The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1895-03-09
ICE AND WATER
DEVASTATE PORT DEPOSIT,
SCENE OF WRECKAGE.
The Town Swept by the Flood. A Loss
of $4,000. The Condition
Still Alarming.

Port Deposit is again rising from the wreck
uf an ice gorge--which it is consarvatively
,,-,imated has caused a loss OF SO 900.
rhe long suspense and apprehension OF Il
Hood on the part Of the residents came to an
md on sunday, with its realization.
LONG EXISTING MENACE.
The dense gorge OF ice piled in the river in
2, solid mass several miles below the town
Was an impenetrable breast-n ork through
which the water found no outlet to the bav.
For days this menace to the towns's safety
had existed and detied all attempts at it's
removal 1t was attempted to start the flow
Of the gorge with Il tug boat, near the p w.
and b., ana b & .. railroad bridges bat the
effort was futile, and as ineffective as though
some misguided ram had dcfled and attarke
Gibratars famous fortress. The breastwork
remained firm, and the residents OF Port
Deposit could bur hope that prop 'tious an
thawing weather would remove it betore the
foods and the gorges further up The river
began to move.
THE WATER RISES.
saturday evening the river began to rise
slowly, very slowly, but surely-it continued
to rise during the night and in the morning,
sunday, the wharvcs were being submerged.
The gorge below held firm. but the people
hoped that the volume of water was not
great At ten o'clock the water had reached
the railroad tracks and was creeping onward
to the street bed. The congregations of the
churches had assembled for worship, and the
citizens in their homes, on the lower ami
first suhmergable side. realized their position.
and began removing goods and furniture
from the first floors of their residences The
sturdy and determined men Of the town
turned 100 with will and helped their dis
tressed neighhors from danger.
THE TORRENT COMES.
The water continued 20 rise and soon
torrent was sweeping down the street, carry
iug the heavy lee with disastrous effect
a ;ainst the buildings away fences
and Mooding the first floors Of tho houses
The ice was banked high. and water was Ave
and six feet deep in the dwellings, on the west
side Of the street. The high water mark was
reached at 80 O'Clock. and from then OF
through the ght the water gradually re-
coded making its outlet through the ice
gorge below the town on the Hartford county
81 le leaving the massive cakes OF ice ,tr"wn
o;er the streets and piled in pyramids on th"
wharves and along the river front.
GREATER TERROR.
But greater terror was to be the lot OF
o'clock the startling news was wred-that
the great gorge at McCal's Ferry, twenty
miles above, was breaking, and that the mass
Of Ice was moving toward the already ice
bound town.
At 2.l5 the torrent came. and with grind
ing and crashing roar the surging mass again
swept over Port Deposit, and made wreckage
and kindllng wood OF property lett untouched
by the flood of Sunday. A cake Of lee here
strikes telegraph pole and bears it down
like reed-there II building is picked up and
carried 800 yards outhouses and summer
kitchens are crushed like pasteboard boxes.
I.c was piled % and 30 feet deep on the
W .ldTNfS- --uuu lDNfT'i Iiouul'tlH IllBll I'D lnt
riyer, where the water rose 10 feet above its
normal high tide mark. The flood continued
to rise until 3 o'clock when it reached
almost the proportions OF the memorable
food Of 1879
The inundated territory extends over that
section OF the town from the Office of the
Rowland Manufacturing Company to the
Quarries, beyond Rock Run. The only damage
sustained to the iuarries was the flooding Of
the pit. The lowest section Of the town is in
course was one of the first places to be sub
merged and which was abandoned on
Sunday, excepting the telegraph Office on the
second floor.
On Monday afternoon channel one-third
of a mile in width. opened in the river on the
Hartford county side and the gorge began to
move down The water continued to fall
during the day and night. The scene on
Tuesday was one OF impressive proportions.
Leaving Bank station and walking up Main
street-boats We're seen on every hand, giving
emphasis to the fact that their services had
been much in demand 1t also called to mind
the joke told on Port Deposit about the
Spring season-that when you rent a dwell
ing in the town along the Susquehanna Il
boat is included with the house.
THE FLOODS WORK.
4 few yards further on and just back of TIE
Tome Institute, the ice blockade on the rail
road track begins and continues rs far as
Rock Run. A force Of 140 men were engaged
in clearing the track OF the ice which in
some places required cut of Is feet being
made. The track was considerably twisted,
and it was stated that the damage to the road
bed would aggregate $1,000. Main street was
blocked with Ice from the Catholic Church
on the south, through "Middletown," as far
north rs the Presbyterian Church at Rock
Run, a distance of three-quarters of mile.
The ice on the street ran from two to ten
feet, and WAS in the greatest quantities near
the residence of Mrs. Quinn. At this time
the gorge in the river had worked down to
the middle Of the town, from where it was "a
solid mass to the b. & o. bridge, four miles
below. Along the tracks Of the railroad from
Frenchtown to Port Deposit the ice was
banked high, towering up in irregular form.
The river scene was picturesque, high bould-
II IL.