The true northerner., 1874-08-07
The Storm in Allegheny.
[From the Pittsburgh Commercial. |

terribly by Hood, our entire sympathies
go out. With her own losses and the
aid due her own citizens, Pittsburgh
will still show her Willingness to extend
all needed succor to those so sorely af-
flicted on the north side. Allegheny
City suffered tenfold more than our old
city, both in the loss of life and of prop
erty. In both these particulars the
greater portion was In the northeastern
portion of the city-the Third and
Eleventh wards-where more than 100
lives were lost and thousands of dollars
worth of property were destroyed. In
the district named the food had full
sweep through Butchers and Spring
Garden runs, and the tale of havoc oc-
casioned is one of the saddest in the
city's history. In the western district,
about Woods run, still further loss of
life and property was sustained. Such
a fearful calamity from the elements
was never known, and all that our peo-
pie can do to alleviate the suffering and
care for the orphan and widow should
be done. The narrowing details of the
disaster are given below:
BUTCHERS RUN.
To attempt to describe consecutively
all the ravages of the flood along this
street would be task of days. For a
distance of more than two miles the
marks of devastation are the same. In
fact, during the long tramp which takes
the spectator from the foot of Madison
avenue up Butchers run, the eye and
mind becomes wearied by the monoto-
ny of destruction to be seen in houses
torn away from their foundations, and
others dashed into pieces, and mingled
in an unrecognizable mass of debris in
sewers burst and caved in {; in heavy
stones from the masonry of the sewers
and of the houses, from the pavements
OF the streets; carried away as if they
were chips. East street a short dis
tance below where it opens into Madi-
son avenue is filled with debris,
consisting of an indistinguishable MKT
ure of roof, window-casing, weather.
boarding, furniture and household
goods. How many buildings were de-
stroyed, and utterly torn to pieces, it
is not possible as yet to tell but some
idea of the ravages may be gained by
the fact that this street, 40 feet wide, is
utterly choked up for length of more
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were once houses, sheds, barns and out
houses, and of which there is not dis
tinguishable feature, save this mass of
broken and confused material. This
! pile is at some points ten and fifteen
feet in height, and the force with which
it was thrown together is shown by
great timbers twisted up and snapped
off as if they were straws. The houses
along this portion of East street were
considerably damaged, and all were
submerged, but meme were swept from
their foundations. Further on are the
the buildings where the Woodville oil
works were located the buildings are
swept away and Hoevler & Coles glue
factory lies complete wreck, some of
/ it swept away and the rest of it is lying
in ruins on the spot. Going up East
street to Madison avenue, and keeping
on up Madison avenue, every foot of
ground repeats the same monotonous
tale of devastation.
Butchers run, as many of our read
ers know, runs IN northerly direction
from O'Hara street. The character of
the grouud is that of narrow valley,
or rather gully, from fifty to a hundred
and fifty feet i'll width, shut in on each
side by high, precipitous hills more
than two hundred feet high. Along
/ the bottom of the same is the creek, its
course followed by Madison avenue,
which frequently crosses the run in its
course up the ravine for some miles.
For a considerable portion of the way
the run was conducted through sewers,
and the entire ravine, for two miles
from its opening, was closely built up
with houses fronting Immediately on
the street, and built up close against
the hills on either side.
Not single bridge is left of tho nu-
merous structures by which Madison
avenue crossed the run. All are swept
away so completely that hardly YES
tige of them remains, and had it not
been for the assurance of those ac-
quainted with the locality, that at all
these places bridges were built, we
should hardly have thought it possible
that there were any bridges there.
The work of devastation commenced
some two miles up the run. To attempt
to give an account of tire property de-
stroyed would be an almost hopeless
task. Every house bears the marks of
the flood, and whole blocks were swept
away, hardly leaving foundation stone
to mark the spot where they stood.
The suddenness of the flood is de-
scribed most graphically by those who
were in its course. A few minutes after
the storm commenced, word was passed
from house to house that the water in
the run was rising, and that the ravine
might be flooded. The next minute a
raging flood swept down the ravine, car
rying everything before it, flooding the
lower portions of the houses, destroy
ing buildings, lifting others from their
foundations, and sweeping them down
the run to hopeless destruction. The
proximity of many of the buildings to
the hillsides proved the salvation of
hundreds of people, as many who would
otherwise have been drowned escaped
by their back doors and windows,
climbed the hillsides out of reach of
the storm, and waited there in the ter
rible storm until it was over and the
flood went down. The first loss of life
occurred at the house where Henry G.
Mattern and his entire family were de-
strova1