Litchfield enquirer., 1869-07-01
Terrific Storm and Freshet!
FIFTY THOUSAND DOLLARS WORTH OF PROPER TY DESTROYED IN WoLcorrv1LLr. GREAT DAMAGE IN WEST CORNWALL.

: FIFTY THOUSAND DOLLARS WORTH or PROPER TT DESTROYED IN WoLcoTTvILLE. GREAT
 DAMAGE IN WEST CORNWALL.
 On Monday. afternoon a. remarkable storm swept over this county from west to east. Its duration was not over twoho1rs. but the rain was so severe as to raise all the small streams to the size of rivers, car rying'of bridges and sluices. .gullying roads. and in some cases doing great injury to property. The most serious damage here- abouts was in the village of # assfsi uoal Y f T woLCoTTvILLE.
 In this place the rain commenced at half past p. m. and continued two hours with very little intermission. At about half past six the river at the east branch began to rise very rapidly The bridges on the latter were swept off one after another, go- ing down stream nearly whole. The water soon reached the flooring of the Main St. bridge and a strong current 3 or 4 feet deep ran in front of the Allen House setting back as far as the .post-ofice. The, water reached it's greatest height at about 74p. m About this time the bridge across the river at the Coe Brass Mill came down stream and was sucked by the current gun-, der the Main St. bridge. A small barn belonging to Mir. Nelson Coe also came down and struck the bridge, but lnckily. went to pieces and was drawn under it. One or two other small buildings came floating down and followed suit, so that it seems almost miracle that the bridge es- capped. Its northwest corner, and the foot bridge were carried, of, but the rest stands firm. q The middle pier of the bridge is so covered by the debris of the flood and the bridge seems to be stand ing on the relics of 8 one horse wagon mix ed in with barn and dam timbers, small trees, brush, Sc. 'L3-1l-''' l. '.''' '''
 Just before the water reached its high est point the embankment west of the Coe Brass Mill dam gave way adding the vol- tune of water in the pond to that already Ipouring down the river. This embank- ment, portions of the raceway, and the western abutment of the Downs. bridge were washed away, and a terrific gulch
 was cut in the side hill southwest of the dam, carrying several rods of the highway entirely away. The barber shop and bill Hard saloon in the Allen, House were hood- ed to the depth of abovel5i feet 8 A strong current ran on both sides of Wells Hotel. three or four feet deep, carrying away lsev- eral sheds and small buildings and wash. ing the soil off his garden to the depth of two or three feet. The grounds about Mir. Wm. Dayton's house are also much torn. Much damage was done in Cotton Hollow, i the bridge and several buildings were washed of. Among them was barn of Mir. Lncius Leach in which was the horse and pedlar's cart of Mir. Hanson Wilcox, The horse swan ashore, but the cart and goods are scattered more miscellaneously than ever before through out the Naugatuck Valley "A number of houses near the river were suddenly sur rounded and the inmates got outcwith-some difficulty, if not danger. The rise of the water in the river was about fifteen feet. @ The heaviest private damage is to the Coe Brass Company-from St, 900 to $10, ,- GOO. Turner, Seymour & Judd suffered in jury to almost an equal amount, principally from damage to stock in process of manu- facture. The race-ways of all the facto- ries are more or less injured. None of them will be able to recommence business under week. and some will need month to get in running order. From 400 to 500 hands are temporarily thrown out of ,em- ployment, except the men who can be em- ployed to repair damages. The damage to the roads, bridges and private property in the village. is estimated by careful judges at not less than $5O,0Oe. The excitement and panic at about p. m., when bridges, dams and buildings were sweeping down the river, and the water was flooding the streets past the Wadhams block. and sur- rounding all the houses in the lower part of the village, beggars alla description. Such was the force of tho current that an immense boulder, ten feet in diameter. standing Tn the corner of thef Hot,hkiss dam, was rolled some ten feet down. the stream. .ti i-i 1. .. Assclsie1 | a b6a 9d CORNWALL r.; h-ss.fssef Fer ,I Seldom doesit fall to the lot of .slocal'' in so quiet town as this to tchreniclelsol much of disaster and ruin as has been ef- fected by couple half hours of rain this ] P. M. June 2s All through the month of June the weather, always 50 much talked about. has been peculiar with not an entire ,, sunshiny day. aHoi4ay cit a .aeasail
 The weather.wise have been looking for change which should Do equally peculiar and to-day it came, in the form of a thnn,
 der storm nnequallea in violence, quantity |, of rain fallen and damage done, within the , recollection of any of, the living, inhabi. : tants. 'aaiE Gli e9seilsd nos45Q 8 asa4 4 3t