The weekly Butte record., 1861-12-14
The Great Ereshat.

ttuulIS idI lHtO tue suo"y reg iOuo Vi tuC "Jsoi-
ra Nevadas, and continued with increasing
volume during the day aud night and until an
early hour on the Monday morning following.
On Saturday. Feather River, which but few
days before was a comparatively small stream,
almost fordable at any point, had swelled to
such an extent that the ferries could not cross,
and communication with the opposite side only
had with small boats. Still, on account of the
early season of the year, no apprehension of a
food was manifest. But on Sunday morning,
the rain still falling in torrents, the water was
found to be running over the bar and its ultl-
mate submersion apparent. Skfs were soon
brought into requsition, and several houses
then surrounded by water, were relieved OF
their inmates and furniture herses removed
from stables !; property, to some extent, hastily
(as was supposed secured; buildings fastened
with ropes, and preparations made for the I'M
pending food. Before twelve o'clock, the
Huntoon street ferry house was swept away,
carrying with it the telegraph wire, thereby
cutting off the, then, only communication with
the upper country.
From that time until night-fall, notwithstand
ing the drenching rain, crowds of men and oc
easionally woman could be seen standing
along the edge of the rushing stream, watching,
with excitement and eagerness, building after
building swept from their foundations by the
increasing current-some moving majestically
down the stream as erect as when standing up
on their foundations, while others, more frail,
careened and fell to pieces, and STILL others, as
if to give variety to the thrilling scene, per
formed fantastic feats in gymnastic science,
aided, now and then, by some huge and ancient
monarch of the wilderness, swiftly journeying
from far off mountain regions to lodgment in
the valley below Or perchance, an exit from
the Golden Gate and voyage to some foreign
land. Drift wood and rubbish of every con-
ceivable shape and variety covered the surface
of the water and enterprsing wreckers were
engaged during the afternoon in catching lum-
Der, wheelshafts and such other property as
could be turned to future use. When the
shades of night drew its curtain of darkness
around the scene, few buildings were still
standing on the bar, seemingly bidding defiance
to the angry flood but, when the light of
Monday morning removed the curtain, it was
found that a raise of full five feet, during the
night, had swept away every vestige OF these
remaining habitations, together with several
others near the bank The valuable property
gathered by our enterprising wreckers of the
day before had been again swept away, and
the roaring sweeping torrent threatened the
business portion Of town. AT the saw-mill and
at the foot of Downer street, the water reached
Montgomery street. At the foot of Myers
street it was high enough to deposit quite an
amount of drift wood Immediately in the rear
of Faulkner & Co. s banking house. AT Hun
toon street it caused the hasty removal of the
horses, harness, coaches, &c, from the stable of
the California Stage Company, and giving it a
pretty thorough washing out; while across
the street, Nyes stable suffered the same fate.
Chinatown barely escaped inundation, the wa
ter having Just reached the street.
The flood reached its highest stage about
seven o'clock, Monday morning, and by ten
o'clock its receding was perceptibe.
At the saw-mill and above, where the river
is confined in narrow channel or canon, it
was rushing, foamng torrent, dashng its
spray high in the air and roaring, apparently,
with rage at the unylelding rocky chasm which
confined it in its bed, producing a scene which
for beauty, sublmity and grandeur, is seldom,
if ever, equalled.
There are conflicting opinions amongst the
old residents, regarding the hight of the present
freshet as compared with that of 1858, but
from all we can gather, of the hight attained
during the latter year, in the absence of any
permanent mark, we feel justified in putting
the present at, at least an equal hight with
that. 1t will vary but slightly either way
1t is impossible for US to give anything def
mite of the amount of damage done to property,
either here or at other points along the river
At the head dam of the Feather River 6,
| Ophir Water Co.'S ditch, the bulkhead, apron,
etc, were swept away, together with about
200 feet of aume, damaging the company about
81 000 besides the loss of water during the
time spent in repairing, which is expected to
be about three weeks. All the ferry ropes
along the river are broken and some of the
boats were carried down stream and in some
instances, we believe, were hoated out upon
the plains. The loss at the saw-mll is the
most serious of any of which we have as vet
learned. The boom contained large number
of logs, which would have yielded, when sawed
about 100000 feet of lumber They ware all
swept away, together with a quantity of lum.
Der piled up in the yard. Other damage was
done-such as tearing up railroad tracks, dis
arranging water pipes, etc. The total loss
will not fall short of ten thousand dollars
besides delaying the operations of the mill for
a number of months. Messrs. Faulkner &
Dyer, miners, upon the bar, had all of their
machinery, tools, houses, stables, loose lumber