Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1882-09-27
What One Brook Did.

The principal damage on Saturday was
w-"nghf n. nv the Psssaic river. hut BY the
Oldham Brook, and the loss cansed by that
stream wIiI reach $4,000 Or $4,000 This
is 4 ,mall mountain stream which skirts the
northern borders Of the city and falls into the
Pas.aic river less than Q mile above the
Gress Falls Paterson lies in sort Of basin.
bounded on the north By an elevated meadow
plateau. North Of this still is the Preakness
range If mountains, eliminating in High
Mountain" II is among these hills that the
Oldham Brook takes It's rise. Ordinarily one
could step acros. il anywhere, but Saturdays
rainfall swelied il almost TO raging torrent,
in some places 500 wards wide and running
about 20 miles an hour. The swollen waters
first carried away Peter Srurr's saw-mill.
about FIVE miles above Paterson. Then the
big dam Of Haledon Lake gave way This
was a massive embankment 500 yards long.
and combining body Of water IA
acres in area, with an average depth
of Is feet breach about l3O
feet long was made north of The dam, and the
lake descended with resI.tless force. Just
below the dam was a mill occupied on the
upper floor tor carpet and on the lower Moor
for siIA manufacture and in the latter de-
partment the water rushed in so fast that the
operatives. with the food up to their waists.
lives The torrent next encountered an iron
bridge on the road, and wrecked the north
abutment, leaving the structure hanging
-hakiy over the stream. The ice pond
about eight acres in area, of Robert Bridge,
was next reached. and the dam which con
fned il broken, aiding still more TO the force
Of the torrent. The substantial brick and
stone culvert which carried Haledon-ave
over the brook was the next to 60. half OF It
rs wing in and leaving yawning chasm
where the road had been. An old factory
belonging to Mr.. Bridge was bad
ly undermined. The flood next
reached the cul-ert which carried
Rurhans- lane, with the horse railroad To
Haledon, over the brook. This culvert wa
utterly ruined and communication was shut
off altogether. The street-car tracks were
torn up and twisted, and it looked as if
cyclone had passed. The course Of the brook
here is toward the Almshouse farm and build
ings, and it was there that the greatest dam
age was wrought The massive culvert on
R.d~ GODS ave. was destroyed. 4 substan-
tial retaining wall, which had been only Re-
Gently completed at q cost Of about S2,50O. al
the foot of the hill on which the Almshouse
stands was swept away in an instant, and
.oon the terraces into which the hill
side had been laid out crumbled and
aid away one after another un-
Ill the advancing flood was within
40 feet of the foundations of the building.
Great fear was felt lest this fine structure.
which is Of stone and brick and cost $50
would collapse over the heads of the 10 pau
pers and lunatics who are inmates there. The
place is used both as a city poorhouse and as
a county lunatic asylum. Fortunately the
water receded almost AS suddenly 40 it had
risen, and the calamity was averted. small
bridge connecting the almshOuse with the
City Hospital was ruined and communication
cut of The Almshouse and hospital build
ings can now be approached from the city
only by circuitous path, deep in mud,
through the fields. Tribune.