Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1877-01-15

Effects of the ThaH.


New YORK, Jan. l5.-A Pittsburg dispatch
giving details Of the movement OF the ice in the |
Monongahela river yesterday says:
Lying in the Mouongahela from its mouth to |
Greensboro we're no less than 70 STEAMBOATS, |
and tow boats, with an aggregate value OF prob
ably upward Of $1,000 Besides these
there we're probably $50 coal boats and barges |
OF an average value of $500 EACH Ga these
crafts was laden about l5,O000 900 bushels OF
coal, worth anywhere from to cts. a bushel
10 the barge. The first steamboats, to fall VIC.
TINS to the ice were the Brownsville packets
Bennett and ChiettaD. The destruction Of
these large steamers vas complete, the cabins
being carried off and the hus cut down by the
ice until they were utterly useless. In addI-
ton to these steamers valuable boats used for
towing coal were sunk, while many Of the large
fine coal packets at the wharf were STOW. 10,
and are 10 imminent danger of sinking. The
number Of coal barges and boats that came
down is estimated to be at least 800. About
one third OF these boats were ladened with COAL
From dam MOL up to the head waters Of navl.
CATION valuable coal tipples and ice breakers
were carried off like SO many straws in 4 Whlrl-
wind. Months OF active labor will be required
| to put the coal interest of the river IN shape.
Fawcett s. Co., heavy coal shippers, have lost
| l9 loaded boats, loaded barges, fuel boats,
| and 80 empty coal boats. The loss Of lille Is
small, though many had exceedingly narrow
escapes. Prominent coal shippers estimate the
| damage done their interest by the ireshet OF
Saturday night and Sunday at over s !, 800, 900.
| A Cincinnati dispatch says Of the damage IN
! the Ohio, there:
Reports are that ten or twelve ives were lost
| by men who were trying to save property.
| al la
trade, was struck BY ice while lyl0g at the
boa. wharf, foot of Vine street, and crushed
aud sunk, with her entire cargo, valued at
$50 900. The Naomi and MockiDg Bird, two
small propcllera used as harbor boats, we're
also caught in the ice and crushed to pieces,
thc loss 90 each being about $1,000. The
creates. damage, however, was done to coal
barges. or these craft fully seventy-hVe, all
of them filled with COAL were carried away,
many being crushed before they left their
moorings, while others were carried before the
ice down the current Of the stream. Some 200
empty bargcs, which had been fastened at
various points along the landing, were also
carried away and probably less than half Of
them will ever be recovered. At an early
hour in the morning fat boat which had
been tied up at Eggleston avenue, and %
which family Of seven was living, was caught
by field Ct Ice and carried off into the cur
rent. The father of the family. whose uame
is CuIburt, caught ooc of the children 10 his
arms aud jumped 90 the ice, and f0ally reach.
ed the shore, but the mother and four child
ren, unable TO escape, remained on the boar.
They were again seen five miles below tie city,
their boat still unharmed, but all attempts 10
rescue them were iruitles5. The losses thus
far to river men and coal men doing business
will be something over 81, 900 900.
MADISON, ND, Jan. 15.-John McLaugh-
lilo, the man who was carried away in a coal
barge from ClncuDati at ten clock yesterday
morning, was rescued this morning from a
cake oil floating ice By party of men near
the Mammoth Cave Pork House. He left the
barge at daylight, and tried to reach the shore
90 the ice. but failed, and had been drifting on
the small Ice t,e FROM which he was taken for
several hours.
CINCINNATI. Jan. 1.-THE present break
up Of the ice n the river has been one of the
most disastrous on record-not only at this
place, but at every point between here aud
Pittsburg. There we're seventy loaded and
one hundred and fifty empty barges snnk or
carried away from their landings at this place.
\ number of barges that were swept away had
men aboard, who have not SINCE been heard
from. Two OF the boats, half barge and hal.
cottage, which were used as family habitaticns,
were carried away.
A father and son, or one OF them, escaped TO the
shore on tho ice, and the rest were eventually
rescued at points below the city. The cargo o:
the steamer Alex. Kendall was valued at ten
; thousand dollars, which will prove total loss.
Tho Cincinnati and Maysville packet Handy
was also sunk. She was valued at $4,000.