The Rutland daily globe. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1873-1877, 1874-05-19
THE DISASTER IN WESTERN MAS
SACHUSETTS
.If1EEgsACiS or ERrE DESGs. AYHON
Tine Hide OF George Cheney, thc Ga.a
Kcepcr-~ccncs anu Bncidcnts.

The all absorbing topic of the moment Is
the great disaster of Saturday, which swept
away such large amounts of property and
caused SO great a loss of human life. No
equally heartreldng occurrence has ever
taken place in New England, If in the
country. 1t far exceeds the scenes Of the
floods along the lcyeos of the Mississippi.
1t is so unprecedented and uneQualled in
the great disasters by flood, that every in
dividual is eager to grasp the sad details.
Hence we devote a large space to the dis
aster and the incidents attending, gathered
from various sources. mainly, however,
from the Journal, and other Boston and
Springfield papers. We have no heart for
comment, did space afford us the oppor-
tunity, but proceed to give as much of the
details and incidents as is consistent, and as
the crowded state of our columns allow.
THE LOCATION OF TIE DISASTER.
The picturesque valleyof Mill River, one
of the most valuable and industrious tribu :
taries of the Connecticut, which but yes
terday was studded with busy hives of
skilled labor and beautiful villages, seated
in green meadows, which had grown up
under the fostering care and perseverance
of the founders, has been visited by one of
the most destructive and appalling calami'
ties that has ever occurred in New Eng
land. The destruction of property has
been immense, while the loss of life is ter
rible to contemplate. The four thriving
manufacturing villages of Williamsburg,
Skinnersville, llaydenville and Leeds, with
all their wealth and substantial structures,
intricate machinery and adOrnment of cot
tages, lawns and gardens, have been devas-
tat ed by the flood of waters which broke
away from their mountain faslness at the
head of the valley and swept with rresist-
lble force through and over one of the
most prosperous sections of western Alassa-
chusetts, Nothing short of personal obser-
walton will enable one to realize the extent
of the catastrophe and the weight of woe
that hangs with its funeral-pal over these
| grief stricken communities.
THE FATAL STREAM.
The course of Mill river, which in sum-
mer is small stream, scarcely over twenty
feet wide, is northwest and southeast its
extreme length not being more than ten
miles from its mouth at northampton to
the source among the Goshen hills. The
water supply of the factories at and below
| williamsburg was derived from reservoirs
! located upon the eastern and western
| branches, which united in the above named
village. The reported rupture Of the
Goshen dam was incorrect. The storage
basin known as the Williamsburg reservoir,
beng the one which was destroyed, was
located at the head of the eastern branch,
about three miles above its junction with
the west branch. The stream was spanned
by twenty-four bridges, ten of which were
in Williamsburg, all of which, together
with four dams, were swept away.
THE TREACHERoUs RESERVOIR.
The reservoir was situated at a high al
ttude above the factories which it supplied
with water, and was constructed about
seven years ago by a company of capital
lists styled the Mill River reservoir corpora
ton. II covered an area of one hundred
and four acres, and at the time of the dis
aster the water was fully thirty feet deep
at the dam. From personal inspection of
the ruined dam your reporter is enabled to
describe its defects. The foundation was
laid upon a bed of blue clay on level
with the bed of the river, and was not sunk
below it, Instead of being built of solid
masonry, a wall of stone boulders at the
bottom and cobble stones above stood forty
feet high and only four feet thick at the
base, taperng wedge-like to one foot in
thickness at the top Was supported above
and below by embankments of earth paved
on the lower side with small boulders. A
stone conduit some thirty feet long, above
the dam at the base, connected with an
iron pipe, fifteen inches in diameter below