Ottumwa weekly courier. (Ottumwa, Wapello County, Iowa) 1872-1899, 1876-04-05

HuhuTeu anu seNent. HilllioH Suiioho
of water.
WORCESTER, Mass, March 80. -
Thirty feet of the dam gave away at
6 80. The widest rumors prevail.
AT 80 this evening the reservoir
dam gave way with great crash.
The spiling wall crumbled, letting off
160,OOO,0O0 gallons of water stored
behind. The water rushed down the
ravine with terrible force in solid
mass twenty feet high. First in the
line of the sweeping flood was the
stone waste-gate house. When the
flood struck this il tottered, then the
keystone of the arch dropped out, a
corner OF the building next gave way,
followed by the wooden roof, which
was swept onward until drawn into a
whirlpool, when it was crushed and
then thrown into the air. The gate
house was tipped over and not even a
stone of it remained. Down through
narrow ravine. 100 feet wide and a
mile long, the flood swept on; its
sides were fairly dug out clean in an
instant for fifty feet, until the edge of
the embankment was almost perpen-
dicular. Through the pine woods on
one side of the ravine the water tore.
| The largest trees were twisted around
like straws, pulled up by the roots
and carried down.
| The flood tore out everything in
the ravine, and rushed on to the high
way below. A large barn was taken
up bodily and carried about fifty feet,
when it struck a tree and was broken
to pieces. Next was G.. Il. Olney's
house, one of the finest in the village.
The rushing mass struck this broad
side, and completely cleared out the
rear and front walls, and strange to
say supported the roof. under which
the water poured in a solid stream
twenty feet high and thirty feet wide.
Several small houses in its course
were swept away like feathers. JAS
Smith a. Co.'S wooden mill, sub.
stantial brick structure, was neXl
struck, and crumbled until three.
| fourths of the building was in ruins
I A short distance below was the
Bottomly mill, wooden structure
about fifty feet square, and stood be-
low the dam which held the waters OF
a pond below. When the water
struck this it gave way and the mill
was next struck and lifted bodily to
the top of the rushing waters. On il
was swept until it struck Ashworth &
Jones mill, substantial brick struc.
ture. four stories high, with an ell fol
a boiler house.
AT Stoneville the dam gave wa!
and the course of the flood wa,
through narrow valley, and the roal
of the rushing water was distinctly
heard for q mile. The flood mex
passed over small dam on the Bos
ton Il Albany Railroad, just above
the GAINESVILLE depot. Spectators who
were standing near the depot say tn,
water was thirty feet high when il
approached the track With one tire,
mendous crash the railroad embank,
ment gave way, opening gap four
or five hundred feet long and twenty
feet deep. The coal sheds were ear.
ried away, but the passenger and
freight depots were left standing.
I just before the water struck the
railroad embankment at Janesville. q
section of the stream forced its way
onto the line of road, and passing Oh
both sides of the depot rushed down
the track, and in its course lifted rail,
and ties bodily from the road bed
turned them topsy turvy for more
than mile. just before reaching tn,
stone arch bridge at Curtis Pond i
bored hole down into the road bet
and made gap about eighty fee
long and forty-tiye or fifty feet deep
The water then found its way int,
Curtis Pond. The devastation at thi
point will be as costly as any alonI
the entire route.
The branch railroad track wa
taken up bodily and carried over oil
to the main road. Trees, stumps ant
shanties were also thrown down an,
washed away. The food strucl
Leesville about two hours after tn
dam broke, and struck the santine
terrific force. 1t gave way and crum
bled into ruins, and the dam was car
ried away. The course of the strean
from the reservoir through other vii
, lagos is nine miles, showing that th,
water advanced at the rate of tire,
miles an hour. The first mile, how
, ever, was made in three minutes.
The mill of the Wick Manufactur
ing Company at South Worcester wa
, destroyed. The water then spreae
, out over series of meadows, and IL
the south part of the city there was
general inundation. The water is rap
idly subsiding. No further damage
feared. 1t is impossible TO estimat.
the loss tonight.