Daily Yellowstone journal., 1884-02-26
TONGUE RIVER OPEN
The Yellowstone and Tongue
Rivers Now Open and
Smoothly Flowing.
The Flood Of Yesterday Did But
Little Damage.
Incidents and Items.
Incidents and Items.

Yesterday wss fraughi with excite /
1,ent for our citizens, the menacing |
attitude If Tongue river keeping every
one "n the alert and eager to discus.
the most sensational reports. Hap
pity for all concerned, however, the !
river acted with good horse scnse and |
beyond thetwO slight oyertlows Of the
forenmn nothing secured to cause
any unea-ine-- The breakup was
unprecedented in the short history Of
this locality. in regart Ia its sudden
ness. When il /. taken into consider
alton. that since the first of February.
until Saturday, morning the thrrmnni-
et.r has been constantly below zero,
il j. almost incredible that the SOFTEN
ing influence 81 thirty-six hours Of
chinook. could produce such
volume Of water rs passed the city IN
the twenty four hours ending la-t
night. The discharge of the creeks
and streams tributary to Tongue river
was enormous. and Notwithstanding
that the mother ice In the river WAS
TnIRTY-iNcHEs THICK
and IA sound ~ in midwinter. il was
forced to vacste its nioorings almost
immediately In the advent Of the How
from Pumpkin creek and join in the
mad rush for the Yellowstone. As
lnte M half past hive sunday even
ing the river here gave no signs Of u
break up. There WAS no hulging Of
the ice. "a" loosening at the shores.
aud hut little water on H. No mere
than resulted from the days drainage
Of the streets. yet in one hour, IL was
nearly bank full, u seething torrent
chokpd with monster cakes If Ice that
rushed along at fearful pace. leaping
high i'm air. ~ IL to escape from the
dreadful crush, only to fall back again
and disappear for the time being In
the congloinerate nass. 10 sudden
was this change that II had been In
progress for more than an hour before
y dozen people knew Of the Titanic
struggle that wa going on. soon fires
I kindl~d Oh the hanks attracted the
/ citizen. who fiocked ia droves to the
river to witness the spectacle which
by the red glare Of the fires was indie
scribably grand. As the river rose high
enough to nearly cover the piling o
the centre pier Of the disnantled mill
tary bridge,
BATTLE ROYAL
was waged between the sturdy bunci
~ piers and the oncoming ice. CAKE
after cake ~ colossal size and weigh
ing many hundred tons would conn
down the stream head on to the de
voted piles, only to lie tossed high II
mir and then broken fragments throw,
on either side. But:the fight was to-
unequal to he Of long duration, an,
the swapping 81 tinbers soon told tn
story Of their submission to the gian
force that was pitted against them
still the river continued to rise, AN,
the mad rush Of ice and water, SCENE,
to gather speed and volume ~ II went
by eleven o'clock the stream WIN
hank full, and shortly after II com
mencsd gorging causing AN overfio,
on the south side of the track. tn
railroad emhankment las was expect
ed prevented the spread Of the water
into the business portion Of the tow
until about six o'clock In the morn
ing, when the inundstion becan,
general. hut to onlya slight depth
shortly after eight o'clock
THEuoRaE BEIOw BROKE.
and giving relief to the pent up waters
the fiood quickly subsidized only to h
renewed again about two hours late
by another gorge forming. Thi
second overflow for q time locke
threatening. the water scoring abou
one foot higher thaa the nieinorabl
food Of 1881, although the actual dept
Of water In Main street was not nearl
40 much M on that occasion owing I
the street having been filed In abou
two feet since then. To the great sa'
isfAction Of every body, the Ice asai
commenced 10 move In the river, an