Buchanan County bulletin and guardian., 1867-02-19
Great Freshets.

Nearly every year this region is made to
suffer from freshets. This year they have
come upon US earlier than usual. The heavy
fall Of snow o. two weeks age, has been melt
ed 5y the sun and rain until the creeks and
rivers in the interior have become torrents
which have rushed over their banks and in
many sections, flooded the low country. The
rain on Tuesday, night which was but res
pec.able shower here, was a furious storm
from Dyersville west, and. the consequences
were seen all along the line of the Dubuque
L Sioux City Railroad yesterday. Low pra>
ries resemble lakes, and branches were tor
rents cf no considerable size. The catfish
creek has oyertlowed its banks, and is wan
dering about Rockdale very loosely, filling
cellars and almost making ferry necessary
for the road.
But perhaps the greatest damage in this
vicinity has occurred at Dyersville. The south
fork of the Maquoke,a has nearly reached
the high water mark of two years ago, and
rushes madly where it pleases. Yesterday
forenoon sthe ice and water together carried
away the long wagon bridge west of the
village, and swept away the mill dam. The
bridge was about two hundred feet long. The
loss is heavy one, as the erection Of new
bridge will cost a large sum Of money. The
dam was rebuilt after the freshet Of two
years ago. The replacing it will make a
large hole in the income of the mill proprie-
| tor.
At Manche s.er the Maqnoketa was pouring
over its banks in several places when the
train passed. Happily it can do but little
damage thereabouts, save to fences on low
| grounds.
At Waterloo and Cedar Falls the Cedar
river was very high and constantly rising.
| At Iowa Falls the water was four feet deep
On the ice in the Iowa river which was break
ing up. The wide gorge was filling rapidly
with rushing water and ice. South of Iowa
Falls considerable damage must result.
At Galena the river rose to high point,
and caused considerable destruction Of prop
erty. The Gazette Of last evening has the
following:
AT about eleven o'clock this morning,
tie footbridgc, at the upper end Of town,
gave way and was carried down the stream
A little later, a portion of the nc " railroad
bridge was carried away. The steamer Alice
Wild broke from her moorings and was car
ried down stream as far as the spring Street
Bridge. She was stopped by stick Of tim
Der on the bridge, against which she struck,
breaking in her stern and tearing off the
pilot house. The steamer Charlie Rogers,
which has been on the ways for repairs, was
set afoat, by the height of the water, but was
secured in season to prevent her from drift
ing against the bridge, Some ten or twelve
barges broke from their moorings but were
also secured. One Of them, however, was
sunk by the ice and il total loss.
.The break waters, extending from the
turntables ofGreen and Spring street brigd-
es were considerably injured BY large cakes
Of ice, which were drifted against them by
| the rapid current.
"Tbe railroad bridge cannot be made
passible for several days--certainly not TIL
the water subsidies. A large cattle train ar
rived from Dunleith soon af.er the bridge
went away. The cattle were nnloaded and
driven across Green street bridge for ship
ment East. The train returned to Dunleith.
This freshet has done more damage here
than any previous one for several years
The railroad bridge at Galena was being
re built. The old bridge had been nearly all
taken down, and the timbers supporting the
new bridge rested on the ice. The latter
structure was all carried away with the abut
ment and cmbankment on the north side Of
the river. So we we're informed by young
man who arrived from Galena last evening.
--DubuQue Times, l4H.