Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-10-24
A SCARCITY, OF RAIN
Produces q Water Famine in Many
Western Pennsylvania Towns.
SPRINGS AND STREAMS DRIED UP.
Low, Eivers Responsible for Diphtheria
and typhoid Fever.
GRASS AND WINTER WHEAT INJURED

turouSuout tuC 0idte SChCioAy "0uiu oe
glad to get water of any kind. Some
narrowing tales of the long drawn out
drouth are told, and without doubt the
present dry spell is the most severe within
the memory of the Oldest inhabitants.
Diseases are raging along the low and
stagnant streams, the winter wheat crop is
almost ruined and the grangers wonder
where it will all end. Throughout the
summer the disciples of Agricola watched
the blue skies and hoped for rain that never
came. 1t may surprise good many
city people to know that it has
rained very little since June. A
water famine in many small towns
is threatened, and the fields are dusty and
parched. 1t would be terrible calamity if
it should freeze up for the winter without
copious showers, and this is what the
farmers fear. A telegram from Altoona
yesterday stated there is not an ounce Of
water in the reservoir at Kittanning Point,
and bread famine was prevailing. House
wives were unable to mix flour for the
dough. Mountain fires are raging, and in
case of a confagration the city would be at
tne mercy OF the names
Greensburg Short of Water.
But Altoona is not the only town in
Western Pennsylvania that is SO seriously
situated at present. Greensburg people
say they have enough water to last them
for another week, and unless it rains in the
meantime, it is the intention to cut off the
supply and reserve the balance on hand for
fires. Many of the water tanks along the
Pennsylvania road are IS dry as old hay
mows. The streams hove disappeared, and
their beds are Uttered with the bodies of fish.
The Youghiogheny river is so low that it
is little better than long pool of stagnant
water. The river seems to be scarcely NOV
ing, and all the filth and garbage dumped
into it lies reeking along the banks and in
the bottom. 1t is not surprising that epi-
denies of diphtheria and typhoid fever
between McKeesport and Connellsville
Complaints of much sickness come from all
the coal hamlets that line the Baltimore
and Ohio road. H. A. Douglass, OF West
Newton, says his family has been sick all
summer, and he blames it on the dry
weather. James Cochran, of Dawson, was
in the city the other day. He said he had
to close down one of his coke plants be-
cause he couldn't get enough water to run
the works. The loss to the Cincinnati
packet men has been very heavy. None Of
the regular boats have made trip since the
middle of July.
., Drove Across the Ohio River.
The Ohio is SO low that Father Henrici,
OF tine Economics, had no trouble the other
day in driving across the river in buggy
at point which would be very dangerous
under ordinary circumstances. Low water
frequently ties up the down stream packet
boats, but it is not often that the dry spell
lasts for two months and half with no
sign Of rain and good prospects of winter
setting in at any tims -,
The weather has proved blessing to the
Exposition, but not to the grangers. Tine
country roads are mass of fine 6ust The
great deal oftrouble and running the winter
wheat As usual in dry spells, the grass
heppers and. flies are abundant. There is
nothing SO effective as lively thunder
shower to remove these pests. The hoppers
are eating the grain, and. the flies are both
ering the life out of the horses
and cattle. Springs have dried, and
in Butler Washington and other
counties many farmers are compelled to
drive their stock from two to three miles
daily for water. The poor cattle suffer in
tensely and are not watered more than once
day. As early as last September ex-Col-
lector John Dowlin, who lives on q farm in
Greene county, said that unless it rained
very soon the crop of winter wheat would
be destroyed by the grasshoppers. 1t is not
growing rapidly anyhow, but as fast as it
comes up the hoppers gobble the little
ported as ruined, and it is stated that the
of ffoir yicfc i,, ~
counties. 20.
Ohio Is Pretty Dry, Too.
The drought is not confined to Pennsyl-
vania. but extends into Ohio and neighbor-
ing States. The grass is destroyed, and
farmers for the last ten days have been
feeding their cattle with fodder, as they do
in winter. The pasture fields are baked,
and the grass has dried up and died. Many
grangers, when they saw how dry the
weather was, put in second crop of corn,
and their cattle are now living on the
stunted product
John Klingensmith, a dairyman and
farmer near Kittanning, says the earth in
that section of the country is practically
dry dust for depth of four or five feet.
Through my farm," he said the other dav,
'there is, or rather there was, creek along
which was building a fence recently. I
expected to find some moisture in the
ground when digging post holes along the
bank of the creek, as there generally is
along a water course, but to nv astonish-
ment there wasn't sign of it. dug holes
nearly four feet deep and even at the
bottom of them the digger would raise
dust every time it struck. Cabbage,
potatoes, corn and other kinds of grain
have been an almost absolute failure up in
our section.
May Advance the Price of Milk.
elm my dairy business we have only been
getting about half our usual supply of milk
owing to the absence of rain, and the pros.
poets for the winter are dismal indeed. 1
think it not unlikely the price of milk and
butter will be advanced shortly as result
of the drouth." .
But while the long.continued dry spell
has blown no good to the farmers, it has
been good thing tor the builders contract
ors and others whose work is in the open
air. James Booth, of Booth u Finn. re-
marked yesterday that there had not been
day since the 1st of May on which it was
necessary to suspend work on street i'm
provements in this city. As result all
the contractors have had remarkably
profitable season., notwithstanding the
prices for all city work have been lower
than ever before. "A vast amount of work
has been accomplished in all parts of the
city and in the parks, thanks to the dry
spell aud it has been done more economic
ally than usual, Because there was no ex-
pense incurred in doing over again what
heavy rains had undone,