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Show Breaking of Ice Gorge Causes Heavy Loss of Properly St. Tvonis. Mo., Jan. 14. The Mississippi Mis-sissippi river front at St. Louis presented pre-sented a devastated appearance tod.ty. The river, gorger with ice, rose from 22 feet Wednesday night to 31.9 feef early today, and then the gorge broke. Inside of three hours the rher fell more than five feet nnd at 8 o'clock the gauge read 26 1 feet. The boats on the river were left high and dry by the rapid fall and the levee was strewn with wreckage. The property loss will exceed J20.000 T he gorge which formed yesterdav after Ihe breaking of the gorge which had held for threo weeks, gave way at dawn tinder the pressure of ice and water which had come down the Missouri Mis-souri river into the Mississippi. Weather bureau reports indicate that the Missibslppl river is rising north of St. Iouls. The railroad t i arks on the levee were inundated and the falling water left them covered cov-ered wjlh debris and ice. The gorge at Alton, twenty threo miles north of St Louis, broke this morning and v. ill reach here during the day. Tho bridge at Alton caused the Fee floes to oanv up again and another gorge is forming there. South of St. Louis the river Is full of floating ice to below Chester. 111., sixty miles down. Tho Illinois and Missouri rlvero are rising. Here the river has fallen. The preliminary wcrk on the free- bridge which St. Louis is erecting was destroyed de-stroyed by the Ice. |