The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1877-03-29
Fearful Disaster.

TeseINoii' We give i" IcW cAtiuCtS'
The StafIordville reservoir belonged
to the reservoir company, conn
posed of the owners of mills on the
stream below. The dam was raised
six feet during the winter, and the
storm last night filled it for the first
time. Close by the reservoir stood the
satinet mill of e. A. Converse; next
was the shoddy mill of j. Basthe /;
then the machine shop of S. a. Lidon.
| a mile lower down was the Phoenix
manufacturing compnny's cassimere
mill, at Hydeville, and three miles be-
low there the Glen Mills cotton warp
| factory stood, at Glenville. The Con-
nersyille manufacturing company's
cashmere mill and G. NJ. Ives granite
mill for making cotton goods were on
the stream at Stafford Springs, about
| five miles from the dam. The reser-
voir was about mile and O quarter
long and averaged a quarter of a mile
in width. The dam was about twenty
feet high, but short, the stream bed be-
ing narrow for some distance below
The water is the head of the Will
mantle river. Years ago Il dam on u
tributary stream above here gave way
and caused greet damage.
Hartford, Conn, March 27.-The
losses by the Cunveresvlle disaster are
nov estimated at from S500,000 to 81,
100000. One person, Richard Spedd-
| ing, u well known citizen of Stafford
Springs, is thought to haYe been
| drowned.
Stafford, Conn, March 27.-All the
dams on the streams from Stafford
vile, and all the bridges below the
Springs, arc swept away, making n
complete wreck Of our valley. 1t is
thought one or two lives are lost.
New York, March 25.--The Worlds
special from Hartford says the reser-
voir which give way this morning at
Staflordvilc is about mile long by a
quarter to Il half Il mile wide. Every
since the addition was put on there
have been fears of the dam. The re-
cent filing was its first test. In. spite
ofopen gateway and other precautions,
a leak began about the waste pipe.
The water constantly made its way
through the dam along the edges OF
the pipe, rs Ind been predicted, the
wall having been made of frozen ma
terial which the approach of spring
loosened. Men were ut work all day
Monday trying to patch up the holes
and only stopped yesterday morning
when certain of failure. The water
driving the great pipe out of its place
tore the dam opieces about six O'Clock
and started down the valley us is
usual in such cases The water chose
queer rand unaccountable paths, spar.
ing some buildings directly in its way
while it tore others to pieces which
seem ed sure TO stand. Of twelve mill.
on the stream only two were carried
away, a third, the Granite mill, wa:
damaged while the rest escaped. The
stream, beginning at Statfordville
flows through Uydeville, Glenville
and ConnerspvilIc and enters the Will
mantle river at stafford Springs. Thi:
place with its 5000 inhabitants, ha,
becomes Il summer resort on account o.
its mineral springs. its business J.;
all Incidental 20 the manufacturing
interests The flood washed about {
tenth part Of the village out Of eXis
tencc, including the most central anI
business portion. From the moment
the food struck the town to its subsi
dencc there was not ten minutes tim,
yet the dan,;tge done in that time wa
more than can be made up in years i
it docs not entirely PROSTATE the com
munity there. Mr.. Il. G. Penney, o
Glen Mills, rode his horse down il
front of the tioud and gave such warn
ing that no more than one life wa
lost. The people had been expecting
the warning and at once found places
of safety, though the number in peri
was not great, the stream bed being il
Il narrow gorge and the houses out o
danger. The whole community wa.
out to see the food, which was a sigh
never TO Ire forgotten. The water die
not seem to hc water at all but All
vanced, like Il great mass of sticks an,
stones, rolling over and over
gouged n channel thirty feet deep il
the road, tore up trees by their root
and carried off soil from gardens, sub
stituting rocks so that its track is
waste. Every dam on thestream wa
carried OIL, and instead of difiusing it
self the volume Of the flood grew
greater until the Willimantic rive
was reached. Below Stafford spring
the only damage done was the roa,
and bridges. The river was able t,
absorb the flood without further in
jury to property. The whole distric
where the stream had created industI,
is now changed to waste channel
|
Live lords are getting to be SO com
mon thing in New York and it
vicinity that people don't seem t,
know how to treat them any more
! My Lord Bufort has recently had al
awful time. After spending ten day
. in the Tombs, where he was lodget
for some slight indiscretions that i
seems even lords may be guilty of, h
went to jersey City, where he wa