Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1888-07-19
A BIG RISE.

Great Damage Done by an Almost Uiipre
ccdented Rise in the Monongahela River
Scenes of Excitement Along the Bank,
as the WreciSage Goes DOwn-Dwellings
Wharfboats. Barges and Other Graft
Swept Away by the Mad Current
PITTSBURGH, Pa, July 1.-THE freshe,
In the Monongahela river is almost un.
precedented, and great dssnage has beer
done to river craft md other property ali
along the stream from the headwaters te
this city. The suddenness of the riss
took the river men entirely unawares, and
they were not prepared when the great
volume OF water burst upon them. Mill
ions of feet of lumber. scores of coal craft,
fences, outhouses and coal tipp1es have
been floating down the swift current for
the last eighteen hours. The river at this
point is still running, with twenty-one
feet nine inches on the marks at nine
O'Clock, but it is reported as stationary,
with forty-five feet at Greensboro, hun
dred miles above this city. At every
point between Greensboro and Pittsburgh
the 1owlands are under water, and the
residents have been compelled to live in
the upper stories of their houses, aud in
some cases to seek the hills for safety.
Many had not time to remove their goods,
as the water rose at the rate of foot an
hour, and at Greensboro thirty-two feet
Of rise was recorded in less than
thirty-four hours. The damage to
property can not be estimated at present,
but it will reach away up into the thou
sands. A solitary barge which broke
away yesterday caused over five thousand
dollars damage, and this is but one little
item. So far but one life has been re-
ported lost, that of man named George
Getter, who was struck by parted cable
and instantly killed.
The scene along the river front this
morning was one OF great excitement.
The banks were lined with people watch
ing the debris as it was swept down the
swift current. The river and coal men
were on the alert, fearing that their craft
would be torn from their moorings, and
as fast as one cable would snap in twain
it would be replaced by another. Occa-
sionally floating boat, barge or tipp1e
would strike one Of the piers Of the
Smithield Street bridge and with loud,
grating sound sink from view; again the
helpless craft would pass the bridge in
safety and continue on its journey to
Cincinnati. The greatest damage to river
craft occurred between half-past one
O'Clock this morning and daylight.
Shortly before two O'Clock large
number of barges belonging to
jenkins & Co. came down the
river from the second pool and
struck the Smithfield Street bridge, the
huge barges turning end over end and
breasting the towboat Barnard in against
the steamer Jacobs. Every whistle on
the river sounded the alarm, and as the
iivid rays of the electric lights swept from
side to side across the turbulent food, it
presented wild sight. Logs, barges
and fuel boats were dashed against the
piers Of the bridge and snapped like
twigs by the overwhelming force of the
current. Half of one of jenkins boats
lodged against the bottom just below the
Smithfield Street bridge, and the water
dashed over it, throwing spray high into
the air, while the driftwood crushed and
cracked over the wreck, with a grind
ing noise which adds to the horrors of the
food. About fifteen minutes after the
broken barges came down, a number Of
pieces of wreckage foated past, in the
middle of which shanty boat was swept
along with the light on board. The river
men shouted and the whistles screamed
to get an answer from any person who
might be on the boat, but no reply came,
and if the owners were on board and
asleep, as some of the liver men thought,
they were swept down to inevitable de-
struction.
Later the steamer George Wood broke
her moorings above the Tenth Stree
bridge, and came drifting down the river,
but was finally caught and lowed to safe
harbor. The ropes that held the half
sunken Cincinnati wharfboa which tn e
owners had been struggling for twelve
hours to save, parted about this time, and
Inv, ioly1 x1
away. A few minutes later a lot of
O'Neil's barges and twenty-six pieces be-
longing to Joseph Walton & Co. were
forced from their moorings and carried
down stream.
"Polishtown", located along the bank
Of the Monongahela river, between the
FOOT of South Twenty second and South
Twenty-fourth streets, was in a sorry
plight to-day. There are nearly seventy
i've shanty boats at that point, occupied
by over one hundred and fifty families,
aggregating a population of more than
i've hundred people. All of these, with
he exception Of about dozen families,
,amped last night. Early yesterday
the trouble began. All day men,
women and children were busy pumping
water out of the boats and removing
heir goods to places of safety. By night
;en lighthouses had been sunk or cap
sized, and several carried down the river.
The families who moved out piled their
goods up along the Lake Erie railroad,
md then the men did the best they coul
20 secure the shanties, while the women
their possessions by the light of
wood fires. Little children crawled I'M
Ter pieces Of furniture and slept on in
,lissful ignorance OF the flood and its In
,umbent cares.
A report from Clarksburg, W. Va, on
he west fork of the Monongahela river,
s to the effect that twenty dwellings have
,een swept away. and damage to proper
y is almost inestimable. A number of
ron and wooden bridges and several
arge saw-mills, together with quantities
# lumber and logs, have gone down with
he flood. large number OF people are
homeless at that place.
At Monongahela City all the lower part
# the town is inundated, and the people.
lriven from their homes, are camped in
he streets on higher ground. Early this
morning the heavy drift, in the shape of
'roken bridges, barges, coal tipples, logs,
nd in some instances dwellings and
hanties, reached this city. They dashed
gainst the bridge piers and were snapped
nd broken like twigs by the overwhelm-
ng force of the current.
At 1850 a. M. yesterday he river
marks showed twenty -one feet nine inches
nd rising. Every boat and steamer on
he river was in peril from heavy drift.
Serious Trouble Over q Verdict.
ASHLAND, O., July 1I.-At ten O'Clock
asst night the jury returned verdict Of
OF guilty in the case of ]. R. Mason,
harged with the murder OF Editor
reynolds. The verdict was received with
demonstrations by the
riends of the accused, and after his dis
barge he was escorted to his home by