Smyrna times., 1886-02-17

the snow which surpassed anything in
the memory of the most of our people.
1t was more fearful than the immense
snow storm of a week previous, be-
cause capable of greater destruction to
property. We have had greater rains
before without such damaging results,
but the frozen condition of the ground
and the melting snow which perhaps
doubled the volume, made the quanti-
| ty of surface water immense. Hence, |
the breaking out of so many mill dams, |
washing out of railroad culverts, &c. |
The Smyrna mill pond, on the South |
side of the town came near being car
ried away, with all the gates pulled
out. During the afternoon it was Visi-
ted by a number of our men to see the
water running over the dam, which it
did on the lower side for a space of
fifty or sixty feet the most of the after
noon. The ground being frozen and
the road packed very hard, it resisted
with more than usual stubbOrnness
the force of the rushing waters, but as
it was, the seams were getting pretty
deep and a few hours more Of the same
pressure might have been disastrous.
The CaspersOn mill near Clayton was
not so fortunate. Anticipatinga heavy
pressure from the dOwn-coming waters,
that in the pond was only about a half
a head in the middle of the morning,
but from this time il increased and at
3 o'clock the dam and race bank both
gave way, precipitating large body of
water on the pond of Robert Denney
below, when its gates were doing all
q they could The dam stood the pres
sure with the water pouring over it a
, foot or more deep, but the race gave
: way for a distance of fifty or sixty feet
= and through it the waters surged, Il lit
> tie further on striking the STATE road
p between the race and large bridge with
: such force as to make it impossible
= In fact, the damage to the road is ar
q great as that to the dam, and will have
q to be repaired at the cost of the coun-
: ty. This volume of water going down
> together with the high tide, made {
i heavy overflow ut Smyrna Landing
! covering the CauseWaY to as great {
70 depth as at the time Of the noted tida
i wave.
! Green's Branch, half way hetweel
" this town and Clayton OVerran th'
N railroad track u considerable disttnc
,r and further down at the bridge Whvr
to it crossed the State road at Duel
ar Creek, washed away the abutments q
~ the bridge so as to make it unsafe
nj Murphey's Mill, in the Alley, ha
or its dam overnOwn and washed, bu
re- stood the pressure until the abatemeu
PC Ofthe tiood The same was the cond
te ton of Cloak's Mill, in Kenton Hun
a. dred, but the Central Mill was not :
of fortunate, the race either breaking q
n being cut, which saved the dam.
v. The large gates Of Garrison
he Mill, the third on the stream, vente
a. the water without material trouble, II
,ir railroad bank holding back the wat,
he and thus relieving it from unusu
,aI pressure. Blackbird Mill also receive
in some damage. The bank of the Wi
.nr low Grove Mill race, near Middleton
in owned by the National Bank
~ Odessa, was broken. The mill dam
aw Dover was saved, though the wat
i. was running over it in several place
in Fortunately in none Of these cas-
i were the gates blown out, thoug
hIo broken dams and races are eXpensi'
to repair and come heavy on the ow
ers of mill property.