Connecticut western news., 1874-06-19

those men who worked hard, and without any compensation, in what they deemed to be the best and only way to preserve the lives and property of our villagers. To call 1 such work nasty and questionable engineer ing is unjust and ungenerous. Some wise acres who are reputed to have large dam experience,' (and if were mountaineer should be tempted to wish they might con- tinue to have like experience for some | time, who have never been near the dam, scout the idea of it's being moved and of there being any danger of it's ever breaking away. It is fair to belive that men who have always lived near the dam, and who saw it built and helped to build it; who were present at the breaking of the old dam some 20 years ago, and who are thor oughly conversant with the nature of the waters kept back; the rapidity of their ris- ing, &c., it is but far to believe, repect, that these men are good judges of the sta bllity of the present dam, and that when they cut the extreme end of it to relieve the pressure against the center, they knew what they were about. Moreover, if these wise acres, dam men, who, sate on their hill tops from the rage of the waters, ad- vance their theories, would go and see for themselves, they would soon see that the mountaineers acted skillfully, wisely and well. The dam has not moved bodily of course from the foundation, one foot or less, for if it had moved one inch it would have moved some miles. But the upper part of the outer wall of the dam near the oulkhead has bulged out some two feet or more from the perpendicular; several large stones have been washed out; large ifs sure made either side of the rolwav. and where the wall has bulged the top of the dam has sunken in and the cinders which composed a portion of the embankment Off, tered but little more resistance to the water than so much gravel. This is substantially the statement of large number of men Of good judgments and their statements with that of the mountaineers, ought surely to weigh heavily against the theory of those who haven't even seen the dam since the freshet. Non
 That the remarks of our correspondent above are timely and just is instantly recog rnlzed by all who have seen the Riga dam since the late deluge, and we are surprised to hear people, whose judgment is usually accounted good on most occasions. express themselves something like the following |: There was no danger at all of the dam go- ing oil, and people were frightened to death at nothing" AS our worthy correspondent says above; noLe but those who did not see the dam at the time of danger or since. will advance such remark, and it is grati- fylng to be able to say that those who in- dulge In such wise expressions of their opinion. know no more about dam than Jackass knows about fiddle. One of our pest men in town; one who possesses a cool head, and whose judgment is second to none in the region, visited this dam four ot five days after the water had been ex- hausted from the lake; and says our es- cape from terrible calamity was marvel ous. The old dam, built of stone of all manner of shapes and without cement; With it's large amount of cinders and in fact anything else that happened to be handy, and which was tumbled in without much regard to order, is badly washed and dis turbed. and that it didn't give way, ,notwith- standing the noble efforts of those whose work saved us, is to him almost a miracle. He says the dam is nothing more nor less than dam built of trash, and to hold in such dam, 1900 acres of water 700 feet over our heads, is an experiment our reo- pie will probably not permit to be tried again. NEWS.