The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1857-02-14
Ottaha frte Gtabtr.



to have been general throughout the coun'
try, and our exchanges from all quarters
comes filed with accounts of disasters ana
hair-bread,h escapes. From New York ana
New England, from Virginia and Maryland,
Pennsylvania. Ohio, Indiana. Michigan, &C.,
the burden of the papers aDi telegraph dis
patches is the same. To give anything ike
full account frem al directions would oc-
cupy more space than we can command, SC
that we shall attempt little more than re
sumo Of disasters at and near home.
Ar DAY-oN.-The chief disaster at Day
ton was the destruction Of the fine bridge,
erected by the people four or five years ago,
at an expense Of some $1,000. 1t was taken
of bodily, leaving nothing but the naked
abutment. The dam was not seriously IN
jured. A break in the feeder will probably
stop The mills from running a month or
more. OF individuals, the Messrs. Green
are the only serious sufferers. Their dye
house, q new building erected north OF the
woolen factory, has been so bodily dam
aged as to require rebuilding, and the kilns,
hearths. kettles, &c, in 1t are mostly ruined.
The lower floor of the factory was also six
or seven feet under water, and sutferedo-inc.
siderable damage.
Fox RIVER FEEpER-The Fox River feed
er, leading from Dayton to Ottawa, has
again, as usual, suffered serious damage.
Some sixty or seventy rods Of the bank at
Dayton has been swept away, the lower
gates and wing of the guard lock have gone
out and the lock otherwise much damaged.
There are also several smaller breaks in the
feeder lower down, and good deal OF dirt
has been washed into it. 1t viii take
month at least to repair it,
The CAxAL-Ws are not yet fully ad-
vised as to the extent of the damage suffer
ca by the canal, although it is considerable.
We saw Mr.. Preston on Wednesday, who
had passed along most Of it, and from whom I
we obtained few items.
The protection to the PecoInsaugen aque
duct is about two-thirds gone, involving
some heavy worth to repair it. There is /
break of few rods in the bank near lock 13, I
and gate is broken down in lock "A. The
Du Page dam, bridge and pier are gone,
together with the tow path bridge, pier and
abutment at the same place with about 100
feet of the high tow-pa5h bank, and 100
feet more Of the filling up across the bot
tom. There is also break at the Shanna-
hon lock, and another three miles below Jo-
liet; and great deal of damage has been
done to the tow path between Joliet and
Chicago. As far as heard from, the acque-
ducts are all uninjured. Mr.. Preston can
yet give no opinion as to how soon the dam
age can be repaired.
Rock ISLAND RAnEoAp.-We can hear
nothing in reference to the condition of this .
road west Of Bureau Junction, although re-
port says several bridges have been swept
away The first mail from the east since
Friday got through On Tuesday, by ferrying
the Du Page. The Fox River bridge at
Ottawa has kept its place, after suffering Sc
rious DAMAGE. The pier in the centre OF the
stream is so badly shattered, that it gives
the bridge no support, and efforts are now
being made to brace it up with timbers.
As, however, there is an immense gorge of
ice in the river a few miles above the bridge
no bracing with timbers can be relied on,
and the chances are that the bridge itself
may yet &c.
The Du Page bridge went On Friday night,
and its fall was accompanied with serious
disaster. The bridge has been moved a foot
or two out Of it's place by the ice, and a
freight train coming. from the west, being
thus thrown off the track, was precipitated
into the stream The engine, tender, and
six freight cars went over the bank, and the
engineer, fireman and breakman were in
stantly killed The passenger train from
tie east next morning escaped a like fate
only by the prudence and foresight of the
engineer and conductor. The bridge at the |
Red Mill, two miles east of Joliet, was also
injured, bat this bridge, as well as that
across the Du Page, have been sufficiently
repaired to allow trains again to pass.
Ar PERU AND La SALE the damage is
pretty heavy. At La Sale all the lower |
stories Of the buildings on the canal basin |
we're submerged, and much fear was enter Z
tanned in reference to the fleet of loaded ca
nal boats in the basin, but they appear not .
to have suffered much. The Tropic," at .
the mouth of the channel, was the only one
that appears to have been sunk. AT Peru
the damage was more serious e fine
stone freight house of the Rock Island Rail!
road had its whole east end knocked out,
and is a wreck. The Chambers block vas
also much damaged Brewsters' warehouse
we also learn, is again stove in. The water
was up on water street so as to cover the
lower floors Of the Chambers block, and
the stores in that quarter removed their
goods to the upper floors. Several loaded
canal boats at the wharf were sunk, among
them the d. r. Holt, with 5000 bushels OF
grain and the steamer ST. Croix had her
starboard wheel broken.
A fleet Of canal boats. twenty or thirty in
number, all loaded, lying at Spring Creek
and Hennepin bars, have either been sunk /
or carried off, and in several OF them were |
families, whe, it is feared, are lost. \ num-
Der of wood choppers on Spring Creek were
obliged to take refuge from the flood by
climbing trees, but were rescued by skifis
sent from Peru.
AT MhFoRD-We have rumors, that the /
bridge at Milford, large lot of corn, and /
several houses were swept away that Jack
sons Mill was seriously injured, and much 4
other damage done; but we have nothing .
from there authentic.
Ar AURORA the damage was fearful. 4