Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1889-07-19
ANOTHER JOHNSTOWN.
ANOTHER IOHNSTOWN.
now 4 SWISS TOWN WAS An
NIHIL1TED.
THRILLING DESCRIPTION OF A
FRIGHTFUL TRAGEDY-THE
SHAPE OF A VALLEY UT.
TERLY CHANGED BY
A TORRENT.

TERLY CHANGED BY
TORRENT.
Still fresh in peoples minds the
COnemaugh disaster recalls some
parallels to it in other portions OF
the world. The mountain range
lying between Martigny and the
vast wooded side Of the Tete Nolr
mountains in Southern Switzerland
still bear evidence of a food in
many particulars ldentical with the
fatal one at JOhnstOwn.
Early in that fatal summer the
river Dranse which runs down in
to the Rhone through that steep,
narrow, rocky valley at the lower
end of which stands the town of
Martigny) suddenly dried up so
completely tina; not a drop Of water
was LETT in the deep zig.zag chan
mel which had echoed with the
roar OF leaplng torrents only few
days before. The whole valley was
in dismay, and many of the peas
ants fled from their homes, remem-
bering that a similar phenomenon
had Immediately preceded the three
most terrific landsldes eyer known
in Switzerland. a few of the bold
er spirits, however, volunteered TO
ascend the gorge and find out the
cause Of this weird prodigy, and
they discovered it only too soon.
A mighty mass Of ice, upon which
a gOod.slzed village might have
stood with ease, had broken away
from the great glazler overhead
and slipped right down into the
bed of the Dranse, which it blocked
so completely that not drop could
pass. Behind this natural dam the
checked waters of the river were
forming kind OF vast reservoir,
rising ever higher and higher, and
engulfng one by one the tiny up
land hamlets that clung 10 the
slopes OH either side. Thus, by a
hideous grotesqueness Of horror,
men we're drowned on a mountain
top, while their comrades in the
valley below were tortured with
thirst All the men who could be
collected set to work to cut tun-
mel through the ice in order to let
off the water before it could over
flow. For two weeks they Iabored
day AMI night with death at each
instant staring them in the face.
Yet not a man wavered even
when the pickaxes dropped fro m
their frozen fingers the band OF
heroes never flinched. At length
the last stroke was given, the work
men retired, the water began to
pour freely through the tunnel and
the little band returned thanks TO
God. Then there came in the
very moment of triumph the black
est horror Of the whole tragedy.
With crash more terrific than the
loudest thunder the whole Of the
mighty mass gave way and the
waters rushed down the doomed
valley like mountain red from a
cannon. To heighten this dl cad
fsl drama TO the utmost, the in hab-
itants of the valley, seeing the bed
of the river filing again, conclr Ided
that the tunneling had been sue
cesstul and were Just returnlD 6 to
their various occupations in the
ioyf persuasion that all was now
safe, when, in the very nome nt OF
their fullest confidence, the d cath
how fell. The coming of the water
was so swift and sudden that flight
was impossible, and, indeed, no
place OF refuge could be accounted
safe from the sweep Of that great
harvest OF death. A solid stone
bridge that spanned the gorge
fully 60 feet above the highest
point ever known 10 have been
reached by the river was cut away
as if by the slash of a knife,and not
a man of the ill-fated travellers who
we're crossing the bridge at the
time was ever seen again. The
town of Martigny itself, far away
at the northern end of the valley,
was literally swept from the earth,
and only the massive gray turrets
of an ancient tower on the high hill
above it rose like rocky islet
amid that roaring sea of destruc-
ton. When the survivors OF that
fearful day ventured back, after the
flood had spent its fury,to the sPo'
where there homes had once stood,
the keenest eye among them failed
to recognize one familiar Landmarks
amid the CHASTITY, fOrmless chaos OF
drfted mud and gravel, shattered
rocks, uptorn trees and masses ol
broken timbe standing gauntly up
from vast pools of mlry water. be-
meath which lay Dured latnOms
deep the once bright and beautiful
valley of the Dranse. The whole
mountain side lad been torn away
as If with huge rake, and the
charming little villages that had
clung to it were gone as il they
had never been. The very shape
of the valley was utterly changed
and the population of the entire
district well.nigh exterminated al
one blow and long before the
news of the disaster could reach
the western lowland, the bruised