The weekly Ottumwa courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1857-1872, 1866-03-15
THE OTTUMWA COURIER.
Local and Miscellaneous
A Trip to Croton.
: WHAT WE SAW.

Armstrong, the gentlcmaniy agent of the
Des Mo;nes Valley Railroad, we We're per-
; mitted to take a trip 10 ,'roton Yesterday
and see with our own eyes, the amount
and kind Of damages done along the line
by the ice and water of the Des Moines
River. Stepping on the train of Conduc-
tor Smith at our Depot, we were soon
, under way and arrived In short time at
ALPINE. E'lHsIi. fH"
I Nothing Of much interest was 10 be seen
here, except "a coal thine. which we are in
| formed is doing good business rnd Civ
ing employment to n number of miners
We stopped here but short time, when
we again took up our way and after a
while reached. zen. ~. ~.t.
INDEPENDECE.
Not much OLA place; "a saw mill Post
Office Station House and stock yard, com
posing most Of it. From here we
proceeded on and after frightening lot of
cattle from. the track. we arrived at t....
Dowps, .ga.r
which we suppose is a place. We could see
nothing, however but Station House;
stopping hut q few minutes here, we
.e. KILBoURNE, ~
n r Hre whI.', bore an appearance of thrift.
| Proceeding from this place the traveller
first begins to- notice. the effects cf the
ice by trees along tha banks OF the river
which have been peeled of their bark so rs
to present n 'ni"e appearance for many feet
above the surface. Our next stopping
place was
.s-' RESToNsPoRT, .. ...tr
a handsome and thriving village. contain
ing three churches, n pnblic school and Il
number of fine residences; u numbe-. of
houses on the fiat had to be vacated, ow-
ing to the rise of the river. At
BoNAPARTE, ...
our next stopping place. the ice had filed
some ofthe streets, the damage, we learn.
was but slight resulting more from the
Inconvenience than anything else. At
- FARMINGToN.
the Damages were more severe. The first
intimation the citizens living near. the
river had fthc danger. their houses were
surrounded and the water rapidly rising.
Many got out safe. scmo 10y wading waist
could carry, and other. barely saving
themselves. aud losing all they owned in
the world. The old mill on Water street,
Breitenstein's building. and Mrs. Ches-
ler's house were destroyed.
wH hoard of nn other cases of destr ruc-
tinn of property, uut suppose large guam
titles were destroyed. Be-
tween this place and R"napart. the behold
er is first struck with the sirht Of the mas
ses of ioe along the bottoms and beside the
track The sc~nn reminds one of the Are
tic regions more than anything else. IIuge
masses of ice are piled up in some places
to II height of t"irtv-tive feet; i'm other pla-
COS it resembles an immense crater rent
with vast seams and cracks and piled up
in manner that is grand and fantaStical:
rails, remnants of corn stocks, roofs of
houses, parts of bridges and household
furniture are intersrcrsed with the cakes
of ice. Two bridges were carried away he
tween Bnnaparte and Pennington which
have been replaced by the Company. As
an instance Of the force of the ice. we will
mention one ease ofa pier built of large
blocks of stone which was wrenched ont
Of of place and ground rs fine IA powder.
| Large cakes of ice vet remain near the rail
| road on both sides. The ice descending with
the force of IN avalanche roaring crash
| ing and destroying everything i'm its way.
must have been sight terrible and sub
| lime. At
the greatest damage was done. This is n
place oi perhapstwn hundred people. The
banks of the river heiny much lower than
at other places. the town was almost COM
| pletely submerged. Two large fl urng
mills and two residences were completely
destroyed and carried away by the food,
while a number of ntnrr houses were ci-
ther unroofcd or turned around upon their
| foundations. The rise in the river was so
rapid that the inhabitants fthe lower part
of town, barely had time Ia escape with
their lives, not even saving wearing APP
parel. Mr.. Rietnr the agent Of the X. r.
Mt this place, Ito whom we are indebted for
our information;D informs us that his house
was carried away 50 suddenly that in at-
tempting to save II Bureau, him and his
| daughter came near looSing their lives
another family were about TO move their
furniture and other household stuff with q
two horse wagon, which was backed ur
to the house, when one of the family dis
covered tina the river was again rising
notifying the driver of the same, who inn
mediately put his horses to full speed
barely succaedingin reaching higl. ground
ere the water had risen high enough tC
swim his horses. This fnmily were
driven to the upper story Of their houst
and were afterwards rescued by Mr.. Rictol
. and another gentleman, in II skitf. The
damages here amount To about $50. 600
Croton is one of the most desolate look.
! ing places it has been our lot to cast eve
upon for some time. The amount of ice
piled around the town in different places
is surprising. The inhabitants will be
apt to have good supply during the com
} ing summer. Between Croton and
BELFAST, a..
three bridges were torn out, all of whicl
will probably be replaced by this evening
The damages did not extend below thi
place. Trains from both ways meet here
where passengers and baggage are trans
ferred from one train to the other.
We were unable to obtain an estimat
of the amount Of damages done to tn
railroad-the Company not yet KNOWN!
how much it is. q q
To Conductor Smith. and Mr.. Reiter, tn
D station agent at Croton, we are under man
Mr.. Armstrong. the agent at this place