The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1884-03-18
A CALIFORNIA FLOOD.

without Warning u Smiling Valley
flnDgei In Wne-a Poetic i,esc1Ipttou.
q Correspondence Of Inc Ia!tviGencer. rs
Rio BRAVO, CAL, March 3.-From day
to day during the continuance Of the
foods in tho Ohio Valley, ! watched the
telegfaphic reports to see il the worst had
yet arrived. felt an intereat, as a. West
Virsinian should, in case Of that kind. A
lew days later received papers from
Wheeling giving full particulars Of the
calamity. But OF this It is not my purpose
to speak. The nrbjec. is much talked Of
here, and the people, in conversation, com.
j. pare 1t to similar catastrophe. on
, smaller scale, that waited part Of Cali.
fotnia over twenty yeara ago. ~ u.
The people along the Ohio had warning
that the water wes coming. When it rain,
GU, Hood was expected. Suppose that
the people OF Wheeling Island had been nj
work pruning their flower gardens on
clear, bright spring morning, when audden.
ly,a deluge should break over them, sweep.
Y ing houses, trees and walls before il. Il
I would be nothing more than this country
has known. 1t was q food from clear
/. sky, although the rain did not come from
I there. However, by the way, rain from a
!. clear sky Is not unknown. Some time AGO
II was reading Hubert Bancroft's history Of
{ the peninsula of Lower California. and
there learned that far South On ths barren
\ mountains ruin falls from clear, blue sky.
4 EEFoRE THE FLOOD. {.
Tho next week alter got to California.
n i went 10 tho Kings River Plains to zee
{, vacarrcs ride wild horses. As l passed
/. over tho lowlands nlong the FLYER, I no.
y tced immense dritts Of broken trees hirh
Y above the waterline OF tho river. When /
4 asked the eause Of ii, the men told ma that
years ago great flood had piled tho trees
There. The bottom lands we're streyn with
I huge logs, and still the marks Of the water
4 could be seen. IA - il =,
: !. 7. In 1869. during tho winter, it raiued nj
4 most constantly for eleven weeks. The
! wind blew from tho south, and the rains
7 md mists knew no rest The plains and
Z low hills we're OVERLOOKING with water. but
4 high among the mountains the fall was all
snow. 1t accumulated foo. by foot, DAYS.
+ weeks and mon,hs, so that by tho first OF
\ May 1t was ten 10 thirty feet deep among
theSielrae. r Al. "a 80
Stow ten feet deep ia not uncommon in
those mountains that are 5000 feet hicl.
4 lam now within sight Of snow twenty feet
& deep. This deepest snow IL not on the
highest mountains, az one might suppose,
hut on those from 5000 to 10000 feet high.
u From where am eau SEQ tho bare peaks
.tof n Is. Tyndall, Williamson, Whitney and
gKaweah protruding from zones OF snow,
/ The cause OF this, according to Agassjz, !,
two fold. First, the tops Of those noun !.
taius, above $4,000 feet, are above the
clouds, and the snowfall is less than in
lower regions. Secondly, go high and un.
goes on much more rapidly than nearer the
sea level. Combining the two, we have
\ tho deepest snow, not on top Of the peaks,
but half way up the sides. Maury SAYS
i TINT In South America some Of tho isolated
peaks, such "a Chimborszo and Cotopaxi,
have submits bare OF snow, while lower