Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1869-10-14
Editorial Correspondence
The Flood ut IiIChburgh.
FITCHBURGH, Oct. ), IS

IiICHjsL RGIl, OCT. >, lOOJ.
Dear Ulold: We have had rain
storm, and in consequence we are able to
make up letter for you. All day Sun
day it rained, poured Sunday night, and
yesterday it seemed as though the win
dows of heaven were opened the second
time to food the earth At five o'clock
Monday the storm eliminated, and the
water was ut its greatest height. The
river overlooked its banks, the water
swept through lumber yards and took
huge piles of boards and logs along with
it, and on reaching the arched stone
bridge, stopped the passage of the water,
SO that it set back and formed a pond
Al the low lands were submerged, aud
the Putnam machine shop was filled with
water above the window stills Plancrs,
iathes and other machines, were covered,
ard this morning as we looked in upon
those machines they were covered with
mud and rust. This shop is $50 feet
long and IS one OF the longest, if not the
largest, machine shops in New England,
and the damage 10 INC machines must be
great.
But it VAS not to tho low lands that the
damage was confined. The descending
torrents made rivers III the streets, and the
roads leading from thio place are made
imp sable by the deep gullie-. liz Laurel
street, which u the onr leading west to
the granite lodges on Rol!-tone mountain,
TIE water descended and washed all the
snI cG in spots. lowing nothing but
baa5l rs, curry ius the aaud into level
p.3ess @r dnPa-ttinL it rcverai feet taick
IL sio,s-yasl-, gardens, etc. La one place,
jas. ia !.out 81 d fine re9id nee. the water
had quilted ont channel / should Judge
,jissu 10 twenty feet wide, aud in spots
,ise 20 six tectdeop. The front fence was
undermined, and the dwelling was threat
cued with similar treatment Farther
mp the street IA house was so near being
undermined that the cellar wall upon one
f-ida was washed out, and the distance
4 from The threshold OF the door 10 the bot
/ tom of the gorge that the water had made,
was not less than ten feet. How cellar
could be undermined and have three or
/ four feet of earth washed from its bottom
and the house stand, was puzzle to me.
| 4 man whom | took to be the owner of
/ the house said that two barrels of stove
I coal had gone down, and up to that time
he had not been able to get trace of the
coal, but thought he had discovered traces
Of the hoops that were upon one of the
barrels But why should / descend to
details like these! 1t is as well to say
in general terms that houses that were
situated upon hill side, away from
streams were in as much danger Of being
undermined and washed away as were
those upon the low land near the river,
for, from appearances, l should say that
rivers ran down every valley yesterday.
1t is surprising to look upon the loads Of
stone, gravel and sand that the water car
ried in its downward current. Shut off
from the outer world as we were this morn
ing, flor railroads, highways, and even
the Telegraph were uHdVhllaDle,) We LOOK
a walk up to the cemetery and extensive
granite quarries that lie west of Fitch
burg.
In the former we were glad to see that
Fitohburn had shown respect for the
patriot dlad, by erecting a beautiful
Soldiers Monument, and only regretted
that it was not made of American granite
or marble instead of Italian. In gully
in the cemetery we found the tooth of .
horse, unlike that of the existing species,
but one that probably lived here in the
days when the mastodon and elephant
were common in this country. This relic
l propose to place in the State Cabinet at
Montpelier. with two other fossil teeth
| which are on exhibition there.
Rollstone mountain is made mp mainly
of granite, and upon it are many extsn-
siye quarries. The granite Il Of good
quality and easily worked, being mr. III
Like that obtained from Chester and used
for the new Court Honse ct Rutland. In
stead Of being solid mass, but Ike al