Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1889-06-03
THE SUSQUEHANNA.
GREAT DAMAGE ALONG ITS COURSE RESrLTs
FROM THE HIGH WATER.
Property Carried Away--Canai at Coz
Iumbia Breaks-sccnes, Incidents.

on SATURDAY afternoon ana tie river NJ thIs
place commenced rising very rapidly.
Within few minutes all the wharves were
submerged and the water covered the river
tracks Of the Pennsylvania railroad. The
water was about twenty feet above low
water mark, and was Mt least one foot |
higher than the heavy frcshet of 1865. |
There is considerable difference ofopinion
in regard to this and many persons, and |
gery reliable ones too, state that the water
WIS not as high yesterday a..in 1865.
Some of the old inhabitants of Columbia
do not think that the water was as high
yesterday by fifteen inches as IT was in
1868. 4, Mr.. North marked the height of the
flood by line of stones still remain
ing where they were then. as the curb of
pavement Of n building at the foot Of Locust
street and yesterday the water fell about
fif,een inches short of reaching those
stones. Eos. 1NTELLIGENCER.
At an early hour ON Sunday morning
the people commenced hocking to tho
river shore. and the banks were crowded
until late hour last night. The regular
and special trains from Lancaster
brought hundreds of people from that
city and other towns To Column
bia to see the sights. The town
was I'ill ol Neilcles oi All uescflItlons ana
people came from the country i'm droves.
They continued to arrive all day long and
the town was lvclicr than II has been since
the centennial. Hotels and other public
places were crowded and thriving bust
ness was done with tho many hungry peo-
pie.
The people who owned property along
| the shore had been notified on Saturday
...I.
water, and they at once began making
| preparations.
The lumber piles were made secure with
ropes and not n stick oI timber was lost.
| Al the boats were removed to safe places
and very little damage was done to the
crafts, although some individual boat
houses were damaged to somo extent The
ice house of Filbert &::Forry, at the foot of
Walnut street, had the corner towards the
river torn away and about 500 tons of ice
has already been cut away 10y the muddy
water. Their loss will reach abou, $1,000
Their ice houses are yet all surrounded by
water and no ice can he taken out.
The lumberIboom ut Wiliamsport broke
about u o'clock on Saturday and Columbia
people were on the lookout for the lumber,
the first of which reached Columbia be-
| l"'fl anu u i'NnIuN Y.
The river nj that time was very high and
was still rising. Tho water was running
very rapidly. The distance from Williams
port to Columbia is about no miles,
and from the time that the boom broke un-
Ill the timber began 10 arrive at Columbia,
ii WIS between II and Is hours so that the
water was running mt the rate ,,i about ten
miles an hour A gentleman who walked
| ,,,, To-, |,
twice as fast us he was able to walk and he
was certain that it was flowing at u ten mil,
rate.
II was hut short time after the timber
put IN an appearance that the river was
full of logs. owing to the sudden bend in
the river near Chckies. The great part
the timber passed down on the side of tn,
river next to the York county shore. al
though IL was for a time in all parts %
the stream. Millions of feet of the fines
kind of timber was swept by and ovel
the dam. Below the dam thcr,
seemed To he one mass of timber and the
river looked very much as it does during
the heavy Ice gorge. 1t was almost imros
Eible to tell where the dam WAS and tn,
small huts OF the fishermen which stood Oh
the different islands had been swept away
The fishermen also lost many of TIA,
scincs, nets, dc. Besides the hn
timber that passed down the river tn
greater part OF the day, there were man,
other queer things in the streams whicl
passed on towards the Chesapeake bay il
) the swift muddy water. There were span
of bridges, tool houses, parts of barns
chicken coops and other outbuldiugs
household furniture and articles of alnos
overy description. A rocking chair ol
which was II tidy lodged for time at
pler oi the bridge aud il was soon fpllowe,
: by cradle. There were bundles q
laths, palngs, %c., by tho hundred
and whcclharrow, camp stool and Goa
, oil can passed by the canal chute within
few feet OF each other. On one small ral,
which looked like "A part ofa barn, was
brood of full-grown chickens, and the
seemed to be as unconcerncd as thoug
they were safe in a harnyard.
, The dead body of II man was seen toa
, ing past Wrightsville in the afternoon AN
although efforts were made to catch il the
were unsuccessful. Several rans whic
, passed down the river are said 10 have la
: human beings upon them, but they wei
81 Far out tina, nothing could he dom
: ON one ofiheso were two objects " HE
were said To be men. gemtlcma
who watched them with a glass from tn
coal chuios declares that they were me!
II was reported on Saturday night that
:. ran with pcope and houses upon
had passed Middlctown. 4 watch wa
kept for it but it was not seen. II is h,
iicNed that II it really did pass Middleton
il was wrecked at the Concwago falls. Dul
ing the day several dead horses and COW
, were seen in the river.
The great rush of foatinG lumber WA
over 10y afternoon, hut II continued To ru
: III considerable quantities all day long.
large force of Columbia, men who ha
boats, work ed hard all day catching drift
, boards aud logs Large quantities of III
finest kind of timber was secured and tie
up along the banks. This work was Yer
exciting, as at times the logs were so heav
that they were hard to CONTROL and tn
boatmen were obliged to give them up. 4
other times hoatmen, who had logs in tow
Were carried down the stream for Ion
distance before they could get theI
ashore. The men, who were engaged i
this work were very well paid for the
; troubles rs they will receive 90 cents eac
for the logs caught 10y them when they Al
: reclaimed by the owner, whose pTiNat
! marks are upon them. The boards an
,, other truck cannot hc identified, and the
will be able 10 keep them.
During the daya popular place for peopI
who desired to take IN everything was
, the open space in the middle of the bTidg,
| over one thousand persons went out theT
, | during the day though many were afiGli
| the bridge might toe Swcpt away, Tn