Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1883-02-26
SNOW STORM, FLOODS AND
SUNSHINE.
Correspondence of the Monitor.]
Kuoryille. Tenn. Feb. IS.

Knocville, Tenn, Feb. 16.
The MONITOR Of the 18th inst. is
at hand and | have been trying to
obtain fair comprehension of the
the meaning of the paragraph which
read as follows:
cit SHOWS and then blows, it
blows and then SHOWS; then it blows
and it SHOWS both together"
| 1t is as difficult to realize that there
is corner where such weather pre-
walls as it is for me to picture Gin
cinnati in its present condition-with
water reaching to the very pavement
on one side of the hotel which was
our home year, and so far from the
river proper Lseldom walked the dis
tance. Millions of dollars will not
cover the losses suffered by the cities
on the river.
When I was in Cincinnati in No
vember the Ohio was just one foot
and one inch deep. Two days ago
it stood at sixty-five feet and four
and half inches. Thousands are
homeless and have lost everything
they possessed in this world. The
public schools have been closed, that
families may find shelter in the school
rooms churches are turned into re-
ceiving hospitals, and the whole city
is bent on its labor of rescue and re-
lief.
The gas works are disabled by the
| overflow, and the streets, at night,
are in darkness. Only oil lamps and
candles are to be had by any one.
In the distributing department of the
postofice, where work goes on all
night, two hundred gas jets have al
ways been required to furnish suffici-
ent light; now they are managing
with three locomotive head lights and
a hundred oil lamps.
The water works are thrown out of
gear by the water and the greatest
anxiety prevails lest fire break out,
or the flood continue until the supply
in the reservoirs is exhausted. The
daily consumption of water by the
city is between fifteen and sixteen
million gallons. There are, to-day,
in the reservoirs less than two days
supply, and no hopes of starting the
pumping machinery for week even
if the weather proves favorable and
the water recedes. Forty thousand
men are thrown out of employment,
and most of them are sufferers by the
flood. 1t is always the poor people
who crowd into the tenement houses
along the river-people, who, in los
ing their furniture and clothing part
with their entire possessions.
But they are not the only ones
whose homes are devastated, for this
| time the treacherous water has crept
on and up, past the highest point it
was ever known to reach, and some
of the better homes are gutted and
| their contents destroyed.
At Lawrenceburg, Ind, a little
city of six thousand inhabitants,
twenty miles south of Cincinnati,
eUe,'y building in the place is in water
At the highest point of land within
its limits the water is five feet deep,
and the current in the streets is al
most as swift as in the river. The
only relief comes from other cities,
and can only be carried by boats.
Even the telegraph communication is
cut off, and the railroad tracks are
washed entirely away. "Send us
bread or we shall starve," was the
last message the wire brought before
it went down.
At Louisville, Ky. by the breaking
of dam, thirty squares of the city
were flooded in few seconds time.
The people were asleep in their beds,
and escaped in their night clothes,
leaving everything behind.
Before me are letters received to-
day from both Louisville and Gin
cinnati, and the picture they paint is
desolate indeed. The only bright
ness about it is the widespread SYM
pathy it has aroused, which finds
ready response in deeds of mercy
and charity. There has been no hes
itation, no waiting for some one to
take the initiative; it was move in
which all FASTENED to do their best.
The city was at once laid off in dis
tricts with superintendent for each,
aided by a large corps of assistants
the police, the aldermen of the city,
. the National Guards, and the citizens
all stood ready to do the work as.
signed them. Boats are constantly
out rescuing families from unsafe
houses; carrying food and fuel te
: those who were safe in the upper
T rooms of their houses protecting
, and gathering up valuable articles
which are tossed up by the angr,
waters.
r At the churches the ladies are gath
cred, with their sewing machines, in
: tent upon preparing clothing for th
: needy, merchants have responde,
e literally to their call for materials
i and the good work will go bravely o.
: so long as the necessity continues.
= If the great loss and suffering onl
s narrows the gulf which always sepal
~, a1aS fhe very rich from tha moor