Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1889-09-06
THE RIVER.
1t is Gradually Fading Away-Only About
Nine inches of Water Here.

1t is Gradually Fading Away-Only About
Nine inches Of Water Here.
Al present, La Belle Riviere exists
mainly in the Biographies and the memo
ries Of the people living aleng i'l bed.
A narrow and shallow stream OF water
meandering through desert of sand alone
marks. the locality of the erstwhile great
river, and the channel is temporarily given
over to playground for bOys, and a recep-
tacle Tor sewage. Fishes are maintaining
doubtful existence in the deeper portions
of the river bed, where they are crowded
into very much smaller quarters than
what they have been used to for several
years back, and tens OF Thousands of mus
sels have been stranded on the bars and
left tC bake in the hot sun, in spots where
there is usually plenty of water.
A tour tf the river shore in the city,
yesterday, show the water to be about as
low el it ever was btfJre, and the channel
laid bare by the receding moisture discloses
many interesting and unwonted sights,
The river marks, or what are called marks
by courtesy and fJrce of habit, are away
out Of water, and have long since ceased
to serve as a basis of guessing, bat as near
as can be sscertsined there is considerable
less than a foot Of water at this point, or
rather that WAS the condition of affairs at
dusk last evening. One can walk fJr ten
to fifteen feet outside the paved portion Of
the wharf, and time is 0ppOrtune for the
Board OF Pdblic Worke to commence the
construction of the new marks, ordered by
Council some three weeks pgo. 1t may
be yesIs b, ore a like opportunity is
presented, and work ought to commence
without the loss Cf another day.
1t has always been understood that the
marks at the landing register the depth Of
water or the bar at the mouth Of the creek,
and if this be so, there is certainly not over
foot of water, even allowing for the
change made by the government dredge
boat year or go ago. Little children
were wading across the river there, yester
day, and q msn can easily ford the stream
at that point By tucking his trousers in his
boots. The boys have got on to this state
of affairs, and flock over to the Island with
out going through the fOrmality OF paying
toll or skiff fare.
Just below the mouth of the creek, where
the drsdge boat made spasmodic attempt
to clean out the channel last summer, there
are two or three parallel bitches made by
the dredges, containing at present foot
or 30 of water, and between them are high
ridges of gravel out of water, and present.
ing a curious spectacle. O1tside of these
ridges and between them and the Island
bar, the fat stretches of sand are barely
covered with a skim of water, and little
six -year-old children paddle around hun
dred feet from shore, with the water
not mp TO their knees. The kids
have great time gathering mussels
and pretty stones, and dozens of them were
to he seen there yesterday. They make
the Il At bar playground from below the
creek clear up to point opposite Eleventh
street, and may be seen wading around IN
the very centre Of the river. just below
the bridge, there is too much water for
them, as there is big depression in the
river bottom at that point, but above the
Suspension bridge, on the old-time Eos
ter's farm" they have another great play
ground, and they wade over almost TO the
pumping station of the city water works,
and from the bridge to the upper end OF
the city.
Around in "Back" river, the space be-
low the government dam is as dry as a
base ball ground, the bed of the river look
ing like o small section of the Sahara,
while above the dam there is nothing but
shallow pool of stagnant water, lying in
bed of mud and oOze several feet thick,
rich in all sorts of animal and vegetable
deposits, and suggesting that there may be
contained in it the bodies Of innumerable
Youngstown victims, which, floating down
the Stream, would naturally lodge in such
place.
The creek is almost thing of the past,
aud many of the smaller streams are COM
pletely dry.
OF course, the low stage of water is the
result cf the prolonged drought, bat the
rapid fsll Of the river in the past forty
eight hours is directly the result Of the
closing Of the Davis Island dam below
i AeeopNiEus IIbNlOuS W uAOHN"J AHSN
there was something the matter with the
dam, and the wickets could not be raised,
which left the harbor of Pittsburgh about
dry. The river men up there made con-
certed effort to get the dam raised, and
this was done Wednesday. The result was
to shut off about ell the water from the
lower river, while it caused rise OF two
or three feet in the harbor at Pitts
burgh. The steambOatmen at that
point say the dam will be kept
raised, they want six feet of water up
there. To give them that will be to
drain the river from the dam to Wheeling
aud below, and unless very heavy rains
set in lower water than that experienced
here yesterday may be looked for in the
succeeding two or three days.
There were a number of showers last
night, but they will have no effect on the
river, as the earth is so parched that the
water Is absorbed as fast as it falls.
People who have not seen the river re-
Gently ought to 90 down to-day and see
the place where it once was.