Martinsburg gazette and public advertiser. [volume] (Martinsburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1826-1833, 1831-07-14


The Ctaynbcrsbtrg FLOod.-An account oil
the great flood which occurred last week at
Cbambersburr appeared 10 the National Ga
zette of Tuesday. The following additional
particulars arc from a letter from an IntellI-
gent resident Of the place; they exhibit
state Of alarm and destruction oil property
perhaps unprecedented in any part OF Penn
syIvanra, and remind one of the great Moray
foods, of which the Rev. Mr.. Lander has
given so graphic an account in his octave
volume lately published.
"Dear Sir-On Thursday night we had a
most awful visitation. The windows Of hea-
ven opened, and poured on our smiling, lux
uriant valley dreadful destruction Never in
the recollection Of any of our residents did
such a rain fall was awakened about ~
o'clock by the ringing of alarm bells, and
shouting; and what a scene presented itself.
NV house was completely flooded carried
nv wife. and Mr.. r. the children about a
square, through water rushing like a sea,
three feet deep. The water in the yard and
kitchen was three feet deep, and in the par
Iors and store about IS inches was oblig-
ed to break out part of the kitchen wall, to
give the wateFa passage; otherwise the house,
a substantial brick one, would have been
torn down. Had not dam above given
way, which gave The water free passage
into the creek, we should inevitably have lost
all our furniture and house. You cannot con
ceive the destruction il has caused Where
the stream from the Spring crosses the Bal
tiloore turnpike at J. Stouffer's mill, il tore
fridge, dam, turnpike, and all, before it
The road in that direction was impossible
tka af ~
Nearly all the dams on the creek are swept
Of in toto.
Stones supposed to weigh one ton are lodg-
ed on the second floor of Poutz's mill Hay,
grain, com fields, hog pens, corn, hogs, trees,
and waste timber Of every description were
borne like corks by the torrent tanner a
few lots above me lost, it is supposed, to the
amount of $500. All the fences, grape
vines, sc about my yard are swept off as
clean as if they never had existed Our car
pets, &c, are much injured, what the con
sequence Of the great deposit of filth in our
cellars will be, it IS impossible to say; they
smell horribly. have not lime to add more,
yours, &c.
.3nother Freshet-On Tuesday last, we
were visited with freshet, but little inferior
in magnitude TO that which occurred on the
previous Thursday night. Dark clouds
were observed IN the afternoon, rising in the
north and south-about O'Clock they united
and poured deluge of rain upon this and
the neighboFhood at the head OF the Failing
Spring, = that stream short time before
night, again rose TO an astonishing height
overfiowlng the gardens, and Other low
grounds on its borders, and footing the eel
lars and lower stories Of several houses Had
not the papermill dam, fences, and other oh
struciions, been remo'ed by the former food,
and the arches Of the bridge on the main
street been kept clear of DRIFT wood, Sc
there is little doubt but the damage in town
would have been as great rs on Thursday
Digbt, but we are happy TO state, that the
only serious injury done in the borough, on
this occasion, was that sustained by the pa
per- nin, the gable end of which was under
minded and partly washed away by the tor
II nt " hich rushed down the fails.
[ChomberSb,1g Repository.