The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1875-04-23

....s r. WoRIHlNcTo
A1ssAer Fall River FlssA.
Bosros, April ia tremendous food
with disastrous results, occurred Satur
day evening, in'thc towns Of Westhsu
and Norfolk, about twenty miles distant
BY the breaking away Of the dam which
restrains the water Of Whiton's' pond
the source of the Mill River. This is .
small river, not over twenty-five fee,
broad At low water, but running with ,
strong current, mostly through meadow
land and emptying into Charles River Al
Medway. At this time an immense body
Of water was confined in. the pond by thu
dam, about ! hundred feet in length, u
the Wrenham and Franklin county road
The sudden bursting of the pond hurl
cd tremendous food upon the lands be-
low, sweeping away miles Of bridges
country roads and dams in its course
and causing damage to the amount Of be-
tween Sl00,000 and goo, 900. =
A half milo below this mill was the
saw and grist mill Of the Eliot Fcltire
Company, known as Fishers Mills. Such
was the fcrce of the. waters, on reaching
here it burst the thirty foot dam. and
carried along the mill portion Of the es.
tablishment-1 as though it was i
toy shop. On rushed the
water three.fourths of 4 mile, through
the lowlands to where there was located
the woolen and shoddy mills belonging ia
the felting company; Both ends Of the
dam were washed away and below the
mills large heapof coal, deposited fol
use 1T the mills.
Seventy rods further on the great dam
ut the Eliot Mills was met. This with
the road from the mills to Franklin Cen.
tire. beneath which the river runs, offered
4 substantial resistance to the rushing
current. The road however, soon yielded.
allowing the full force of the water
to strike against the long dam,
Meanwhile tha inhabitants Of Franklin
and Wrentham rendered valuable assist.
ance to the watchman at the mills in
opening place in the dam. hoping to save
= portion Of them. Their labors were
successful and although fifty feet Of the
dam was carried away the mills were
saved.
Down the stream, half mile further
was the track Of the New England l. New
York railroad some forty or fifty feet
above the river bed. Beneath this the
water usually passed by an arched cul-
vert. about ten or fifteen feet in width.
Here the waters, with seem
ingly increased strength, forced out
the stone culvert, as if it were made Of
pebbles, but so firm was the embank'
ment Of sand above the culvert that il
stood apparently intact for the space Of
an hour, when, being undermined, it caved
in for distance of one hundred and fifty
to two hundred feet, forming IN impassi.
BILE barrier to. the waters above. When
the road-bed sank 4 freight train was
within one hundred feet of the place,
though not in motion.
But great volume of water aad al.
ready passed the railroad and hurried
on to the achievement of its greatest feat.
Fifty rods below was the City cotton
mills. The mill was originally . three.
story wooden building, but was lately
enlarged by the addition Of = wing on
each end. The bridge over the county
road succumbed, and then the water OBJ.
tanning firm hold Of the main building,
lifted it and sent it crashing to the mead.
ows below. So thorough was the work
Of demolition that the cupola alone re.
mained standing upon the plain. The
machinery and water wheel shared the
fate of the structure. The wings were
left standing, but SO badly wrcnched and
undermined that they are probably
ruined and will have to come down.
On the stream again,
again, about half Z mile below, was an.
other country road and bridge. near
Keigsbury pond. This was snapped from
its foundations almost at the approach OF
the waters and carried away.
On the level space between this road
and the river the waters then spread out
and ceased their work of destruction.
The last bridge was swept away about
seven o'clock yesterday monning. One
body was swept down on the food but il
was supposed to be that of a man for
some months missing, and so far as is
known no lives have been lost by the
food, but the damage to property is'vcry
large. NJ houses were swept away. a
their location on the bank was such that
the water did not reach them. The fol.
lowing are the losses as far as ascer.
tanned: Whitney's dam $4,000; Eliot
mills $4,000; the town Of
Norfolk, $5,OO0; New York & New
England Railroad, 5000; and the City
Mills $4,000 to $4,000. A large mum.
bcr of persons ere thrown out of en-
ployment by the fall Of the City Mills.
Another Partv &f Thieves and NIur-
aerers In; Southern Texas.-Corpua
CATast1 Alarmed.
A Corpus Christi special of the 18th