Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1869-02-09
ground unable to render assistance
to the unfortunates persons caught
in the maelstorm

1 - a-511I
| ground unable to render assistance
to the unfortunate persons caught
| in the maelstorm.
THE SCENE BY MOONLIGHT
This terrible roar Of the water
merging into a low, humming
sound, still fingered in the valley,
when the moon, rising above Clab-
bOrd Ridge, dispelled the deep
gloom which hung Ike pail over
the ravine and dam, and brought
out in full relief the wreck of ice
and rock the impehIOus water had
thrown together. The moons rays,
slanting down through fir and bush,
at first touched the white head of
the opposite hill with long fingers
OF glancing light, illuminated the
dark reeesses Of the rocks that
hung over the crest of the ridge
and brought ont in strong relief
against the starlight sky the wide
reaching arm Of the hOary oaks,
which stood, speetre-like, over the
scene of ruin. As the moon rose
the valley Of the Kohanzie glittered
in the light. From the blocks Of
ice, thrown twenty feet above tho
level of the rivers head, prismatic
eoIors in a million particles of light
tinted the rugged rocks and mounds
of earth. Looking down from the
crest Of the ridge, the scene in the
valley was one of wild but grand
magnifcence. Blocks of ice from
FIVE hundred pounds to five tons in
weight, encountered the ground.
In some places, huge pieces of fro
zen water and stone, welded togeth-
er, stood bolt upright. or stretched
along the high ridge in the middle
of the valley, while in the wide cav
titles of the rocks, through which
ghost like bodies Of disturbed ice
lay huddled together. Where the
moons rays were obstructed by
high bluffs, dark shadows stretch
ed across the valley, adding more
solemnity to this scene of dazzling
beauty. To people who We're at
tracted there from the neighboring
farm houses by the roaring, crush
ing sound which filed the air while
the dread element was on its march
of destruction, the weird appearance
of the unusually smooth and peace
full valley was truly appalling. If
in the stiffness of the night, when
the mind was overwhelmed with
the sense of a sudden and terrible
calamity, the thousand white OBJ
jects glittering in the light Of the
moon, the low murmming Of the
stream and the signing wind, did
not suggest the thought that the
spirits of the dead had come to-
gether to mourn over the scene of
desolation, 1T was because the
patches of white, in some places as
regularly placed as if laid out with
a line of compass, and in others
thrown earelessly together, looked
like headstones in cemetery. In
the center of the valley, on ridge
of rock, maple tree, mangled and
shattered, spread its branches over
a dozen huge pieces of ice, which
lay like tombstones about its root
and gIistened in the moonlight.
The force ofthe water was evident
ly greater at this point than at any
other. Immense rocks which had
lain imbedded in the stream were
cast far up on the ridge, and blocks
Of granite of which portion of the
abutments of the dams were built,
were hhddled one upon another in
picturesque confusion. The earth,
which formed the principal ingre-
dent of the dams, filed the crew.
ees, and soon becoming frozen hard
as the rocks with which it mingled,
covered every small object the tor
rent of water had carried away.
THE COURSE OF THE TORRENT
was through the Valley of KOhan-
zie easterly to Flint's dam and from
thence sOutherly to Still River at
the junction of White street, where
it spread and poured along the rail
road track for the distance of
mile and a half Following the
track of the desOlating element from
the lower dam the character and
extent of the calamity was plainly
seen on the fences and trees which
marked the boundaries,of the little
farms into which the valley was
divided. The scene at the lower
end of the range of hills overlook
ing the town, by which the water
rushed in impetuous force, was one
of black desolation. Scarcely a
tree had been left standing, and
huge spurs of rock which stood in
the path of the current were swept
away