Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1884-02-15
FATEFUL FLOODS.

lie
: Wheeling, Louisville and Other Points
Damage, Many Lives Lost, and Trshio
Very Largely Suspended.
PITTSBURGH, PA, Feb.s.
This has been a day of terror to the resi-
fdents Of this city, Allegheny and sur
rounding towns. What the night will bring
forth no one can say. The streets and a
majority Of the houses in both cities are in
complete darkness, the gas-works having
been submerged early in the day. Conn
munication between the cities is difficult
and dangerous, and thousands of families
are homeless, while other thousands are inn
prisoned on the second and third floors of
their homes without food or fire. The food
is the greatest in the history of the city
with the exception of that in the spring of
1852, when the rivers reached thirty-five
feet from its headwaters to the point. The
Monongahela River has overhowed its
banks. Manufacturers of every descrip-
ton were compelled to suspend operations
early in the day, and their machinery is
now covered from six to eight feet.
In this city everything within a quarter
OF mile OF the wharves has been flooded.
Ihis morning the scene in all that portion
or the city known as the Point District
were of the most distressing character.
Inc water had driven all the occupants of
dwellings to the upper floors, and the only
communication between the houses and the
dry land was by means of skiffs or rudely
constructed RATS, upon which men, women
and children, with curious aggregation
OF food, fuel and household goods, hoated
about seemingly without intent or purpose.
AT the Duquesne Depot hundreds of teams
were engaged in removing goods which had.
been stored there, while men on floats re-
III
freight cars which had been left on siding
on Water street. The water at the foot OF
Penn street early in the day reached such
depth that it was impossible for the West
End and Union Line cars to reach the
bridges, and at noon they were compelled
to suspend operations. In many places
the water for squares is six and eight feet
ceep. All the lumber-yards and saw-mills
along the river banks have been swept
away. In the center of the city no incon-
venience was experienced until late this
afternoon. Then the water commenced to
enter cellars, and the majority were food
ed: The morning newspapers are great
sufferers.
IN Allegheny the scene beggars descrip-
ion. The Exposition grounds are the bot
tom of a river, and South avenue is swift
running stream of water that can not be
distinguished from the river itself, and
barges, RATS and boats are moored to the
second-story windows of the buildings that
through Isabella, Robinson and Laycock
streets, and was only stopped by the en-
bankment of the West Pennsylvania Road,
where it rose to a height Of fully six feet.
Federal street, being higher than the others,
kept the flood back to the alley between
Robinson and Laycock, but on Morgan and
all adjoining thoroughfares it rushed clear
up to the track, burying fully one-half the
city beneath it. The southern section of
town suffers the most, so far as extent of
nj lint hn vl,Ala Gt.cf
plateau of the city is under water. The
wards that are the most drowned out are
the First, Fourth, Sixth, Fifth and Eighth.
Many families on River avenue and adjoin-
ing thoroughfares moved out last night,
and this morning those vino had no place to
go took refuge in the second stories. The
lower floors are in nearly every instance
left Just as when inhabited, and carpets,
furniture and household goods are float
ing around. 1t is safe to estimate ], 800
houses in this condition. Many of the peo-
pie in the flooded districts have no place to
go, and in many houses there are no fires
or cooking conveniences on the second
floors AMI no fuel to cook with if there was.
Boats manned by policemen and volunteers
are removing the imprisoned families as
fast as possible, but on account of the dark
ness many VIII have to remain until morn.
ing.
Early this morning the Sixteenth street
bridge was declared unsafe, and none ven
tured upon it. At dark the water was rush.
ing over its floor timbers, and its going
down is a mere question of time. The CEN
ter span OF the Ewald street bridge is said
to be badly bulged and liable to go at any
moment. The Tenth street railroad bridge
shakes and trembles with every gorge that
surges against its stone piers. The railway
company has kept ii loaded with heavy EN-
gines and trains all day, and hope in this
manner to weight it down and save it and
the lower bridges if the Sixteenth street or
Forty fifth street structures come down up
on it. All the railroads, even the Pennsyl-
vania, are under water, and some have suf-
fered severely from land slides.
The Mayors of both cities have issued
proclamations calling for relief for the 1, 200
families whose houses are flooded. Several
large halls have been thrown open for their
accommodation.
West Newton is almost completely sub
merged, and as the country thereabout is
sparsely settled, those who have been driv-
en- from home are suffering greatly. One
ward of MckeespOrt and sections of two
others are deserted, and from Braddocks,
Homestead, Sharpsburg, Etna, Hens Is
land, Glenwood, Hazelwood and other
small towns come tales of distress.
The marks at eleven o'clock p. M, show a
stage of thirty-four feet three inches. The
bridge across the Allegheny River at Kit
tanning has been swept away. 1t was a
fine structure, and cost S150,O00. A section
of the bridge at Freeport has also been car
ried away and the bridge damaged S25, 090.
This evening John G.. Weyman, of the firm
of Weyman Bros, tobacco manufacturers,
was sucked into sewer and drowned.
A careful estimate OF the loss in this city
based on figures furnished by losers, is as
follows: Manufacturers, $4,000; work
mems wages lost, 1860 600; families whose
homes are flooded, S125,000; owners of
flooded property, $4,000; goods damaged
in cellars and business houses, $3.50, 900;
lumber dealers, So l0,000; railroads, $780,
900; surrounding towns, 100000. Total,
| s., 100, 600.
Two more lives are reported to have been
| lost in the lower part of Allegheny since
midnight. The names can not be ascer-
tanned. Twenty houses have fallen down
and many others are expected to disappear
before morning. The river is still rising
slowly.
CIScISNATI, Feb. 9.
There is a tradition of food in the lOhio
In 1913, when Cincinnati was but five years
| old, that was greater than that of last Feb
ruary. There are no records of it, bat it is
| believed TO have been trifie above seventy
| feet The first inhabitants heard from the
Indians a story of still higher food. This
was when. the whole valley was covered
with dense, lofty forests. No man now
doubts that the present food will be the
highest recorded. At seven O'Clock TO-
night, with the rain still falling. the most
hopeful look for not less than seventy feet
| should the rain stop tonight. But the city
Is gloomy with gray fog, and the clouds
are black with threats Of prolonged storm.
| No wonder then that the timid and appre-
hensive fear seventy feet OF water before
| the worst is over. Competent judges look
ing the situation calmly in the lace fear the
rise will exceed seventy-five feet. Prepa-
ratfons for the worst is the solitary occu-
patton of the people in Cincinnati tonight,
as IL has been all afternoon, and will be here
after till the worst is over. No one hurries.
Haste is visible everywhere, but without
| excitement The universal cheerfulness
| which prevails is an astonishing evidence
Of the universal prevalence of pluck. The
cheerfulness almost amounts to jollity.
On the suspension bridge thousands OF
people stand gazing up and down the river,
| looking at Covington and the hills back of
it. The city is apparently sunken sixty
feet, and the high hills back of it dwarfed
| by the towering height of the rolling deluge
in the rivers channel. ALI signs of high
| banks are obliterated. The whole front
1 - ~, tr,x