fields.

Sandbag City

A raft of high school-age kids were filling sandbags and adding to the height of the barrier. I hope it does them some good. We don’t have anything left that the water can hurt much after the 1973 and 1993 floods, but I feel sorry for families who have something to lose.

Pardon my crankiness

On the way back to the car, I saw that the fire department had gotten the pump going.

I know that we’re going under water. I can’t blame the Diversion Channel, the Mississippi River or Mother Nature for that. I WAS a bit put out to see someone deliberately pumping water on us, though.

At least they’re trying. I wish ’em the best. I think Dutchtown is going to go the way of the Red Star District, Smelterville and Wittenberg. At some point, there will be one flood too many.