Port Tobacco times, and Charles County advertiser. (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1845-1898, 1874-07-31
The PiftShurr Flood

The disaster to the twin cities of PittSburg
and Allegheny is quite remarkable in the
loss of life and destruction of property and in
lis unforeseen suddenness and violence as that
which but few weeks ago overwhelmed the
towns of Mill River Valley, in Connecticut. 1t
differs, however, in this, that the one had its
origin in the neglectful crimnality of the men
who had built at the head of a popuous valley
an insecure dam, whilst he other proceeded
from one of those natural visitatio of an ele-
mental commotion which could not be forseen
or scarcely provided against To properly
comprehend the disaster to Pittsburg and Allie
gheny the position of the two cities must be
understood. The twin cities lie on opposite
hanks of the Ohio river at the junction of the
Monongahela and Allegheny rivers and occu-
Ply a basin of which the river is the centre
lnterSectng the cities at various points, and
emptying their waters into the river, are Butch
er's run, Spring Garden run, Woods run and
Saw Mill run. 1t was along these water courses
that the great destruction and loss of life oc-
Cured. The storm appears to have been of an
extraordinary and appalling character. An
eyewitness says that at about 81 o'clock on
Sunday evening two great black clouds came
up from opposite points OF the compass one to
the southwest and one to the northeast. They
rose slowly, like two awful demons Their
edges we've ragged and black, fecked here and
there with patches of fiery colors. A dozen
little promontories jotted out here and there
like the heads Of hydra upon each, changing
shape and appearance every moment, aSsum-
ing the appearance of bird, or beast, or mon
ster, occasionally extending far up across the
intervening space as though to reconnotre the
enemy, and then again receding. But all this
time the two great giants Swathed in inky
blacknesS. and almost without outline, slowly
approached each other. Suddenly a noise be-
tween Il roar and growl burst from EACH
There was no distinct defamation like ordinary
thunder but low, terrible. and continuous
rumblng growl, causing the air to vibrate and
the very foundation of the earth to shake as
though IA certain ague had seized upon the ever
lasting hills. \ fringe of fire like the aurora
borealis began TO run along the ragged edges,
faint at first, but growing in intensity every
moment, until it looked as though the two de-
mons had put on an arnor of fire. On they
bolt or binding light leaped from the central
came, nearer and nearer, when suddenly NIGH
~ head of the demon of the northeast, burned
high up in the sky, and then fairly struck the
opposing demon. A moment and a deafening.
crash divided the hot atmosphere and made
the earth tremble palpably. But the demon of
the southwest was not even stunned. but paid
back his aSSailant with forked ia velin of sui
phurOuS flame.
This was the opening of the grand battle
The long lines of flames that enveloped the COM
batants ceased to dance and flicker, and like
the borealis gathered into tongues of silver and
blue fire. and leaped forward simultaneously
from both directions until the rapidly narrow
ing space between them seemed to be an ocean
of FIRE The two demon clouds met directly
over the city, and seemed to rock the earth to
its uttermoSt foundations For a few minutes
previous few heavy drops of rain had been
pattering down, but when the two giants met
in their death embrace it seemed as though
river had been unclaimed in the heavens, and
was falling bodily to the earth below. For
haitian hour it did not rain. There was no dis
tinguShable drops as the term is generally I'M
derstood. 1t was the descent of a torrent, like
q river leaping over a precipice. In three min
utes after this terrible waterspout had burst
more than one hundred human beings were
swept away. Down Madison avenue, Alleghe-
ny, came the food in its most awful destruc-
tiveness, sweeping away more than fifty dwell
ing houses, and causing the death of seventy
persons in that immediate vicinity. At Woods
run, on the Ohio, fifteen were swallowed up in
the twinkling of an eye, and at Saw Mill run,
on the south bank of the Monongahela twenty
FIVE more were suddenly engulfed. The three
rivers have been full of the dead all day, while
the waterways leading thereto have yielded up
a harvest that sickens coronerS and undertakerS
The details of the disaster, that are given
with more soberneSs by the telegraph, do not
lessen the awful features of the calamity. either
as TO lis features of destruction of life loss of
property. The occurrence is one to which many
of our cities, Baltimore not excepted, are liable,
and teaches anew and with fresh force the les
son that only by the use of the highest engi-
neeriug skill can we dvest these small streams
of the liability to become raging torrents in the
case of great storm.-BIAimore american.