The Caldwell tribune. [volume] (Caldwell, Idaho Territory [Idaho]) 1883-1928, 1889-09-21
Franks ofthe conemaugh Flood.


I The stupendous power OF water was
never more forcibly illustrated than in
the Con emaugh valley. As the liquid
sparkles in the dew drop, when con-
gealed clinks merrily in the glass and
invites the weary aud heavily laden to
rest and refreshmeut, as it sings in the
tea kettle a song that to the expectant
hungry man is sweeter than the sweet
est notes from the most successful diva.
it gives no hint Of the strength 1t ex-
hibits when its PARTICLES are combined
and made mad at the criminal careless
ness of man. A correspondent OF the
Globe-Democrat has recently been
gcing over the path plowed by the flood
from the South Fork dam and what he
saw he tells in terms that are graphic.
He describes where in one place q
locomotive, that probably weighed not
less than sixty tons, had been picked
up by the resistless tide at the Pennsyl-
vania roundhouse and carried q dis
lance OF two and half miles aud
thrown down on Vine street, In Johns
town, and then he mOralizes: "Cy-
clones have overturned engines, aud
floods have moved them from their
tracts, but where is there u precedent
for such a trip?' This engine was not
rolled along as powders are rolled
smooth on the bottom OF some rapidly
running stream, for it was not dis
mantled aud ruined, as it would neces-
sarily have been had such been its ex-
perience. 1t was picked up like an
egg-shell, and rushed along with the
rest OF the endless wrecks of houses, OF
factories and everything else that
seemed firm and stable.
With the iron tracks and ties, SO
thoroughly imbedded in the road bali
last that it seemed as il nothing but
an earth CONFUSION like that sustained
at Charleston could move them, tha
floods toyed as If they had been moth.
ing but spiders webs spanning half q
dozen frail straws. In one spot the
waves lifted one side OF the track with
gradual slope until the ties stood ale
most perpendicular and with the rails
in position formed what at distance
looked like d powerful picket fence.
"There is spot in the bed OF the
river" says the correspondent.
"where gigantic granite bowlder
stood eight feet In diameter and five
feet high. Its general shape was
rounded so that any ordinary object
striking it would glance oil. A wave
struck that bowlder and split it in two,
carrying part of it dozen rods down
stream"
There are acres OF territory in the
Conemaugh valley from which all soil
has been as thoroughly stripped as II a
river had flowed over 1t for million
years. The soil is not only gone, but
the earth and rocks in places to a
depth of six, eight and ten feet.
Streets there were in this valley whose
length was measured by the mile.
There were shade trees OF half CEN
tury's growth on each side and be-
meath them were located beautiful
houses. One OF the streets in particu-
lar as a boulevard has made the valley
famous. There is no vestige OF it left;
not board or brick to mark a house,
not stone to indicate foundation
wall, not root to tell where once
grew an elm or maple. Everything
was swept away and the country there
is as barren of vegetation or possibili-
ties of vegetation us the bottom OF q
coal mine. This tremendous Titan OF
the Conemaugh laughed at gravita-
.tion's laws as a giant would laugh at
the resistance of an atom