Connecticut western news., 1874-06-12

terested in this terrible tearing up of thing
 more than in anything else.
 THE GREAT STORM
 Never in the history of this tow,
 has that portion of it through whicl
 flows the small stream of water know,
 as the Washicastinook or Mt. Riga brook
 suffered so severely by the food
 as it has during the past week. Last Sat.
 urday afternoon at about quarter pas
 two o'clock, the dam at the Washinee fac.
 tory in this village gave way to the pres
 sure of the inn ense volume of water tha
 the heavy rains on the mountains above al
 hour or two previous poured in upon it, ant
 in almost the twinkling of an eye, tn,
 stream at the bridge near Lawyer Warner.
 in this village, had become so swollen tha
 the passage under the bridge could not ac-
 commodate the rapidly increasing flood
 and the water poured out into the street
 almost entirely submerging 1t as far as the
 post-of1ce. Amongst the alarm and con
 fusion consequent upon such a rushing in
 of the waters upon us, reports got in cir.
 culation that the dam at Mt. Riga had bro
 ken away, but this erroneous impression was soon corrected by the fact that the volume of water which came upon us was toe quickly spent to sustain such theory. Af- ter the Washinee dam yielded, Mr. Dexter's soon followed, after which the old forge dam and the small bridge immediately be-. low it went away !; also the foot bridge in the street near Mrs. Reids and Mir. War. ner's; portion of the center abutment of the railroad bridge; and the swollen stream running by the west side of the railroad track for distance of perhaps sixty rods south, found its way over the track the embankment for distance of sixty or sev. enty feet being in few moments time washed entirely away, leaving the ties suspended by their spikes to the iron rails. Strange as it may seem, previous to this sudden rush of water, but very little rain had fallen here; but the evidence of powerful rains in the mountains above was sufficient to convince all of the immediate occasion of the unusual rise of the stream.
 A despatch was sent to Lime Rock to warn them of what was coming, which, notwithstanding the obstinacy of one of the telegraph operators on the line. we are informed reached that village before the water got there, and gave them notice a few moments in advance. It appears that the office in New Hartford was trying to call the Hartford office, and although this call had been repeated a long time previ- ously without response from Hartford, agent Watson could not coax, beg or com pei him to wait moment and let him tell Canaan to inform Lime Rock of what was coming. This operator had the wire, and MT. w. was compelled to wait and hear hat monotonous and unceasing s.H. D." III Hartford was obtained and the New Hartford message, Gin importance of about i've cents yalue,) sent before he could send his word of warning to Lime Rock by the way of Canaan. Some plan should be adopted by telegraph companies whereby messages of such vital importance as was that of Saturday can get transmitted with no delay whatever.
 Soon after o'clock, wrecking train rom Canaan arrived here with loads of gravel and timbers, and it is no little cred It to Engineer Heister and the gang of men under him, to say that at little past seven o clock, the milk train passed the bridge and break in the road below and went on it's way rejoicing, and Conductor Eggleston's train passed soon after with no delay what ever from it's regular time.
 THE SECOND STORM 1.-THE PEOPLE ALARMED
 AND FLEE FOR SAFETY!
 MOI Tar from o'clock Sunday evening terrific storm of rain, accompanied by lightning and thunder broke over our yil- iage and the surrounding country, and it seemed as though the firmaments had opened and was pouring upon us in sswhole water" the entire contents of the fountains above: The whole heavens seemed ablaze with lightning; it's flashes being incessant. with only slight intermission, shower after sno"er IoiioWed ln quick succession, each succeeding one seemingly trying to ou.do that which immediately preceded it in in- :ensity and volume.
 About Il o'clock at night, the waters from the thousands of streams and brooks pouring from the hills into the Mt. Riea stream had swollen 1t to such height that 1t came roaring down its rocky course with almost the speed of the wind, and even more quickly if possible than the Saturday before, the streets of our village were again inundated; a stream pouring from the bridge as before, down past the Congrega- tional church, our office and the stores. finding an outlet to the fields east of the village at various points on its route. This current of water coming so suddenly and so rapidly that 1t would be difficult for man to preserve his equilibrium in endeavorinp to ford it; frightened people into the be- Ter that the dam at Mt. Riga, which holds . thousand acres of water, had bro- ken' and it was being precipitated upon all creation below it, and a general alarm was given, Men ran throroh tha etroats o-,,;,,,n