New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1856-03-07
IMMENSE DESTRUCTION.
BREAKING Up OF THE ICE-TwENrY-
THREE BOATS WRECKED.
Fra~ ne St Load De-oe,si, Fee. p.

Fro~ TA< S. Lolis De-ocyaf FEB 2.
Another great disaster has befallen our city Tie
loug.dresded event OF the breaking up Of the ice
which for two months gorged the Miss.sipp and al
ts tributary streams has come at last and brought
with destruction Of marine interests far tran.
scendiIg anything that anticipated. Twenty
hours since levee crowded with steamer
row not perfect hull remains. AL have been swept
down that lay opposite the central part Of the city
crushed into a common ruin by the overwhelming
masses Of accumulated ice. Broken cables, chains
With their links drawn to threads, q few shattered
sn, alone remain 10 tell the story Of stately vessels
that were Justly esteemed the pride OF the W estem
waters.
few moments after O'clock on yesterday the
alarm was given that the gorge bad commenced 10
break and slowly at irst, and majestcay the hoat-
ing fields began to move then, gathering force and
rushing in upon the ooats II lued some o1' upon The
bank. while thirteen Others were carried below and
stranded upon the bars, where they were RAPIDLY cut
into ribbons few Of them that drfted INTO the bend
of the river although streir ed in every timber, iortu
natey escaped further damage; for some unle me
ice continued to float Off but after few boGrs again
gorged causing additional destruction to those steam
ems that still lay at the shere. Anxious suspense then
ensued. The Mississippi was rising rapidly, ana II
was well known that the next breakup would be even
more terrific than the preceding one.
At Il O'clock the tollng Of the bells and the con-
fused shouts that burst upon the Stiffness OF the night,
told that the ice aga IN motion Ten vessels IN
sheltered from the rst violence, were tom from their
fastening hurled one upon another and sent crashing
and drifting along the front Of the levee. The scene
was truly appalling to those who merely specta-
tors while the heroic exeTOns of the commanders and
officers who stood to their decks amid the falling of
tinbers and the sinking Of vessels, doing all that men
could DO TO save them, thrilling efhioitlon Of
most true courage in the moment OF extreme peru.
A dark night and beating rain that ensued added
dismalneas aud drearness TO the occasion, and let
those who might struggle with the elements almost
hopeless task before them. The additional boats that
were thus wrested from the shore, and damned amid
the heaped UP flakes that hurried them along, met
Ike fate with the steamers that had been carried of
in the afternoon At present we cannot give de-
tailed account of the losses but refer our readers to
the river column, where they will be found IN fun 40
far as heard from at the hour of going to press.
Frequently as 81. Louis has experienced great re.
verses fortune by fire. and flood, and pestence aud
marvellous bas been its rise after each reverse we
must vet consider this of the most disastrous
that has befaen it, All the business interests Of the
CITY were looking forward to the opening of nayiga-
ton with confidence and cheer rarely felt before;
and now lust at the moment when all our rivers would
have been covered with merchandise, large part Of
the vessels that were to have freghted il have been
blotted out in single day. To our Insurance Com
panies also the disaster will prove heavy blow and
dttract much from their meanS, although we do net
fear that il will impair their credit. The losses will be
VIEW large but what they will amount to in the aggre-
gate, or upon whom they will fell, cannot yet be as
ceftained.