The Orangeburg news. [volume] (Orangeburg, S.C.) 1867-1875, 1874-01-31

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.i.f/oM 1L9 tHHar
Mr:. w. J.. Trench, writing to the
London Times to appeal to the charita
BILE for aid for some unfortuu ate families,
gives this account Of the bursting Of an
Irish bog" He savsjIB ~
Il have just returned from inspectinr q
one of the most pitiful scenes of the
sort it has been my fate to witness since
| saw saw the remains ofthc village Of Fisp,
in-the sRhone Valley, Switzerland. after
its destruction by flood some years
ago.
The scene to which Il refer is til c
result of the bursting of bog, situated
about three miles east of the town of
Dunmore, in the northern part of Gal
way county. Heretofore this bog was
connected with the Dunmore River, at
Dn.more, by small stream called the
Cornbel River flowing through con
tlnnation of pasture and ,tillage Ian Is in
It's course. The level of the upper sur
face of the bog was formerly 2GO fe.
above the sea, aud that of the water at
Dunmore 100 feet, showing a fall of 70
feet Up to fortnight ago this bog
presented the usual Appearance of1most
of our undrainrd irish boys, l. G., its
skirts, adjoining the arabic land, consist
ias of high turf bauks, being exceeding
fy wet and spongy- at
On the first Of October. the farmer.
oce upying farm on the Corrabal stream
naarI the bog WINS digging his potatoes,
when he su 1dcnly abScrvcd brown mass
slowly approaching him, He left his
SPADE IN the ground, and went for the
nfishnlbpolrss;' on ihisf return the mas( (Which
was the moving bog, had ,hall' covered
his potato field ana completely hidden
from sight lis icld'of corn. with the ex
1een .:-.... al a Jew .st6oks't situated on a
k"oll;y they s'iil remain an island in tie
middle nf'd scere of dcsolation This
WIS butthc conmrnccmclit since then
the bo.'iin continued to advancc,lin u
rolling nlsss, con,iil,Iin!g, its course ri III,
down the valley to nunnor,.. lmtyin.
on Its way three farm houses, and c,ver
ing at least one, hundred and eighty
acres of pasture and arabic land to
depth in some places OF six feet. The
unfortunate 'oc,upiers of the three farms
have been turned, by this visitation of
Providenos, farmlcss and homeless with
their fhmilies, on the world
At Dunmore a small brid 90 has been
removed, near the junction Of the Cor
rabcl stream with the Dunmore River
to afford relief to the lands up the val
Icy, and bog-laden torrent is being dis
charged into the latter river. The
worst maybe said t.2 be- over, but the
discharging powers of that river will be
materially affected by this influx of sol
Id matter. The source Of this disaster
..Iresenttd wonderful appearance. The
subsidence at the dscharging point can :
not be less than about 35 feet. The
extcnt of the bog affected is most clear.
ly dcfined by series of black screvas.
ses, where the upper crust Of the bog
has, by the subsidence below, been torn
asunder The whole assumes .hc form
OF orator half a mile in diameter.
With considerable difficulty we pilot
ed our way to the c.ntre. where W foun
the brown liquid bog boiling out like
stream Of lava aud feeding the moving
mass in the valley below. At the point
where the bog burst, the turf banks
were forced right .ovr and rour& on
either side, and assumed somewhat the
appearalice of'aiorailles.' 81 fEc
This and similar disasters to which
this country. is liable must be attributed
to the absence of complete and good
system Of arterul drainage. a similar
catastrophe occurred two years ago, oc
casi9ned by the backw Of the River
Sucks near Castlcreh.' i,+t ~