Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1888-07-11
SOME NARROW ESCAPES REPORTED.
The Baltimore and Ohio Road in Bad,
Crippled Condition.
TUNNELS CAYED IN, BRIDGES GONE.
PASSENGERS for the West Sent Over the Ohio
River Road.
LOSS ALONG THE OHIO VALLEY.
The Track of the Storm One Of Unprecedented
Disaster.

Disaster.
The loss from Mondays rain storm in
the Upper Ohio Valley will be very heavy.
As yet there is no means by which any
thing like o correct estimate can be
formed of the amount of property destroy
ed, and the monetary damage to railroads,
By reason to the interruption to transpor-
tstion, but it is not an exaggeration to
place this loss at one million dollars, q
very large portion of W hich will fall with
in the limits of West Virginia.
The REGISTER yesterday morning de-
voted considerable space to the rsvages OF
the storm, as far rs they could be learned
Monday night, and stated that owing to
the interruption to telegraph lines and
railroads, much Of the story would neces-
sarily have to remain untold. Yesterday
news was received from several points,
and the predictions of severe loss are fully
warranted by the news. From almost
every point accessible along the lines Of
the Baltimore and Ohio and Ohio River
roads come reports of bridges washed
away, crops destroyed, fences gone, timber
swept away, and buildings carried off or
badly damaged. Necessarily great deal
of loss still remains unreported, it occur
ring in remote country districts, and to
small communities and individuals, and
the sum total will never be learned.
The railroads have suffered severely.
The condition of the B. & D. from Rowles-
burg in, and along the Parkersburg
branch, has no parallel in the history Of
the Company. Hundreds of men are at
word repairing the damage, but it will be
several days before traffic can be fully re-
sumed.
The storm seems, as will be seen from
our regular river report from PittsbuIg, to
have skipped the valley Of the Allegheny
entirely, and it Is good thing this is 80.
Had the Allegheny swelled as high and as
rapidly as the Monongshela, there would
have been over thirty feet Of water at
Pittsburg by tonight, and a disastrous
aood would have ensued along the entire
upper Ohio.
Passengers due in this city yesterday af-
ternOon and early last night did not arrive
ia some instances until after midnight last
night, and in other instances did not get
here at all Mails are disarranged
and telegraph wires are down badly. In
short, means of communication of all kinds
were badly disarranged over wide area,
aud it will be many days before the usual
condition of affairs is again brought about.
1t is hardly possible that storm so
wide extended and sweeping in its effects
has not caused heavy damages the entire
section. Fencing swept away, low lying
farm lands flooded and crops ruined must
make up the reports from many commu-
mites, even if in many cases heavier mis-.
fortunes in loss of life have not been in
flicted. The weather in the eastern por-
ton of the State is reported as still threat
ening, while while here there are indica-
tons that the strength of the storm is
broken. Moderate rains, however, in the
present swollen condition of all the streams
would carry almost inestimsble damage
throughout the entire storm area.
ALONG THE B. SO.
The Third division of the q. & o. be-
tween Grafton and Reyser Is almost q COM
plete wreck. The report is current here
tonight that the magnificent iron bridge
at Rowelsburg had been swept away, and
track for q long distance almost complete
ly washed ont. At Piedmont the long
railroad tIestling is also complete wreck,
making q break in the track Of several
hundred feet. The South Branch of the
Potomac is also rising very fast and is
very near the danger point. The B. & o..
bridge that spans that stream very shaky
and il in great danger.
Reports of heavy damage througout the
whole section are constantly coming in.
All the small streams are swollen beyond
their banks, and are pouring their contents
in torrents into the branches of the Po-
tomac and the Monongahela. The latter
river is higher than known for years. At
points between the confluence OF the West
Fork and Tygart's Valley and the Pennsyl-
vanis State line the marks showed over
25 feet yesterday at noon, and rising from
one to two feet an hour. At Elizabeth
town and Brownsville there were CORES
pondingly high stages and every indics-
ton Of disastrous food.
AT FAIRMoNr.
A special dispatch from Fairmont says:
To-day the usually quiet and placid Mon
ongshels ia q raging and deyouring flood,
higher than ever before known to be.
The rise Of the water was very rapid, and
the old citizens, who were witnesses to
the devastation Of the flood OF 80, are
appalled,. Railroad travel on the B. u o.
is completely stopped, no trains having
been run since late last night The tracks
are submerged in some places to adepth of
six or eight feet. The worst places are at
Colfax and near the mouth of Buffalo
Creek. At the latter place the creek
Is 50 high that it has poured
into the shaft Of the West Fair
mont and Marion county mines
completely flooding the mines and causing
great loss end Inconvenience. At ten
o'clock the grist mill Of G. w. Bower &
Co. was swept away. Phe magnificent
wagon and railroad bridges across the
West Fork river near CASTOR mines are en-
tirely destroyed, and much fear for the
B. & o. bridge at Johntown has been ex-
pressed.
The boom st Grafton broke early this
morning, and thousands Of logs have gone
down ths river. At Valley Falls great de-