The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1894-12-27
SAVING JERICHO.

I was a young fellow just out of my
teens when Tho Weekly Chronicle digni-
fed mo with the title of ''local mani
that is to say, l was taken on the paper as
local reporter, my duty being to keep a
keen lockout for anything which might
happen liz the community or vicinity and
60 set forth the same in as attractive a
hi as possible for the benefit of the
readers Of The Chronicle.
During the years 1855 a new line OF
railroad was built from Simondsville up
the valley of the La Platte river to Stowe,
where 1t formed a junction with the main
line of the L. NJ. and o. o. railroad.
Stowe was the site of the great. wooden
toothpick factory of Charles Ellis G. Co.,
which was said to turn out about one
tenth of all the wooden toothpicks used in
the United States. The place was there
fore of some importance in the manufac-
turing and commercial world, and when
the new railroad link was added, binding
together the two towns, the whole La
Platte valley rejoiced exceedingly, particu-
larly the town of Simondsville. For at
least three weeks The Chronicle bristled
with congratulatory headlines and glowed
with rainbow colored prophecies of the
commercial prosperity which would fol-
low this magnificent enterprise of the local
capitalists.
When the first train was run over the
new road, l was instructed by my superior
on the editorial staff of The Chronicle to
accompany the party and write up the ex-
cursion. The management of the new La
Platte Valley railroad had invited all the
prominent citizens along the line, all the
stockholders and of course all it's own
officials and employees to take part in a
grand excursion over the road. Dinner
was to be served at the Stowe House, after
which the Stowe party was to return with
the train and sup at the Simondsyille
hotel. Editor Marsh of The Chronicle was
to accompany the excursionists, of course,
but as he had to hobnob with the digni-
taries and make q speech at the banquet
l was to take my pad and pencil along
and do the less SNOWY but equally impor-
tant work of reporting.
l will not describe the perils and dis
comforts of that first trip over the rough
new roaGbed further thai to say we were
dl1 Sltkh u ECU oQD sLl40 VAIN NtOoo Ol4O "
railroad bridges over the La Platte, which
the cautious management refused to trust
with the combined weight of the crowded
train and passengers We had a good din
ner at the Stowe House, and l enjoyed it
all except the oratory. The speechifying
was over at length, however, and l hurried
down to the station to see if Bert Wilson,
the engineer, would let me ride back with
L.. =. Az 4.l H. -ooI1l- fnI
and / jumped aboard just as the Colonel
Merriam was started for the turntable.
There we swung tho big engine round and
pointed her cowcatcher homeward.
Would you mind staying in the cab
and watching her for about five minutes
while me and Bill run up to the ~store?"
asked Bert.
Certainly not," I replied. 81 should
enjoy tho responsibility"
well, I reckon you know enough about
an engine not to touch anything" was
Bert's rather equivocal compliment as he
and Bill, thu fireman, started on a dog
trot for the store. I could not help smil-
ing at Bera's caution. My father had been
an engineer on g western road, and I had
fired" for him on the big mogul engine
of the day express. What he had not
taught ne about locomotives certainly
was not worth knowing. But of course
Bert was ignorant of all this. He was
quite justified in surprising me to be a
green hand SO far as locomotive engines
were concerned.
/ sat down on the leather cushioned seat
on the right side of the cab and began to
imagine myself an engineer. How fine
it would be-" l thought, ito run this en-
CINE wild back to Simondsvillel l would
make her zip SO she would never feel the
cradle holes in the roaGbed."
The great dam of the Ellis Spool com-
paDy lay below me, II the station where
the excursion train stood waiting on a side
track. TIL dam held back an enormous
body Of water, making a miniature lake
fully a mile deep and half a mile wide. T
had heard it reported on the authority of
good engineers that this dam was unsafe;
that in order to accommodate the thou
sands of logs used by the factory the ends
had been extended in a hasty manner,
with insufficient ballast, and that some
day when the water was high and the
pressure strong the dam would give way
and thousands of tons Of water would rush
in a torrent of destruction down the val
ley. But the dam had held now for ten
years or more, and people had grown SO
used to the ru1nor of it's unsafe condition
that 1t had ceased to impress them.
1t was now early fall. There had been
heavy and continuous rains, and l could
see that tho water above the dam was
much higher than usual. Suddenly, as /
sat looking out of the cab window of the
Colonel Merriam, l saw a number of mel
rush down to the end of the dam on the
opposite side of the river. Still no suspi-
cion crossed my mind that anything was
wrong until q lot of logs shot forward all
at once and disappeared apparently right
over the dam at its opposite end. Then it
burst upon me like a flash that the dam
was giving way.
I can hardly describe my sensations at
that moment or the thoughts which
flashed like lightning through my mind.
7 realized that in q few minutes, unless
something could DO lone to stop the break,
the Who'll "a hn y7:is'rca arrnr,
and the La Platte valley would be sub
merged in a rushing, roaring, death car
rying torrent.
About five miles down the river lay the
village of Jericho, right on the bank of
the river, hem1nod in by hills. The flood
would surely sweep away its whole popu-
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