Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1874-04-01

FEARFUL FKE>HEr-A NoVA-SCoTIAN
VILLAGE SUBMERGED AND FROZEN UP.-
The warm rains of the first week of March
made cold work in some of the snowy
regions Of Nova Scotia. But the worst
treshet was reserved for Sherbrooke, a
small village of about 500 inhabitants, on
the left bank of the St Mary's river. one
Of the deep streams which run through
Guysborough county to the ocean. Its
principal business is gold mining.
On "Wednesday, the 4th inst. the wealth
CT WIS delightfully."- warm; toward even
inc it began to rain. and from midnight
until Thursday morning the rain fell in
torrents. Thursday forenoon, although
the rain storm had ceased, the waters in
the st. Marvs river. swelled by the noun
tain torrents, rose 80 fast that the people
in the village began to feel very uneasy.
While they stood in the streets. doubtfully
discussing the situation, and utterly unable
to put forth one effort to prevent it, the ice
suddenly broke up, and the waters came
furiously rushing i'll enormous masses over
the dam, with Il roar like Niagara. and
=
which WAS soon submerged, rs well us the
valley for considerable distance; ice,
trees, and lumber were carried along in
one irresistible sweep. The solid ice, be-
low the village, stood firm. the channel of
the river at that part being narrow and
projected on each side by steep and rocky
banks, and the valley where Sherbrookt
Stood WAS soon converted into a seething
,,,l, i,,.I IL,
houses To the high land. every available
into requisition. Nothing more frightful
can hc imagined than the scene which fol-
lowed. The rushing, roaring current. the
enormous i"etiocs, trees, timber, and rub
b>h indescribable which filed the streets
of the village; the scared inhabitants flee
inc in every direction, or taking refuge in
the upl er portions Of their houses to escape
the destruction and death which seemed
inevitable. The women, children, and
old people were first removed in boats
and after that the cattle We're driven ont OF
the town, the drivers being obliged to get
on horseback and drive the frightened cat
tie to wade through the boiling waters.
1t is impossible to obtain a correct esti-
mate of the damage sustained. In the
' iIlt1t. DtIHS- Otil-Ilbu>t>. tlltl OluCeS- 3nt
all but the most substantial strlctul es
We're swept away by the flood. Two of the
bridges are destroyed, and n part of the
new bridge across the ST. Mary's River
further up, is also gone. Avessel of supe
rior build, and nearly finished, built by
Alex. n. Mcdonald for a firm in England
was smashed. entailing IL loss of about S5.-
co..
The worst feature of this calamity was
yet to come, for on Thursday night the
weather changed, and the flood, mountains
of ice, logs, trees, and rubbish froze up
fixing the village in a frozen sea of ruin
from which only a gradual thaw can ex-
tricate it \ sudden thaw will assure il
complete destruction. Those of the in
habtants who have seen flood sand freshets
in other countries state that the Sherbrookt
freshet was by long odds the most terrible
they had witnessed. Saturday morning
the water commenced to fall, and people
began to paddle their way back into theil
own houses; but the village was still fro
zen in by the surrounding debris, in which
condition it has remained up to the lates
dates from the country.
When the ladies of Jeffersonville, 1ndi
ana, called ut Strauss saloon to pray
they were politely shown into cartl-room
from which they had full view of th'
bar. Just as they were seated, well
known church member entered, calling
for a drink. The nose Of the bottle wa
held to the glass. and the fluid began t.
gurgle out. when one of the ladies coughed
The man looked, saw, blushed, remarked
The women, by gracious!'' and went on
dry.