Phenix gazette. [volume] (Alexandria [D.C.]) 1825-1833, 1826-04-06

away, and four or 1--WE sctooners were driven
from their moorings, and had appeared in SIGH.
of this village, fast wcdged in the lat thai
tlme) immoveable mass Of broken ice. Abou,
-, the water again began to rise, and continued
rising till four, when it had attained its former
height, and then, great body of ice, which
had accumulated for mile above this village.
suddenly started, and with tremendous force
rushed down upon us. The scene, at this time
oeggars all description. To have been real.
lied, II should have been witnessed. To give
our distant readers some small idea of il. we
will attempt faint sketch On the upper
wharf and directly by the side of the ware
house before mentioned as having been carried
away, stood large building, used as an ice
house, and containing at the time nearly one
hundred cords Office. Piled against il on rhe
wharf, and reaching to the street. was five or
six hundred cords Of wood This wharf with
the formidable barriers upon il, was anxiously
looked 10, as forming the only possible protec.
ton to the property on the wharves below, and
the vessels, five in number, lying in the docks.
Ii the barrier above were DESTROYED il was seen
that all below must be swept away The sole
attention Of the hundreds Of spectators, who
shock, was turned to this point 1t came-the
Ice leaped twenty feet from the surface of the
water upon the aouse-it wi,hstood the shock
Cake upon cake-mass upon mass, pressed up
on the rear OF the first--still il stood. A small
schooner, which lay few rods above, was
dashed by the ice against the house, and
IN moment was shattered into pieces,
as easily as one would crush an egg shell,
logs twenty feet in length, and three feet
in diameter, reared their whole length,
and fell upon it-stili it stood. For two
minutes the conflict seemed doubtful-in two
more it was decided. The barrier remain
ed-and the great amount of property be-
low was chiefly saved. The breathless ankle
~ OF the spectators during this sublime scene
can be more easily conceived than described
and sudden shout Of JOY burst forth when
the careering mass sheered off from the contest
Attention was now turned to the compact mass
OF ice, logs, trees, lumber, etc. floating rapidly
by, in the midst OF which were imbedded fivc
schooners, hurrying TO what appeared certain
destruction. The ice proceeded bat mile or
two, when it was stopped by an unbroken field
below, and damned so as to cause the water to
rise rapidly, to an unprecedented height in this
village.
AT six o'clock the water had risen thirteen
feet above the common high water mark. At
seven it began TO sIbside, and III "a hours had
fallen about four feet: and no farther danger is
apprehended. The loss sustained cannot now
be ascertained but it is thought, that, at this
place, it will not exceed $4,000. The chief suf-
ferers are R. II. Gardiner, Esq. and J. P. Hun
ter & Co. The loss Of the former is the ware
dc in
siderable portion Of the causeway across the
basin Of the stream, which was pressed by the
ice several rods from its original position. The
Messrs. Hunters have lost great number Of
logs. There were but few goods in the ware
house, and they were owned as we understand,
in Augusta TO other items of loss are boat
builders shop belonging to Mr.. Patten, which
stood by the side Of the ice house, and wa.
crushed by the ice and logs driven upon it,
the fishing schooner Of Mr. Enoch Dill, utterly
destroyed; small quantities OF salt in some Of
the lower stores; wood, lumber, &c. and some
damage TO one or two vessels, which now lie
upon the wharves. Opposite this village, in
Pittston, large brig, on the stocks, belonging
to ]. N. & A. Cooper, was lifted from her
blocks, but is not much injured-they also lost
one or two small buildings.
At Hallowell the destruction was very great.
The particulars we cannot give, but the lowest
estimate Of loss at that place, which we have
heard made, is twenty thousand dollars. 1t pro-
badly exceeds that sum. Thirty or forty fam
lilies, we have been told, were obliged to aban-
don their houses, or fee to the upper stories.
Augusta has also suffered severely, as has every
town on the river, more or less The bridge at
Watervi!le, we hear, is principally destroyed.
Two or three small bridges between this and
Augusta are so much injured as TO be impassa-
ble
Some idea Of the great pressure of the NOV.
ing ice may be formed from the fact, that an
elm tree, five feet in diameter, situated in the
ship yard of Capt. J. Tarbox, standing many
feet from high water mark and protected by
high point of land above it, was completely
rooted from the earth,
The ice is only broken two or three miles
below this place, and dam is formed between
this and Halowell, which it is thought must re-
main some days, and until it is principally
wasted away by the influence of the water and
the sun. Gardner Chronicle