Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1895-04-18
Randolph Concluded.
A Spring Freshet.

! AAO@ - - - -
A Spring Freshet.
: Sunday night, after forty EIGHT hour
rain, the floods came with SO much vic
t ience that the most insignificant wats
: power was thing to be dreaded.
Word was flashed over the telegi ap
! that the boom at the mill of George /
, Spear in Braintree had given way, an
from 800 to 1000 logs had escaped.
once the excitement grew; for it was al
most certain that If the logs were not re
captured but were borne by the rushing
water down the river, the dam al the girls
! mlll would be washed away and Prince
mill would be in great danger. Fortu
nately, the LOGS lodged about two mile
below the boom, but the danger to tn,
Braintree mill from the high water seemed
so great that Mr.. Spear thought best Il
remove all the machinery. :
i The water in the Branch rose eight fee
and began to work around one end of the
grist mill dam, but its progress in that di-
rectIon was promptly checked before II
had made much Leadway. At Princes
mill the engine room and lower floor OF
the shop were flooded, and some of the
stock that was packed away was badly
water soaked. The water flowed between
the engine house and main building like
little river, and three families living be-
low the mill, in Lower Canada, found it
advisable to remove their goods from the
houses. Monday and Tuesday, the ma
! ehinery at the mill lay idle while the wa
ter drained out Of the lower part of the
building.
On School street, the water stood from
three &c four feet in the cellars of several
houses, and, under the impression that
spring was now at hand, kindly extin-
gulshed DR.. Stewards furnace fire. On
Central street, also, the water was very
nigh, and John Abbey, who lives near the
Thayer brook, was Obliged to take his COW
out OF his barn and stable her in dryer
quarters.
Ayers brook was so swollen by the rain
and the melting snow that one OF the abut
ments OF the iron bridge, near the Valley
farm, was moved out ten or fifteen feet
and that end OF the bridge settled nearly
two feet. The damage i being repaired
temporarily, but when the ground has fair
~ settled new wall will have to be built
and extended so that whenever the brook
is high, the water will not lie able to wash
around II. The ten feet or more OF quick
sand In the bed OF the brook make it
difficult matter to render the foundations
or the bridge stable.
No such flood has been known in RAN
dolph since July q 1880, when four dwell.
Ah- IOd1Cc anu NOQlCu ldllOIl. NltCu
stood where the grist mill now is, were
washed away.
The night trains were discontinued sun
day, on account OF wsshouts and shaky
bridges, but about $50 Monday morning,
Irainmaster Nash and General Road
master Shanks, with gang of thirty men,
who left Sc. Adams at O'Clock the night
before, reas he'd here, having been at work
all night repairing the track to this point.
They reported highway bridges floating
around the meadows, along the line OF
the Central Vermont, with the highway
surveyors and the selectmsn in full cry
after them.
A little after noon, the morning mail
from the north reached this station, but
no trains from the south arrived until
evening. In the meantime reports OF Sc
rious trouble in other towns from high
water were constantly heard.
AT Bellows Falls, the Connecticut river
was higher than during the food of 1869
and lacked bat two feet Of the record OF
1862. There were several washouts be-
tween there and Chester. The Webb
brook bridge, half mile north, together
with sixty feet of embaDkment went, and
more than half a mile of track in that
place was uni der water. On the Boston
4 Maine road north toward Charlestown
mile or more Of track was under water
near South Charlestown, and about 4Uo
feet of track was washed out
At Brattleboro, barns were chained
down to keep them from floating away,
and the Connecticut rose-to within a few
inches of the long bridge connecting
with the New Hampshire side. 4
At Montpelier, the water came up In the l
hatchways at the corner of Main and 4
State streets and was just foot from the /
b Tho hasau1QntS 0f the {
government building, county house and I
Pavilion hotel were filed and the river 1
backed up behind Hotel kempton and 4
Hooded everything to the Central YER \
mont railroad depot. The n-year- old
ION of II. E. Bliss fell into the river and I
was drowned, and the body was carried 4
iway by the water. The log jam OF J. ).
" heelock at East Montpelier gave way 4
Early in the afternoon, and be lost some
% 600 feet of lumber. Plainiield and
uarshfield log men were unable to hold 4
,aek their logs and they lose heavily. The
electric light station was also under wa
er and Montpelier in darkness.
Trains on the Central Vermont were
tailed by washouts at Cambridge where
boats were used in the main street. Inc
near the Junction was taK
IN ont and the water ran over the top OF
Ireirht cars on a lumber siding. Jeffer-
,onyille was also flooded and the high
W. quilted. The Fletcher mail arrived
Il cam bridge by boat. There were no
ives lost or buildings carried away. but
he damage is estimated at from slo,oo to
Xii northern New England suffered from 1
he food, and bad the rain not ceased al
he and OF sixty hours, there would have
naan general building OF arks.
The Central Vermont track was IN
,-rrse condition on the Rutland division \
han on the main line, though there was a
landslide near Bethel, and washouts at
sharon and Roxbury. The New Hamp-
shire railroads were also heavy losers py
he freshet.
MANY have testified to the fact that Dr.
r,i;JJsnis Rheumatic Cure will cure hheu-
Crsala M Marion drug store.