The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1893-01-05
THE ICE BREAKS UP,
One Of the Worst Breaks Yester-
day Seen Here in Many Years.
LITTLE DAMAGE RESULTS, THOUGH.
None of tho Boats Catching it Very
HaFd,.,somo Alarming Runners
Without any goupdatloa-.'Apother
Gorge Formed from tho Point of
the Island Northward last Evening

toget the wharf boat in shape, and gaS'
lug mopvnfplly out over the big OK
panse otgFindipg and cracking mice as
itswept BY,
Strange to say not very much damage
was done. About four o'clock in the
morning the ice started to move, break
ing with q loud crashing noise like a
volley OF musketry, The big gorge
above the city started to move Slowly,
increasing in speed as it became more
broken, This gorge formed some time
ago about two hundred yards above the
Union bridge, extending clear to the
Sisters Islands, Another gorge was
formed at Bellaire, but not covering
much territory, About o'clock the
ice was heaviest past the wharf. Only
the 800 foot space between the mainspan
was open.l The space in the west span
along the side was closed, but was
forced open by the crushlRter on.
This caused the massive cakes Of zee,
some weighing tons, to awlpg towards
this side OF the river, and forced the
city wharfboat the steamer X. 4,
Phillips and O., l. q w. wharfhoat high
upon the shore, punching two holes in
the hull Of the Phillips, but only doing
alight damage. The most serious dam
age done besides the parting OF h9Wsers
was the loss Of the Brunswick tIshlng
clubs boat house. which. was swept
away from its noorings at the mouth oil
the creek, Most OF the effects were
saved. Another private boat house,
lying at the foot OF Ninth street, was
swept away shortly after o'clock. The
owner, an old man by the name oil John
Zercher, narrowly escaped with his life.
Fortunately his cries for help We're
heard by John Morgan and Henry
Brnner, who secured q skiR from the
Mark Twain boat house and wont to his
4 aid, bringing him safely ashore, not
without great deal OF danger. They
narrowly escaped being crushed by the
heavy ice.
Shortly before noon n massive gorge
formed at Wegee, opposite Glendale,
and extending up as far US the Narrows.
In some places tho ice was piled up
twenty feet high in immense chunks.
apparently reaching to the bottom OF
the river. This proved a fortunate
thing for the wharf men in this city
and Bellaire, causing rise of ton feet
at the latter place and four in this city,
relieving all tho boats from the ugly
places ON shore whore they had been
forced by the heavy pressure OF ice in
the morning. This set them oil alioat,
but it requireda great deal OF labor to
keep them in that condition.
oAr MARTINS FERRY.
Hundreds Of Martins Ferry people
watched the moving ice in the river
yesterday. Little damage was done
there. The only boats moored at that
place were the ferry boats "Climax" and
'sFay. s." which escaped uniniured.
There was much uneasiness among peo-
pie LYNN IN the boat houses along the
shores and only one OF these was car
ried down the river. II was small
one and lodged near the Etna mill. The
ice was quite heavy and some OF the
many gorges that occurred during tho
day were we'll worth seeing. At times
the ice was piled eight and ten feet
above the water, The scenes from the
Union bridge wero grand. Many
persons availed themselves OF this op.
portunityto see breakup.
The massive stone piers OF tho Union
bridge were hard on the ice. Great
cakes, some several acres in size, would
strick one OF these big piers and in a
few seconds would break up in thous-
ane pieces and pile high up into mir,
forming "a magnificent sight. The
grandeur was intensified by the noise
caused by the breaking and grinding Of
the ice. Not few persons believed
that these great abutments would cause
big gorge on the Ohio side and 90
hard on the ferry-boat "Climax" aud
the effectiwas watched with interest.
The boat was safely moored below tho
I big ice breakers OF the company and all
/, OF the ice passed her and under tho
bridge during the morning. About
noon big gorge occurred which has
since stood and extends from the point
OF the Island to the Northwood Glass
Works. This, however, was not all
caused by the stone piers, as had been
expected. and no damage was done.
The ferryboat was kept moving dnring
the afternoon and Is perfectly safe. The
piers will likely cause the ice to gorge
THAT point in the future.
AT MouNDsviLLE,
at Moundsyille the gorge broke
shortly after 10 o'clock in the morning,
but only moved about $50 yards and
again closed at the big bend. Shortly
before O'Clock the big mass again
started with a low rumbling sound,
causing crowds to gather on the bank.
This time there was no stop, the pres
sure above being too heavy All Of the
gorges formed between Moundsville
and Bcllaire broke at the same time,
letting out all the back water which
had formed above with rush. Among
the Ice that passed Moundsville at
o'clock were the two boat houses that
had been swept away from this city in
the morning and lodged in tho gorge
about the Earrows. The Zercher boat
was standing on end, In badly crushed
condition, and half full OF water. The
brunswick boat floated by In good con.
dition. Anumbor oil tho owners went
down on the noon tram on the Ohio
River road as far as Mouudsville, and
waved farewell to IL from tho banks as
IL swept abound tho bend with othor
wfeckage.
iAt Bcllaire tho whariboat and forty
boat Charon are in good condition and
safe. The big tow boat Joe Walton and
d heavy tow oil empties that lay Just DO.
low tho Bollairo bridge, with steam up,
also escaped without serious injury.
Along tho river wore numerous boat
houses forced high up tho bank by the