The Superior times. [volume] (Superior, Wis.) 1870-1912, 1874-05-30
AWFUL DISASTER.
Four Massachusetts Villages Inundated
by the Bursting OF Reservoir.
Two Hundred Persons PERISH
Great Destruction of Property.

BosToN. May 16.-Three great water
reservoirs, situated in Hampshire Coun-
ty. Western Massachusetts,, along the
line of the New Haven and Northamp-
ton Railroad, burst this morning, COM
pletely sweeping away the three manu-
featuring villages of Leeds, Hayden
vile and Williamsburg. Scarcely
building is left standing.
WHERE 1T TOOK EFFECT.
The villages affected by the disaster
are Williamsburg, Haydenville, Leeds
and Floreuce, located on Mill River, a
tributary to the Connecticut, running
into the latter at Northampton.
The mills on the streams have all
been carried away, and included brass
works, button-hole factories, silk and
cotton mills, brush factories, agricul-
tural implements and basket factories,
etc. besides, saw and grist mills.
THE GREAT RESERVOIR.
The great reservoir covered $50 acres
of ground and had an average depth of
thirty feet 1t was drawn upon in dry
time to supply the mills at Williams
burg, Haydenville and Florence.
ESTIMATES OF CAPITAL.
The manufacturing capital invested
along the river, affe cted by this disaster,
placing it at the lowest estimate, must
be S., 10000 and the immediate pop
ulation suffering about 1000. The pop
ulation is almost wholly a manufacture
ing one, which has grown up around
the dams.
At Skinnerville, the store Of Hayden,
Moore & Co.. and Haydenville savings
bank building, with the safe, were
swept away. The safe contained 1885,
600 in money. e. NJ Graves store, E.
Ames' store and several houses, LOOMS
Hotel, Hayden & Co. S tobacco factory
and two iron bridges were also swept
away
The total pecuniary loss by the dis
aster Is estimated at nearly $2,OOO,O 900.
The following is Il general estimate
of losses by places In Williamsburg
w. H. Avoness, Touring -mill swept
away, $4,000; H. l.. James, mill dam
aged and..left without water-power, $50,
600; houses. barns, etc, gone, $40, 900.
| At Skinnerville-Wm SINNERS silk
factory and twelve tenement houses,
destroyed, $50, 900. Other houses and
barns, $4,000.
At Haydenville-Ha Geer &
| Co. S brass-wOrks, savings bank build
ings, and tenements swept away, $3.50
OOO The Hayden Tobacco Company's
mill carried off, $1,000. The Hayden
foundry and machine works, damaged
S., 600. Other houses and stores, $50,
900. Gasworks, 1000
At Leeds-Nantuck Silk Company
| on, hrolyo,, onI Couoral h,1il lines ono
houses carried away, $25, 900. George
p. Warmers button factory destroyed
and three tenements, 100000. Other
houses, barns, etc, 500, 900.
At MISUNDERSTANDING Wheel Com
pany, damage, 81 900.
At Florence the Florence Manufac
turing Companys brush factory ant
damage to stock, s., 900 Wontuck Sill
Company's mill partially torn away an,
stock damaged So 5000.
The latest figures of the loss of life b,
the calamity make the total IA, divid
ed as follows among the three places
Williamsburg 70; Leeds 40; Hayden
Vile 80. These figures onI y reprcsen
persons whose loss is positively known
though the bodies Of all are not vet
recovered.
Bodies are constantly being found
and III some cases those of persons wh'
were not supposed to be lost, so that i
seems perfectly safe to say that th
total loss OF life will exceed 100, if in
deed it does not more nearly approach
200
The gatekeeper of the reservoir sayt
he has lived in constant expectation o
l,,. FL III L.,
ton of his superiors to it's unsafe con
dition The accident has caused grea
apprehension among the residents alon,
the west branch of Mill River, Of which
the Goshen Reservoir is the head, an,
which joins the east branch at Williams
burg. 1t is in all respects similar t,
the Williamsburg Reservoir The mos
intense excitement prevails in the Vi
cinity Of the disaster
FINDING THE DEAD.
At Skinnerville the first bodies wer
picked up, dug out from the mud; o
taken with difficulty from the overload
ed ruins. All through the afternoo,
the work went on, till night, and thel
men with lanterns, seeking their dead
stood guard. At Haydenville fort,
bodies were gathered by night. A
Leeds five There had been, in the af
ternoou, gangs of plunderers prompt,
turned to workers by no stinted threats
Tie people were ready to brain then
with stones. There were fewer dead a
Florence and Northampton; 40 in all
and many more are certainly buried il
the mud and rubbish that fill the vale,
with black heaps from Williamsburg t.
Northampton.
| Just below the village of Leeds OF
what was pretty lawn, called Warner.
Flats, vast amount of debris was col
lected. A hundred men with OK team!
and horses to move the timbers began
work earl Y in the forenoon. In the frs
half hour five bodies were found, anC
before noon twenty were unburied from
that spot,
| PAINFUL RECOGNTTIONs.
The operatives from Williamsburg
whose lost ones had not been recovered
crowded the little carpenter shop into
which the bodies were carried and al
were recognized, although some were
distigured almost past recognition. In
the string of vehicles every few rods
were wagons containing one, two and