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

..,,,,,t of water which fell during
~. ,.s, week in the mountain distr'c' "a
w. i was beyond our extreme SUPPOSE
,;on We may form some vague eompaia :,
,;,. ,,ea Of the immensity OF TINS iali o.
. 1;u when we contemplate the facts. Du'
.;mn Monday. Tuesday, and "Wednesday tne
,no,;nst and most watery-iooking CLOUDS
..sa.a yio,ently blown over this city by
s,nono easterlv winds. Their passage was
- rand that they discounted only very
CONSTRUCTED showers upon us as 'hey passeu'
During the days named and lhutsoay .ne. .',
Was hardly enough rain TO set the ga. x,
an the sides of the streets to running. nc
earth in this bailiwick, which hao NOT peei'
,,o;etenea IN inch beneath the surface los
eighty. Eve days. had hardly its dust ia'a ps
the limited gifts from these heaV'iy-ireignt. u
clouds. which sped OH the wings OF the
wind westwardly. The counties west and
southwest of Richmond for neaflylla hun
lred miles had the same experience. we
all thought we had visit from the atl-
tumnal equinox. and that we should receive
the long.wished.tor eopious and prolonged
showers characteristic of the season. We
were disappointed. The earth absorbed all
the rain that fell and hardly felt its effects.
We do not know how far this condition eX-
tended up James river; but certainly as tai
az it did reach no effect OF rain was percepti-
BILE in James river. We suppose that this
was the case nearly 10 Lynchhurg.
Therefore the James river, from Rich.
n,ond to the highest supposed point, was
very low, and all the rise that took place
below that point was caused by rain that
fell further west. Therefore any rise thus
occasioned had, to make its appearance here,
TO ill I'D the river all the long distance de-
scribed-probably one hundred and twenty
niles to fill up the bays along the shore,
to supply the back water for the
creeks, TO saturate the dry shores,
and to pile up its volume continuously
on to Richmond. And yet this was done,
and the river rose Saturday at this place
higher than at any former time, we be-
lieye. 1t once rose to the St. Charles Ho-
lei. then called ''The Bell" Saturday the
tide reached this same spot; but old men
say the street has been considerably raised
at that point since 1916. If so, the flood of
Saturday was higher than any flood on re-
cord One said to have occurred in the last
century is said to have reached Shockoe
warehouse and the foot Of Council Cham
Der Hill; but Shockoe warehouse was not
where it is now, and the foot of Council
Chamber Hill extended to near Shockoe
creek. So we have no fixed and clear land
marks by which to settle the question, and
in spite Of what old men may say, the pre-
sent age may fatter themselves that they
have beheld probably the biggest food i'll
james river that has happened since its
shores were inhabited by civilized people.
Now, to Come back to our point concern
ing the quantity Of rain that fell amongst
the mount aims and their kindred family OF
hills along the Piedmont, we find that
it was sufficient to cause the super-eminent
flood without help from contributions in
the extensive intervening district from
Richmond to Amherst, on James river. Now.
if we had had in that space copious show
ers, so as to have flooded the river even
moderately, the vast deluge Of water poured
down from the clouds in the mountains
would have swept down clear addition 10
a fair fresh already established, and such a
food az we would have had here would
have impressed its magnitude and its de-
structireness imperishahly upon history.
We can thus at once understand thai
there was last week such q showering down
of rain upon the Blue Ridge and contigu-
Gus country rs has probably never been eN-
celled. This proof is strong enough; but
we are hourly receiving proofs of it in the
destruction which the mountain floods have
caused to roads and to crops. Very proba.
bly, the entire damage sustained by this
great tall of rain will lie equal to the reve
nue. of the State for the year. The vista
ton amounts to the dignity of calamity.
and we have thus in State whose misfor-
tunes have been both numerous and severe
an affection added to those already borne
by people ill-prepared to sustain it.
Our local columns give details of the
losses sustained in this city by this extraor-
binary food, and the special and other tele-
grams of the Dispatch communicate the ex-
tent of suffering elsewhere as far as known.
We shall continne to give the reports Of this
untoward event. Coming upon us at such
time it is doubly disastrous. 1t afllicts,
too, the fairest portions of the State.
The telegraph prepared us here for the
flood, and we are thus saved from losses
which would have been far greater than
4 aosa aye have sustained. The Blue Ridge
has wonderful facility Of milking the
clouds periodically and precipitating their
contents upon the valleys at its feet In
this way the tributaries Of James river have
been at long intervals swollen in an almost
incredible manner, and the combined floods
have swept down to this city with a sud-
denneas that has found us all unprepared,
and great losses of property have followed.
But theselegraph now comes to our help,
and ample time is afforded after rise at
Lynchburg for the removal Of stores that
are in danger from fresh. In other days
even people were drowned by the sweeping
and rapidly-swelling waters. Once when
the river was so very low from drought
that people could by stepping from rock to
rock cross dry-shod from Richmond to Man.
chester, many We're caught by sudden
. fresh, and while u large number narrowly
escaped few We're drowned. Certainly in
this particular we have lively and graft
tying illustration Of the beneticent agency
OF that wonderful inyention-the Tele.