The McArthur enquirer. (M'arthur, Vinton County, Ohio) 1873-1884, 1873-07-16
The Great Storm and Flood in the
: Hooking Valley. I.

The storm of July 3D. and 4th was
greater and more destructive along
the Hooking River than elsewhere
The entire country, from a point
above Lancaster to the Ohio River
was covered with water. The loss
Of property is estimated at one mil
Hon dollars The Athens Messea..
ger'of' July 10th, says: ad wa
HsThe Hooking Valley was a waste
of water from Carroll ITO Hooking
Eport and wheat, corn and meadow
Throughout its length and breadth
was swooped down to the ground.
At Nelsehville, fifty families were
ldriyen from ltheir homes ON Friday
night, the west end of the town be.
ing submerged THE panic, confusion
and alarm o~ccasioned by the mad
rush of waters, the hurrying to and
fro Of, the startled, houseless fugi-
lives, and all the crowds of exciting
details incident upon the sudden
catastrophe at this point we cannot
stop to note. Embraced in a par
ltial Summation of losses here, are
the bridge and crops of Mr.. L.. ID.
Poston, $4,000; bridge and coal
works Of ". B. Brooks, $4,000; tan
yard off, F. Broadt,2 $4,000; plan
ing mill and dry dock lof9 George
Freer, $780, crops aud lumber Of
John Herrold, $2,000--and SO the
list could be indefinitely extended.
EThe waiting waters with destructive
sweep rushed wildly psthe2 ascent
Ito Main street, impetuously driving
into houses and mingliHg in dire
confusion their effects. With, 4 Sol
itafsy 'exceptionii every bridge in
1.-THE Sicinitya ofthe town was swept
I, the Robbins bridge, though
mot Wholly destroyed SUSTAINED
Speh DAMAGES that It viii" have TO
Ebe' Virtually rebuilt. iJe9nH sROa
f19AB Chauncey, five miles north Of
aAthens, the waters entered the sec
.Eoad story of the dwellipgssia mar
ration of local results at this point
wopid require detail Similar to
'Eth6t MldescrfBihg itR9o scenes at
Jacksonville and the same ofFlood-
.bwQod;9 at this. latter lAases about
daylight Oh, Saturday. morning, the
attehtioI OF Mi. Aaron Lewis, who
resides near the Arnold shaft, was
attracted blythe shrill screams of q
woman; proceeding i'm boat in the
direction Of the alarm, he found q
woman with her two children in the
loft of.their cabin, surrounded by
the rapidly encroachihg waters; he
hurriedlE tore through tho shingles
of the; root, and rescued the party,
rowing them to bis, own resi-
denceVdH |i % u Wo''I
lgyThew work of the Hooking Valley
Salt Company were seriously. dam
aged their loss in manufactured
salt alone exceeds 1000 barrels; all
]the smaller bridges in the neigh
bofh0odio d the works were destroy
edhg From. the residence Of MI.
Henry Brown, of Chauncey, to- salt
works, a distance of half a mile, the
entire population were forced to
abandon their dwellings, during.
Friday night and Saturday morn
ing. The works at Salina, owned
by MI. Geo. r.. Gould, lost three
thousand barrels Of salt in
bulk; the loss of Mr.. Gould has
been estimated at $4,000. 5gy aH .
Among the individual losses in.
the district just above referred, are
those Of Henry Brown SO, 600, In
Urinary farm $4,000, A. Courtney
$1,000, Judge and Joseph Jewett.
conformity $500, Joseph Dorr about
1000, Hiram AImitage 81, 900
VIM. COURTNEY $500. ,o''"'9p"'l'
iJNorthing ddstructible in the Val
ley Intervening 9the ucohfronting
highl4nds has wholly escaped. The
especial losses to individuals here
have at this writing only been able
to arrive at in part. Our townsman,
Mr.. ID. B. Stewart, is probably the
heaviest single loser; independent
of the indirect damages he sustain
ed, his losses in calculable proper
~ty'include about 100 acres Of corn,
80 acres of fine wheat, 1900. bush
els old corn in crib materially in
jured, 40 acres meadow destroyed,
100 cords of wood and $4,000 feet
ofdnmber swept away in addition to
Wnestimated damages to mill and
FENCES. Nj. Joseph. Herrold's loss.
VIII range between IS, 600 and$10,l
OO0}! HOME. H. Moore will lose
something OYER 10000 i Mr. John
Ring between $1,000 and $500.
Among those OF our citizens OF,
whose losses we have received no.
]estimate are 9Messrsa Porter Will
con- Hiram Bingham, -Grosyehor
and Beaton, r. j. Cable, Jesse Da-
Yis, Augustus Norton, Oliver Car
penteryS. II. and Leroy Mansfield,
SIS. Boyles, Sheriff Warren, Chas.
Henry, Benjamin Randell, and i'm
deed every farmer in the Valley be-
tween Athens and the Ohio river.
In additional to the serious in.
Fiction on our local agricultural in
terests the damage wrought by the
food to the Hooking Canal and
Hooking Valley r.. r.. ~centering in
our town is alone Of startling mag
nitude. The canal between this
point and Logan has been we'll nigh
destroyed; the encroacbmentsofith
Hooking river completely washing
away the tow-path at many point
for stretches, variously, Ola half