Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1898-03-24

At dark the
SCENE AT THE WHARF
was an unusual and picturesque one,
and several hundred people were lined
up along the narrow limits of the side
walk, looking at the yellow current,
and sympathizing with the residents
of the Island. many of which were
partially submerged and nearly all cut
or from communication with the city
proper. except by skiffs A large
amount of drift was going down. much
of it being corn shocks, brush. and
similar light material, with only an
occasional log or tree. Still the aggre-
gate of drift carried past the city dur
ing the day was enormous.
IN THE BUSINESS DISTRICT LAST
NIGHT.
The scenes on Main street after
eight o'clock last night were lively and
interesting. AT the same time the
situation was, in certain sense, salts
factory to most of the merchants, for
while they had at least lost one days
business, with a possibility of two or
three, they knew they had rescued
their goods from the water, and re-
ceived congratulations with every in
dication of sincerity. The firm in the
worst fix at eight O'Clock was the Cald-
well & Peterson Manufacturing Com
pany They moved tons of iron during
the day, but still were caught at dark
with the river in front of their door
and thousands Of dollars worth OF
stock exposed to damage and loss.
For hours thereafter they had teams
at work wading through the water Of
South street, moving material and at
midnight they were in fair shape.
Still, an idea Of the loss can be gained
from the expression Of the senior mem
Der of the firm to Register reporter
Il would be willing to write a check
for 1000 if we were out of it.
A leading business man on the street
said: Twenty thousand dollars will
not cover the loss to the wholesale
trade if there is not a dollars worth
of goods wet 1t is a calamity which
the business men can lily stand at
present; yet we must grin and bear it.
A reporter for the Register made a
careful tour of the wholesale business
houses last night They were in fair
shape, as whole, for any probable
emergency. Goods were being hoisted
up stairs or being trucked away as
fast as they could be handled, and it
looked just a bit strange to see en-
ployes sweeping out empty store rooms
in the most careful manner with the
water within six inches of the floor
in the cellar, and steadily rising. The
stocks removed in the aggregate repre-
scented many hundreds of thousands OF
dollars, and the direct expense incur
red by the flood for the removal Of
goods will aggregate thousands. 1t
was
THAT OR NOTHING,
however.
At nine o'clock last evening it was
no longer possible to get from South
street to Main, at the Riverside cor
ner. without wading, the water was
up to the curb for long distance on
Water street, south of Twelfth, and
had run up Twelfth for twenty-five or
thirty feet on the south side. From
the stone bridge north on Main street
there was a level sheet of water as
far north as the Wheeling Hat Com
pany building, opposite alley twelve,
on Fourteenth street, at the intersec-
ton of Water, there was a great deal
of water, and in various localities it
was coming out Of sewer openings,
while torrents could be heard pouring
into cellars in many business houses.
On the Island, last evening, matters
went from bad to worse with a regu-
larity which was discouraging and dis
heartening to the residents. Street
after street was flooded, and as dark
ness fell hundreds of families We're
shut in their houses hopelessly, except
by chance exit by means Of a boat.
BY this morning more than half the
six thousand people of the Garden
Spot will be water bound and help
less for the time being AS a result,
school will be out Of the question, and
the non-attendance of Island people at
church service this evening is not to
be looked upon as an evidence of back
sliding A few dozen Venetian gon-
doliers could earn a substantial re-
Enumeration in the Seventh ward to-
day, while floating grocery and dairy
would be God-send.
WHAT CAUSED 1T.
The cause of the present disastrous
food is so apparent that it seems su
perfious to occupy space in stating it,
vet there appears to be a demand TO
know how it happened. 1t was the
direct result of both rivers"-that is,
the Monongahela and Allegheny
coming out at once, with the inciden-
tai assistance of the Youghiogheny
and Beaver. We have had seven very
considerable rises during the present
winter season. hut they amounted II
nothing. because but one river-gen-
orally the ngahela-oame out.
One river or the other can be relied
upon to give us twenty-five or thirty
feet in a food, but when it happens
that there is a thaw or storm which
covers the valleys of both Tivers-that
is to say, which extends from central
West Virginia to New York, then the
volume of water is doubled. and the
result is always disastrous. Ii was so
in 1884, when, in addition to the thaw
and the general rain, there was an inn
mense amount of snow all over the
head-water region: it was so again in
1891. when rains extended over all the
territory of West Virginia, Western
PENNSYLVANIA and Western New York,
and it is so at present, when the rains
cover the same area. The mountain
Gus region about the heads of the many
streams which so to make up the Ohio
have been SO deuuded Of timber that
the rains run off as from a roof. and as
a result the magnitude of the floods
are in direct proportion TO the extent
III tarrito,v coyprad These floods NAV