Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1875-03-19
1ailp Asnnebst gournal
AUG u y T A.
FRIDAY MORNING. March 10. 1879.
TIE SPRING PRESENTS.

THE SPRING FRESHETS.
The accounts from the Susquehanna and
Delaware rivers Of the destruction caused
BIZ the freshets and the breaking up and
jamming of the ice, have peculiar inter-
est to the people of Maine who live near
the banks of our rivers and have property
in mills and bridges that may be in jeop'
ardv from ice and freshets. The disasters
which have happened in Pennsylvania by
the recent flood may be duplicated in this
region. 1t is only few years since the
jewellers by the Kennebec witnessed scenes
similar to those which have taken place
within few days on the Susquehanna.
One Sunday morning the people at Au-
gusta were startled to find that the river
at this point had risen about twenty-five
feet above its common level, and that an
angry flood bearing massive cakes OF ice
upon its bosom was sweeping over
wharyes and into the Easements of all the
the blocks of buildings on the river front
Later in the day the railroad bridge was
swept away, and the passenger bridge SO
damaged that travel was interrupted until
repairs were made. Below the dam the
water was as high as above. The river
had choked below Hallowell by broken
ice, and the consequence was the sudden
rise Of the river as far back as the dam,
and until the food ran over that structure
without fall or scarcely ripple to mark
where it stood.
This disaster however was exceptional.
Its like we believe had never been known.
1t may not be repeated during the next
century And yet when the season comes
for the river to rise and the ice to break
and move towards the ocean we know
not what accident may happen. This
much, however, we do know, that Spring
freshets in the State of Maine seldom do
much damage. And the cause of this it is
not difficult to find. The surface OF the
State is not mountainous, therefore not
favorable to a rapid precipitation of rain
fall and suddenly melting snow into the
rivers. In mountainous country all the
rain that falls dashes in numerous and
swift torrents into the river, swelling the
volume of their waters at once, and tear
ing away without notice the ice that COW
ers them to form such distractions as have
been created this season on the Delaware
and Susquehanna, the consequence OF
which has been large loss of property
and great suffering TO the people living
where catastrophes have occurred. Be-
side the lakes and ponds in our State form
reservoirs for the reception and retention
of surplus water, and are protection
against the sudden rise of the streams with
which they are connected. as well as
places of deposit against the drouth OF
summer. Take them away and we should
see more formidable and sudden freshets,
also diminished supply of water id our
streams during the dry season. Then,
again, the change from Winter to Summer
is gradual, and this allows the ice to wear
away by degrees, so that when it finally
breaks up its strength IS gone ana IL soon
dissolves in the current that carries it
away.
Disasters by freshets in Maine are there
fore unusual. They are accidental rather
than otherwise. Nature has provided
against them. 1t is only by combina-
ton out of the usual course that serious
catastrophes take place by our Spring
freshets. We may have damage from the
ice this Spring, and so we may have tor
nado that will demolish cities and village,
but this is not the country or the latitude
for the frequent visitation of either the
one or the other, and therefore we may be
reasonably content to await the result of
Natures work.