The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1893-01-30
-THE ICE GORGE MOVES.
The Rain Causes Wheeling Greek
to Run Out Strong
AND THE ICE NlHE RIVER STARTS
But Gorges Again After Running for
Some Ttne-No Damage Rosults-A
Large Crowd OF People is Attracted
to tho scene-one orTwo Boats have
Pretty Narrow Escapes.

The rain Of night before last caused
the creek to rise a good deal, and yes
terday 1t ran out strong, The ice and
water poured in q torrent into the
river, and at first ran over the surface
Of the river ice clear to the Island
shore, but after awhile the water found
its way under the ice and gradually
raised it until 1t began to crack,
So great WIS the inflow Of water into
the river that it ran up stream for some
distance several hours. Early in the
afternoon the leo in the river, already
rotted' by the mild weather, and weak
ened by the large areas of open water,
began to move, and the whole river
seemed one mass of moving ice. 1t
only moved about twenty feet, however,
the ice crushing into little hummocks,
and leaving an open space Just opposite
the Stamm house,
Hundreds OF people visited the river
side, but, disappointed by the tameness
of the scene, nearly everybody had left
when about s O'Clock the ice aboye. the
open space let so and crushed down
upon the other.
The gorge below the mouth OF the
creek held firm, however, aud after
some minutes another formed above
the new. steel bridge. An open space
was left just in front Of the city wharf,
Tremendous as the pressure OF that
mass Of moving ice must have been, the.
water from the creek put into II with
such force that a channel was cut'clear
across the river to the Island, and ice,
logs and all sorts OF debris were forced
through it.
The city wharfboat, r.. T. Phillips
and O., J.. & ". Wharfboat and transfer
boat, Lizzie Townsend, wore lying at
the wharf. All had up steam, and es.
capped damage. The O., L. & w. boats
were both forced out on tho bank on
one edge OF their hulls once, but both
got off in perfect safety and without
much trouble. The city wharf and r.
=. Phillips were 80 securely protected
by the east pier Of the steel bridge that
they were at no time in danger.
When the large mass of ice began to
move the two steamers sounded the
danger whistle, and as If by magic the
wharf was at once black with people.
They poured by the hundreds out Of
every street aud alley upon the wharf,
which, with the Pewiky platforms, the
bridges and the Island shore were lined
with men, women and children in an
Incredibly short time. Everybody was
expecting the break, and as o o rs tho
whistles blew fastened to the scene.
All were disappointed by the lack OF
sensational features.
AS the ice now is, there'is little dan
ger unless another cold spell should set
in. The ice Is now so rotten that it
cannot do much damage if 1t should go
with q rush.
Hundreds Of Martins Ferry people
visited the river yesterday expecting to
see the ice break up. People were
crossing as late as yesterday, and a few
boys were skating. Heavy teams con-
tinued to cross between Brilliant and
Wellsburg on Saturday. The ferry-boat
Climax and Fay s, tho only steamboats,
at Martins Ferry, had steam up all day
Yesterday. At the Laughlin mill wharf
there is a largo model barge which was
left there early in December to be
loaded with nails. There are a num-
Der Of shanty boats along the shore at
Martina Ferry