The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1870-10-03

auhtiuCubo Will tOtCGg ANU itSs
the same time, the water rapidly arose. it
WAS evident at about noon that the bridge
must 90. AT quarter-past II the part over
Manchester creek parted company with the
rest, and it was followed in q few minutes
by all that part of the bridge, two or three
hundred yards in length, on the south side
of the island. The precautions taken by
the police authorities were so effective that,
Notwithstanding the great anxiety of the
| crowd to expose themselves to the danger
OF being washed away, nobody was on any
part of the bridge when it floated off.
Mayo's gone, oil eyes were turned to-
| ward the Danville bridge, and It hardly
seemed possible that it could long with
stand the rising current. But It's powers of
endurance, aided by measures carried into
effect by Superintendent Dodamead and
his assistants, proved fully equal to the
occasion. About five feet of weather.
Hoarding was knocked oil the lower part Of
| the bridge to allow the water to pass
| through, and still more efficient means Of
| keeping it in place was the loading Of q
number Of coal cars with pig-iron and rum
ming them on the bridge. The tide crept
up to the very floor of the massive struc.
ture, and the drift-Wood was fercely hurled
against it without intermiSsion for hours !;
but the bridge remained mistaken to the
very last.
The Petersburg railroad bridge was
| never thought to lie in danger, and it did
not disappoint the expectations of its
| friends. Trans ran over it when the Wa
| ter was doing its worst, and the passengers,
| knowing its condition, felt as safe rs on dry.
land.
ROCKETS AND WHEREABOUTS.
Rockets suffered perhaps more than any
other part of the city. The river, rising
above the wharvcs, spread itself over whole
| blocks. and an idea of the height Of the
| fresh may he obtained from the statement
| that only the peaks of the roofs of the
| steamboat sheds were visible. Gillie's creek
| was swollen to the dimensions Of good
sized river, and Bloody Run was for while
| foaming torrent. The James River Steam
| boat Company's sheds were swept away
quite early in the action. and after bump
ing against several houses and knocking
down a street lamp, departed i'll pieces.
The people in dwelling-houses, vainly
hoping that the flood would soon subside,
| were driven from floor to floor, until finally
they and their furniture had to be taken out
! of the garnet windows and carried away in
| boats to the houses Of hospitable neighbors.
Among the places of business submerged
| we hear of II. w. Tyler's feed store the
shops in Tyler's row, OH Nicholson street :;
Capt. Ira Bruce's bar-room; Frederick
1
Romers grocery: VIM. Parrish's grocery :;
DR.. ". r. Farrar's drug store; Gills har-
ness shop; and the Southern Fertilizing
! Company'S warehouse. MIR. Gill was Il
Woodworking mechanic, who, after several
years of steady application to business, was
beginning to show evidences of prosperity.
His shop was swept away, and its contents
are total loss. Morriss's sugar refinery
suffered severely. The second floor was
ripped up by the flood, and all the ma
chinery was precipitated into the cellar.
The new sheds of the Virginia Steamship
and Packet Company were considerably
damaged. The amount OF the loss in any of
the cases above enumerated cannot yet be
estimated with any degree of accuracy.
Desiring to 60 to Rockets, and not caring
to 60 by water, the shortest land route for
our reporter lay by way of lakewood Genes
terry, Blakey's mill, and Wickersville. This
road had to be taken by all the charcoal
men, marketmen, and others, who, caught
| here by the freShet, wished to get out on
| the river road. The circuit necessary was
not less than three miles.
| THE VALLEY.
| As the river rose the back-water grad
ually made its way up SEOck0 Creek until
| it obtained Il considerable height above the
| kevstones of the different arches spanning
| tlIc ul tuC StlCCU SiOaoihSos hC
| bridge in rear of the Lancasterian school
house was carried away. and the houses on
both sides of the creek as. far up as the foot
OF President Hill, consisting mostly Of small
framed dwellings, were inundated. Some
Of their inhabitants moved to the upper
stories, but the greater number, with all
their worldly goods, abandoned their homes
and struck for higher position.
THE GAS WORKS. ....
The river never before rose high enough
| to iniure the Gas Works very seriously, and
the superintendent had no reason to appre-
| bend such state of affairs this time. when
the day hands came to work in the morn
ing the water had not made Roadway
enough to cause any alarm. But it soon
| began to rise within the enclosure with
such rapidity as to make it necessary for
work to be abandoned. AT 5 O'Clock 7. Nj.
| the fires were all eXtinguished by the food
and the water was i've feet deep in the
retort-house. The engines were entirely
submerged. ....-r....r .'.aas
We were told that there were 40, 900 feet
of gas in the holder-enOu9h to last private
| consumers for a day or two but very few
persons enjoyed gas-light on Saturday and
| Sunday nights. The superintendent, how
ever, early notified citizens OF the condition
| of the works, and before dark almost every
sene. Of course we had to dispense with
street lamps. We know of only one that
was lighted. 1t was on the corner of Cary
| and 18th streets, in the midst of the flood.
II will probably be several days before
Richmond will again enjoy the luxury Of
gas, as, after the water has left the works high
and dry, even if everything is found in or:
| der, it will take thirty-siX hours to get up
the Cheats" The damage sustained by
the works is not known. It is feared that
the retorts may have been injured by the
contraction consequent upon sudden cool
ing, and that the coal has been rendered
unfit for early Use.
THE wATRR-w0RKS.
We visited the pump. house about 4P. NJ.
on Saturday, and found the Superintendent
on the spot with his force, ready for any
emergency that might arise. ALL of the
tools, &C., had been removed from the tool
house to higher ground out of danger, and
the house itself, to guard against possible
washing away, securely fastened with large
ropes to the surrounding trees. A small
wooden building which had been lately
! erected at the west end of the main build
ing and was not completed, had been car
ried of by the food. Work was stOppedon
Friday, and, as precautionary measure, all
of the feed-gates were tightly, closed. The
water entered the main building from the
river front, and rose rapidly until it had
gained an elevation of four and o half feet
above the pump floor-four feet higher than
it was ever known at that point before. The
machinery was submerged, no part Of it
being visible but the upper portions Of the
wheels and the air-boX.
SCARCITY OF WATER. .a
|sss Just here our citizens should be reminded
faf the great necessity of observing the