The Portland daily press., 1874-05-20
A Lesson of the Disaster.

Elsewhere will be found letter of reminis-
ence and comment, suggested by the frightful
disaster among the Hampshire villages, from
graceful pen that touches nothing which
1t does not adorn. Now, while the horrors
of that day of death and destruction are lresh
in the minds of all men, it may be useiul "
call attention to some practically relevant
lessons. In the first place, generaiy'ihspec'-
ors of all things which may be dangerous
should reflect that any laxity in their exam
nations or requirements is likely to bring up
on their consciences the crushing response
bility for human lives. Several men in
Massachusetts are now conscious within
themselves, however they may be regarded
by their fellow men, that they are jointly and
seyerally the murderers Of more than humid
red human beings. Every man who had
aught to do with the continuance of the in
secure reservoir must feel an individual re-
sponsibility for the result. So everybody,
whose duty it is to inspect, tor the protection
Of the public, steam engines, railroad bridges,
boats, walls or dams, should perform his task
with the feeling that if he yield an fota in the
strictness of his inquisition, the mark of Cain
may be justly set upon him. And every own
er or constructor of buildings, dams or struc-
lures of any kind, who feels tempted for
economical reasons to lessen the proper
thickness of his walls or use inferior mate
rails, should thing Of what befell in Massa-
chusetts from similar pennywise policy.
There are undoubtedly many places in the
country where similar casualty is quite pos
sible and a great deal of overhauling and
Strengthening Of dams will ensue. In our
own immediate vicinity this possibility exists.
More apprehensions have been for years en-
tertained about the security of the dam at
the outlet of Sebago Lake than were ever
excited by the condition of the Williamsburg
reservoir. This Seabgo dam is venerable
structure of more than forty years standing,
and, we believe, is composed of logs. 1t is
thrown across the point where the waters of
the lake pour into the Presumpscot River
and it raises the surface of the lake from four
to eight feet according to the season. Nea r
this outlet, with narrow intervening bank
of earth, is the opening of the Cumberland
6 Oxford Canal, with a shaky old lock to
transfer boats between lake and canal.
Should any break occur in this dam-over
which thick sheet of water flows at some
seasons of the year,-or the canal bulkhead,
or should the water work through the earth
between them and undermine the end of the
dam, the Massachusetts disaster would be
rivalled, if not excelled. Of course it is i'm
possible to foresee the course of vast vol
ume of water let loose in this way, but it
seems quite certain that it would substan-
italy follow the present channel Of the river
as far as Saccarappa, where part of it
would be likely to seek the old channel to
Fore River at Strondwater or across the
isthmus TO Back Cove. The destruction of
Gambo, Little Falls and Saccarappa would
be inevitable, river side farms would be mum
dated, the Ogdensburg railroad would suffer
largely and the miscellaneous damage would
be immense. q.f 4r
An alarming feature of this situation is the
lack of any official power to obviate the dan
GER Several attempts have been made by
parties whose property is threatened to secure
protection, but the owners of the dam say 10
is tsafe enough'-just what they said at
Williamsburg this menacing flood still
hangs. like the sword of Damocles, over the
Presumpscot valley. There seems to be no
authority under our laws for inspection and
improvement, and we must depend, until the
session of the next Legislature, upon the
conscience of the landowners, quickened,
we may hope, by the events of Saturday.