Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1884-02-21
FLOOD ECHOES
The Work of the Relief
Boats, and Graphic
Pen Pictures Of
the Scenes.

points touched by 1t:
One of the corps of correspondents on
board saws: "The report of the high wa
ter along the valley from the Point at
Pittsburgh to Parkersburg is not what
it has been pictured by sensational cor
respondents The difference between
loss from the food and suffering from it
is not understood. There has beer an
immense loss of property, but as near
as | can find out, the loss at the towns
along the Ohio river is about 80 per cent.
less than at first reported.
The loss is estimated at these towns
as follows: Freedom, 100000; ROches-
ter, sos, 600; Industry, $4,000; Liver
pool, $4,000; Smiths Ferry, S35.O0O;
Wellsburg, $4,000; New Cumberland,
$4,000; ~Steubenville, $4,000; Wells
vile, 100000; Warren, $4,000; Bridge
port and Martins Ferry, Sl25.000;
Wheeling. S4,OO0.O0O; Benwood. $4,000;
Bellaire, 100000; Moundsville, $4,000;
Powhatan, $4,000; Suntish, 500, 900
Bayardsville, $4,000; New Martinsville,
SI25,O00; Sistersvllle, $4,000; CochranS-
vile, $4,000; Cow Greek, $1,000; Ma
rietta, S35O,OO0; Harmar, 100000; Par
kersOurg, S60O,0OO These are losses at
the towns named and the immediate
neighborhOod, and ib addition to this
there is at least loss of a million at
villages not named and to farmers. In
spite of this heavy loss of the money
there is not the amount of suffering
supposed. For instance, the suffering
is greater in proportion to the loss at
Cochransville and Harmar than at Par
kersburgh or Wheeling. The relief
given by our boat was most OppOrtune,
for it came just at the time when the
farmers had exhausted all the surplus
of their stock of winter provisions ana
when suffering began TO pinch those
who had lost their homes. Flour and
meal had been given in only few towns
and the men and women who bad been
accustomed to take care of themselves
found that they were helpless. They
had no place to cook even if they had it,
and no place to sleep.
If more relief is given it should be
in the shape of nut coal for cooking,
nails of various sizes to rebuild and
patch up buildings, and glass to put in
the windows. 1t will be many months
before these people recover from the
effects of this flood, but the immense
amount of work on the Ohio river rail-
roads and at all the points in the valley
will enable the men to earn enough tn
take care of their families until spring
work opens"
A CORES pondent of the Pittsburgh
Commercial Gazette, writing on board
of the same boat at Marietta on Monday,
says:
No one can conceive tie ruin caused
by the flood without going on the
ground. The water has fallen consider
ably and it is by the shore marks that
one can see how high it was a few days
ago. Wrecked houses, factories de-
stIoyed, fields swept tell the story, but
the surest mark is in the trees. Away
up on the barks line is marked through
he branches of the trees where the
smaller driftwood lodged and was left
when the wateIs went down. The
scenes along shore are ali the same
with nothing to break the monotony
Everything that would float has been
moved. Houses shifted from their
foundations and broken in two, houses
fallen, houses overturned, are common
The outbuildings are all gone, and many
brick structures have been hammered
until they will have to be torn down
This is the story all the way along the
river.
One thing is noticeable. These people
who have been ruined by the flood dc
not want to ask for aid and do not want
to accept it. That the destruction is
greater than is realized is made apparent
the further the boat penetrates in the
drowned-out country, but for all that
there is no rush for assistance. They
are a proud and self-reliant people
these residents of the Ohio Valley, and
they chafe under the idea of subsisting
on charity. One thing, they are beyond
the danger of starvation; they have
gotten enough to eat, but what is need
ed is clothing. The cold weather that
has set in is proving a means-of increas-
ing the suffering. Many persons had t.
ice without time to save more than the
clothes they had on their backs. Cloth
ing and bedding is what is wanted more
than anything else.
In one sense the tale of the destruc-
lion along the river have been exagger-
ated; in another they have not. The
story of the desOlatiOn and destruction
that has been told and retold was true
in as far as the extent was concerned
il was false when entire towns were
reported swept out of existence. So far
our voyage has failed to reach the site
of any town totally destroyed. Many
of them are badly wrecked and have
come near enough to total extinction to
make one shudder. but still, all the
towns that were on the Ohio river be
fore the great flood of 1854 became a
page of history, are there vet and are
likely to remain there, for mushroom
villages are an unknown quantity in
this section.
When the suffering comes to be con
sidered the story is correct, except in
the manner of it. The people who have
lost their homes and property by the
flood, are not to be classed as the resi-
dents of any town; they are scattered
from one end of the river to the other.
There will be score of families in one
town, a half-doZen in another, possibly a
half hundred in third, but where the
figures would run up in the hundreds
would be when the isolated cases were
put upon the tally sheet The farmers
and workers whose homes were stretch
ed along the lowlands skirting the river
are in the majority among the sufferers
There cases, too, are the saddest. Misery
loves company, and misery don't look
quite so wretcbed when it is taken in
bulk. To see one poor, half-Staryed,
ragged and hopeless wretch, mud to the
knees and patches to the head-for
these people seem to have lost all but
their poorest clothes stand on the shore,
shivering in his misery, is harder sight
than to look at forty men who have
probably lost just as heavily. The man
who is alone will have his heart 80 deep
in his boots that he can't get it out; the
men who are congregated together will
have talked it over, will have helped
one another, will have discussed the
future: in short will have brought their