Litchfield enquirer., 1872-06-20
CONCLUDED NEXT WEEK.

AN EsrRAY OF Loas ON THE CoNNEc- ! CUT.-The dwellers along the river banks have been enjoying an excitement, this week, such as they have not experienced since the great October flood of 1869.
 We have already chronicled the starting of a "drive" of 15, ,000, ,000 feet of logs ill the upper waters of the Connecticut, their destination being the boom con- structed for their reception just above Holyoke. The drive was put in charge of 80 men, mostly experienced Maine lum- ber-men, but when it reached McIndOes Falls, it was found that the recent rains had raised the river so much as to make the drive manageable and part, some 5000, ,O0O feet, soon broke from all con- trol and started ''on it's own hook" for the the sea. No-particular damage was done by the huge mass till it reached Windsor, Vt., where it struck one of the end piers
 of the railroad bridge, and demolished it,
 without injuring the framework of the bridge. Of course no one dared run a train over, and the passengers for the last
 two days have been carried around, a dis
 tance of nearly two miles. The first train
 that carried by was delayed three hours,
 but the transfer is now made in less than
 one. While passing Hinsdale N. H., the drive struck raft on which some work
 men were standing and threw them all into the river, giving them 8 chance to swim for life to reach the shore. One of the men threw off his pants before strik-
 ing out for land. but, after he had swum
 some distance, remembered that he had left $40 in the pantaloons pocket Not relishing the idea of giving the fishes such costly fodder, he went back through
 the mass and recovered his property in safety. The logs, after thispiece of pleas
 antry, went smashing on down stream,
 and the main body brought up, Tuesday afternoon, in the boom at Turner's Falls. This stood the pressure for few hours and then gave way, and the logs were next heard from at the upper boom at Hol- yoke. This quickly filed with debris,
 and, as 1t extends only half across the riv- CT, large amount kept On unchecked,
 plunging over the dam in fine style. The logs, some of them 60 feet long, would pitch down the incline, and, striking one end at the foot of the dam, the pressure would raise the other, and the log would stand upright an instant and then coming down with crash, hurry on down the stream after it's fellows. At three o'clock Wednesday morning the boom gave way,
 and the whole mass went roaring and crashing over the dam upon the piers of the bridge below. Great fears were felt for the safety of the new bridge at Hol- yoke and the railroad bridge at Willi- mansett, but neither showed the effects of the strain in the least. The Cabot bridge was at one time heavily loaded, but owing to the sharpness of it's piers they soon cleared themselves without injury The advance guard of the squadron appeared opposite Springfield early Wednesday,
 and the river soon seemed alive with logs,
 blanks and boats, thousands of logs be- ing taken at different points alongshore
 No danger was apprehended for the toll bridge till about noon, when the drift was found to be forming dam between the piers at the western end. 0. l.. Shaw at once sent large gang of men to the scene with all possible speed, and they worked without cessation till night, when the logs ceased coming. An agent of the owners of the "drive" went down as far as Wind sor, Ct, Thursday morning, giving direc- tions as, to stopping the logs and promis- ing good pay to every one engaged. So thorough were his arrangements that very few logs reached Hartford, and not many found their way to Windsor Locks. -.