, 1897-03-23
FLOODS IN THE UNITED STATES.


when the Mississippi at ST. Louis and
vicinity touched a higher mark than has
ever been reached at any other time
since this region has been settled. Many
persons were drowned and the loss OF
properly WIS large. In lS49 the Missis-
.ipp! and its tributaries from Alton
downward again swept over their
banks. causing great damage. No
trustworthy figures are at hand OF the
destruction OF life, but the loss Of prop
erty in st. Louis and its immediate vi
cinity was put ut 5000, 900, while 1t
reached $40. 900. 900 in New Orleans and
its suburbs. 1t was the most disastrous
visitation by flood which the latter city
ever had. The Inundation reached its
most destructive stage on May r.
\ high-water record for the Missis-
sippi FOR ST. Louis and its neighborhood
was made in the spring of 1857 which
was never exceeded except in 1874, and
which has never been eQualed since.
The figures Of the losses vary within a
wide range. but they must have been
large for the period. The tour high,
est" in the flood record OF the Missis-
sippi NJ ST. Louis were these: In 1914
the river at St. Louis rose A feet and 9
inches above the mean ~low-water line.
in 1851 il went 10 sc feet and ) inches
above. in 1857 it went up to SO feet and
. inches. and in 1892 it scored SO feet.
The bursting OF u reservoir in Mill
River valley. near Northampton, Mass,
on May 16. 1874. is well remembered by
all those old enough at that time to read
the papers. 1t destroyed large portions
lost. July "a, OF the same year, a water,
spout and rain storm at Eureka, New,
drowned 80 persons and destroyed much
property. Two days later Pittsburg and
Allegheny. Pa. were visited by a tire,
mendous rain storm. which swelled the
rivers in that neighborhood and 800
persons were drowned. The damage to
property was put at 2 1000. 900.
In 1881 floods in the Mississippi val
ley. the river at St. Louis reaching its
highest point on June u, did immense
damage. especially in Iowa. Illinois and
Arkansas. The valleys OF the Missouri
and Ohio also suffered ut the same time,
the losses being particularly heavy in
Kansas and Kentucky. Another de-
structive ~fresllel occurred in the Ohio
and Mississippi basins Il year later.
eliminating on February 90. This time
the loss of property and life in Missis-
sippi was greater than had ever been
known before in hat quarter, and the
governor Of that state appealed to the
country for aid for the sufferers.
The Ohio River valley. in February,
1888. was visited by the most destructive
flood known since that region was first
settled. On the 18th the Ohio at Gin
cinnuti reached its highest point, or &C
feet and 4 inches, covering all the
houses fronting On the bank of the
river, and extending into the densely
D"As B"iN " tho Wy LII d ulSlbllCS VI
several squares. The direct loss OF
property in Cincinnati was put at 81
OO0 10000, and in other parts of Ohio and
Indiana and Kentucky it was estimated
that 5 5000. 900 was destroyed, while
about 10000 persons were rendered
temporarily homeless and dependent.
A year afterward. or in February,
1884. the Ohio reached Il greater height
than it did in 1883. 1t drowned 40 per-
sons in Cincinnati and vicinity, and
made $4,000 people in that locality
homeless. The damage in the entiye
Ohio valley was estimated to have been
greater than it was in 1883. AS in the
previous year, the gas works ut Gin,
cinnai were submerged, und the city
for the time was plunged in darkness.
The Ohio at Cincinnati on February IA,
1884, touched the 71-foot mark, which
was the highest point ever reached bv
that river at that place before or since.
New England, Pennsylvania, New
York and Ohio suffered great damage
by floods in January, 1856. That was
the year in which Montreal had its me.
morable inundation, in which 100 per-
o n were drowned and 81, 500, 900 of
property was destroyed. The Montreal
calamity occurred, however, three
months later than the floods in the Uni
ted States just mentioned, or on April
l7-lS. The mos destructive freshet OF
1856, though, took place in Texas on
August 90, in which many houses in
Galveston were blown down by the hur,
ricane which accompanied the flood.
The losses in hat city and n~eighbor.
hood by wind and water were 3S lives
and 5000. 900 of property.
On May 81, 1889, the bursting of a
reservoir at Conemaugh lake caused n
food at Johnstown, Pa, in 1874, though
it was far more destructive. The wall
OF water %traversed the IS miles between
the rservoir and Johnstown in seven
minutes. The Pennsylvania railroad
bridge at Johnstown held some Of the
water back and collected a mass of de-
bris. which caught fire and increased
the destruction. Revised figures put
the loss of life at 2,142, and loss of
property at 49, OO, 900. About 50, OOO,-
900 was received from contributions
throughout the world and distributed
among the sufferers.