Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1877-11-30

The people Of these two villages on
North River were aroused from sleep early
on Saturday morning by flood of
water such as was never seen before by the
oldest resident. The water was from three
inches to two feet higher than in the great
flood of September. 1870. Up to Friday
evening the rain of the two preceding days
had fallen SO gently that no one expected
so great q rise in the stream, and at that
time the river at Mt. Crawford had risen
but six inches, and night closed in with
but little Indication of the great flood,
which before the dawn of day was dealing
destruction along it's way. The beauti-
full village of Bridgewater, from its situa-
ton on the river bottom, suffered severely,
large portion of the town being under
water from North and Dry Rivers.
The bridge on the Warm Springs pike at
this point was washed away. 1t was new
and substantial structure, erected since the
flood of 1870, at a cost of about 81 900. Mr..
E. B. Simpson and VIM. S. Vanpelt the
latter living short distance below, at
Burlington, are perhaps the heaviest losers.
The former had his dwelling house under
mined and, together with all his furni-
ture, totally wrecked. Mr.. Vanpelt's
dwelling house, with all its furniture and
effects, was washed away, he and his fam
lily barely escaping with their lives. The
dams Of the Bridgewater Touring mill and
of Rollers mill, a short distance below,
were carried away. MI. Kulin, near Bridge
water, had three of his farm horses drown
ed. Fortunately, as far as heard along the
line Of the stream, no lives were lost.
AT Mt. Crawford the first alarm was
given between 2 and 8 O'Clock, A. M, by
an employee of Cook & Co., who are opera
| ting the I<iser mill. He was sleeping in
| the building, and was aroused by the drift
| timber striking against the river side Of the
| mill. TIE news spread rapidly, and the
| people hurried to the south end of town,
where the elevated narrow passage between
| the two streams gave a good view Of
| Cooks Creek and the river.
| 4 new bridge in course of construction
| by D. 4. Picker, and nearly completed,
spans North RiYer at this point, and on
| this all eyes were turned, expecting every
| moment to see 1t carried away, at O'Clock
| Very large tree struck and mo led it ten
| or twelve inches, but after tearing up the
| floor and breaking some strong braces, 1t
| passed under and on in it's course down
| the river. Less than a mile further on
| the same tree was seen to strike the bridge
ON the Valley pike and without hating In
| its course carried that structure with it in
| it's onward rush. A short distance below,
| the bridge struck q large tree and went to
| pieces with loud crash. The loss of this
bridge will be seriously felt by the people
| Of the vicinity and the travelling public
| but the work of rebuilding, we are glad to
learn, will commence at once. An addi
tlonal span will be required to cross the
| deep gap torn in the road on the north side
by the water. This is fully double as wide
| as that torn out by the flood of 1870.
About sunrise Saturday morning the
| Vanpelt dwelling house, above spoken of,
went to pieces against the Picker bridge
subjectlng it to another severe test. 1t
successfully withstood the waves and float
ing timbers, and is now the only structure
OF the kind standing for many miles above
and below On the river.
The farm opposite Mt. Crawford, owned
by Jackson Rhodes, lost heavily in fencing,
and twenty acres Of corn in shocks was
swept away, the owner himself taking
refuge in tree, where he remained five
hours while the water surrounded the
buildings near him.
Along Cook S Greek the loss is chiefly in
fencing. D. A. Plecker7s ice house, the
largest one perhaps in the Valley, was de-
stroyed.
All the Touring and saw mills along
North River suffered severely, except the
Mt Crawford Mill, which escaped with but
a slight injury to one abutment. The Sher-
mans and Rollers Mills suffered the loss of
flour, grain and offal. the building and ma
chinery injured, and all the smaller houses
carried away. Nh. Sherman also lost his
new saw mill and fixtures, and had his
dam broken and injured.
The loss Of property and stock is notsso
great as IN 1870, owing to the fact that the
sufferers by that flood had rebuilt upon
higher and safer grounds. But in the sud
den and rapid rise in the waters, and the
extent Of the overflow is perhaps without
parellell during the past century.
SHENANDOAH.
In Shenandoah the n orth River was
from twelve inches to three feet higher
than in 1870 and in the bottom lands where
the Shenandoah river runs for SO miles the
IL, &c toI of To
were buried from one to three feet under
sand. Among the losses named in the
Shenandoah 'Herald'' are the famous
Meem farm-a fine river bridge swept off,
800 bushels Of corn and several miles of
fencing, loss 0,o00, G. W. Hooyer's dwell
ling house and 40 hogs, q. Whits cabinet
shop, DR., Henkle's saw mill, Simon Hen
kel's dwelling, r. G. Manor's saw mill
and the miller's house, 1000 shocks of corn
on Samuel Moore's farm, j. W. Moore
loses 1000 bushels of corn, On the Riddell
farm 300 bushels Of corn was carried off
and so acres Of wheat buried, P. s. M. Bird,
Samuel Hauman, Jas. Painter, Mrs. Eliza
Bowman, James Hoover, D. E. W. Myers,
Joseph Conner, John Hotel, Samuel Bow
man, A. j. Downey, Thos. Hoffman, I. M.
Hollingsworth, P. A. Funkhouser, John
Dellinger, John Hausenfluck, Lewis Funk
houser, Jos. Burner, Jacob Fravel, J. P.
Artz, B. P. Newman, Benz. Ramsy, Joseph |
and Obed Funk, Thos, Clanahan, David |
Stickley, Lawrence Hauman, VIM. Sibert |
and Jacob Rice.
PAGE.
The losses in Page are estimated as grea-
fo,,