Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1874-05-29


rate oil twenty miles an hour, ana no one
who can begin to comprehend the terrible
momentum of such torrent will wonder
at the awful destruction it wrought, or
that it proved sudden and sure death to
almost every soul engulphed by it. A
Northampton man who was looking over
the ruined dam told us that the ravine be-
low 1t was a favorite spot tor picnics; that
he had often been there, and never without
feeling of insecurity, from the amount OF
water always leaking through the dam.
The only wonder now is that it held so long
A frequent expression with the survivors,
Is one of thankfulness that the flood did
not take place in the night. Had it come
four hours sooner, probably not half-a-dozen
OF the zoo and more persons, whose names
are on the lists of the relief committee, and
who were rendered homeless by the flood.
would have escaped.
The writer talked with Mr.. Cheney, the
father of the gatekeeper, who was The first
to see the sloughing off of the embank-
ment which was the first indication of the
break, and with Mrs. Cheney, his sons
wife, who was the only person who saw the
actual outbreak of the reservoir. She could
not describe it, however, saying that the
"smoke" seemed to hide the scene, mean
ing, of course, the cloud of spray raised by
the rush of the imprisoned waters. Some
complaint Is made by the Williamsburg
people, because Cheney did not shout the
alarm on entering the village, instead of going
first to inform the oyerseer. But, though
thoroughly frightened, he probably realized
little of the consequences of the break and
acted much as man of his calibre The was
paid $500 year by the reservoir company
might have been expected to.
There is some insecurity felt in Williams
burg and below, respecting the Goshen
reservoir, on the other branch of Mill River.
| Were this to break. the rest and larger
portion of Williamsburg would be wiped
out. After the heavy rains of Thursday some
persons removed their household goods out
of the valley, for fear of another flood but
the water Is being drawn down, as it can
well be, for there are hardly any mills now
to use it: and the apprehension has mainly
subsidized
1t is Of course impossible. within the
limits of such an article as this, to describe |
half of the sights of interest, in the scene of |
such catastrophe The search for the |
dead had substantially ceased, and some of
the traces of the disaster had been removed
in the process Of clearing up the streets of
the devastated villages; but enough remain
ed to show that there had been no exaggera-
ton IN the published accounts of the flood.
ALBrRGH.-Philip Atari caught last week
with a seiEe. 80 pike and pickerel and five
surgeons. at Alburgh Centre. One of the
surgeons weighed li74 lbs. Abair ought
TO be informed that the lst of May has
passed. and that he i liable to a fine of $3.50
for his weeks work The fish have in
creased very fast in the lake since the law
for their protection was passed. Parties
are catching large numbers of bass and pike
trolling. This is about three weeks earlier
than the trolling season generally com
menceS
Mills Nosburgh has made, this Spring,
from 2lO maple trees l, 200 lbs. of sugar
The dwelling house occupied by Mills
losblrgh. just over the Canada line, was
entirely consumed by fire Sunday night.
Eth inst. The family awoke about three
O'Clock in the morning and were nearly
with the smoke. They Just had ,
time to get out of the house, and were I'M
able to save anything but their night clothes,
which they had on, and one feather bed. !
DIR. Nosburgh had 500 pounds of wool !
in the house, which was burned ?
lie rented the.house and farm. The house L
was insured but the clothing, etc, owned
~ Mr.. '. was not and the loss comes heavy i
IN him The fire is thought to be the work I
If an inccndiary. ;
W. L. Conger caught sixty-three bass. I
rolling. one day last week. He caught a
orty- three of them in one hour He sold
hem for $3.50 and they were shipped to
)alifornia for breeding purposes. a
Our correspondent does not advise 2
eneral rush to tie trolling grounds, as a j
lan was out nearly all the next day and "
aught only two. and they were nor breeders W
ither. tt