Clearfield Republican. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1851-1937, 1872-11-13
The Floods on the River Po--AStormy
October in Both Hemispheres.

Of the LIST instant, somewhat lengthy
statement of the ravages made in
Europe by the overflow Of the River
Pc, but can only give the following
From Rome we have dispatches
which inform us that, from the over
flow Of the river, the floods on the
banks of the Po (Which courses Italy
above the boot top from Mont Cents
to the Adriatic Sca) have not abatcd ;
that four thousand workmen are en-
gagged night and day on the dykos, or
Ievees, TO contne the river II possible
within its banks; that the damages
caused TO property and crops in Man
tua and Ferrara are incalculable; that
in Fcrrara alone forty thousand per-
sons have been rendered homeless
but that from all points relief is coming
in to the suffering people Further,
il appears that may persons have been
drowned, and that the Italian Minis
ter OF Public Works, who has gone 10
the scene Of destruction, is superin-
tending The work of relieving the dis
tressed people. Tho basin of the Po
is the garden of Italy, and, from its
fertile soil of "rivcr bottom lands" us
We would call them, and from careful
cultivation, is exceedingly productive.
The periodical floods of the Pc. which
would otherwise regularly overflow its
bottom lands in the lower river are now
kept in BY it's artificial embankments,
except in cases like the present Of
unusually heavy freshets in the nu-
merous tributaries which descend into
the main stream from the Alps. Un-
usually heavy rains in the Alps, with
an increased dissolution of the ice aud
SHOWS of their lofty plateuux, peaks
and ridges, are therefore the immedi-
ate causes OF this inundation of the Po;
aud it these October rains Of Northern
Italy have extended soutbward over
the Apennines We shall next hear, no
doubt, of another overflow from tho
Tiber at Rome,
Next, recent depatches from Lon
don state that the weather in Eng
land and along hor coasts has been
tempcstuous and from several des-
patches OF the same purport within
the last three or four weeks it appears
that the month of October, 1872, has
L-.... -......-.i---.is s~~-- -;t- tv"~y -e;ns
and storms in the United States. in
the British Islands, and across the
European Continent to the Alps, aud
beyond them, TO the Lower Danube
These general Autumnal rains in both
hemisphcrcs are due to the same gen.
cral causes or forces operating npon
the great equatorial current or cur
rents OF the Atlantic, from the Gulf of
Mexico, the great rain boiler of the
United States, to the tropical stream
which is diffused around the British
Islands Astronomers tell us that the
all-suiiicient primary cause for this
exceptionally rainy Autumn north Of
the Equator may be found in the tre-
mendously increased heat of the sun.
from its recently increased volumes of
incandescent magnesium. For the
present, however, the facts We have
mentioned are particularly interesting
as evidences OF the same general causes
governing the fluctuations of the
80 sons, from the Rocky Mountains TO
the Alps.
Here in the United States, from the
great Plains, il not from the Rocky
Mountains to the Atlantic, and from
the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf OF the
ST. Lawrence, we have just passed.
through some of the heaviest and
most extensive Autumal nor'eastcrs
known in this country far many years
Several snow storms, unusually heavy
for October, have marked the weather
reports of tho month for the silver
mountains OF Utah, and doubtless
these SHOWS have covered all the
lof,ier peaks and ridges OF the Rocky
Mountain chain from Colorado up into
the British possessions. This Au-
tumnal season, in word, has been u
remarkably stormy one in both bemis'
phcrcs, within the laliludes of the
United state-;1and while these abound
jnp rains this season have saved US
] from recurrence Of those sweeping
prairie and forest fires which were so
disastrous in the Northwest this last
October one year ago, the enormous
downpouring from the Alps have
flooded tho most fruitful Of the plnins
Of Italy We presume, however, That
those inundalions have not been 50
disastrous Us to require from other
nations helping hand for the suffer-
ing Italians. But If they want assist
ance from abroad, they have only to
say so, and the American people will
promptly respond, remembering the
universal relief which came TO Chicago
and the forcstcrs Of Wisconsin last
Autumn upon the wings OF the hgh''
ming.
A father living in Titusvllle, who
has two or three very conItable gii'S,
placed notice on his front door the