Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1898-03-25

!, sational, yellow and misleading, and
! in very many instances, yesterday
morning, needlessly alarmed and wor-
! ried people all over the city. The
paper was severely denounced, during
| the day, by many who were put to
/ trouble and inconvenience by efforts
/ to be sensational.
When the Register report closed, at
/ four o'clock yesterday morning, the
stage of water was 43 feet. and the rate
of rise was a little over two inches per
hour Between that hour and / p. m.
I nine hours-the total rise was about
/ sixteen inches which showed
THE END WAS NEAR.
! After two o'clock the rate of rise was
4 very slow, but the water spread out
\ rapidly over the fiat streets, and every
/ inch made a vast difference in the
available territory for pedestrians in
the business part of town. On the
| Island it made no difference at all,
| however, because dry ground over
| there had long since disappeared.
| When the water was at its height it
| ran I'D Twelfth street to within a few
| feet of the corner of Main, and up
! Main to the north side of the store of
Geo. w. Johnson, No. 1910; on Four
teenth street it extended up to the In
telligencer building, on Market to the
/ Germania Half Dollar Bank, and COW
cred a portion of the sidewalk at the
nayigable for skiffs from the bridge to
/ alley II, and the same state OF affairs
existed on Sixteenth, South, Main,
! Fourteenth and Twelfth streets. In
fact. on some of these streets the water
was quite deep, and big house boat
| moored on Fourteenth street, near
Main, gave that locality a picturesque
appearance.
But the Island had the true Venetian
cast of countenance. Every street over
there was a navigable stream, and all
! during the day skiffs and other small
boats were out by the score, and many
\ hundreds of people enjoyed ride In
these boats men went to and from their
homes. ladies went calling, and young
people saw the sights, and the rowers
had hard day of it, but took in many
a dollar as their reward. The river
was
THE CENTRE OF ATTRACTION
for the entire city, and thousands OF
people went up on the bridges to OBJ
tain a view of the scene. At times
during the afternoon there were SIX
or eight hundred people on the steel
bridge at once, while at the west end
of this structure there was a solid
mass about the skiff landing, dickering
| with or chatting the many boatmen.
There were only few dry spots on
tbe entire Island when the water was
At its height. but more houses than
/ one unfamiliar with the ward would
/ think. escaped having water on the
first floor. Your Island man has been
building his house high up in the air,
of late wears, so that even If he can
get TO it for few days in times OF
flood he is reasonably sure his per-
sonal property will be dry. great
MANY residences over there have the
first floor above the 45-foot level, and
few are as high as AS feet, while at
least one. and perhaps others, can
stand so feet of water. Many Main
street business men are drowned out
long before Island citizens suffer much
As matter of course. the flood
carsed practically total suspensiol
os business. and the people spent the
a. IN tho street. The banks were
onan hut transacted no business; Main
/ street wasg as quiet as a grave, tne
street cars could not run, neither couiu
the railroads, nor yet the steamboats,
tba factories were still, the ponce
couldn't cover their beats, or letter
carriers deliver what little mail they
had II was stricken and paraiyzed
| communicate dead, dismal ana
damn. But to-day things VIII
BEGIN TO AWAKEN,
and tomorrow TO the usual actlVlty
will be added the sounds caused by a
general cleaning up of mud ana oe-
bris. -.
And there will be plenty OF ootn,
| Drift wood by the cord is scattered
all along the Island streets and al
leys, and many yards are filed wiz