The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1901-05-28
THE GREAT MAY, 1901, FREsHET.

what will probably be remt' ibered
for years to come as the greatfreshet
of May, 1901, is given in the follow
ing article from the Raleigh Evening
Times of Thursday, 23rd inst.
"The heavy rains of the past few
days have caused the greatestf rs shet
known in years. The Catawba river
at Morganton is 81 feet above hnV
water. At Marion several hundred
feet of the track of the Southern
Railway is washed away. Asheville
is completely cut off from the out
side world, and no trains have run
through on the Western North Caro-
lima Road since Tuesday. The Deep
River at LOckville, Chatham county,
is considerably higher than over be-
fore known. Barringer's Mill has
been seriously damaged, and the low
grounds are under water. For a
while the river, which IS very rapid,
rose an inch a minute. The Sea-
board Air Line tracks are under
water at Cameron, Moore county.
There is d considerable wash-out
near Sanford, and trains north
bound over n SeabO4rd were yes
terday ten to twelve hours late. the
Neuse near here $ very high, and
the Cape Fear is out of it's banks in
many places. Water rose in the
boiler room of the Sanford mill, and
stopped the machinery. Trains on
the Oxford and GAINESVILLE Road are
w~ater-bound. The Emo river is four
feet higher than ever known before.
In one day SIS inches of rain fell in
Durham county. There are four
wash-Outs on the Lynchburg and
Durham road. Durham's water
works are badly damaged. The
summer resort hotel at Cliffs, Cataw-
ba county, was washed away, and
was found in a meadow q half mile
from it's original site. In Burke
county two $1,000 iron bridges are
gone, and reports from Oxford state
that several bridges have been
washed away in Granville county.
The loss in bridges will seriously
cripple many counties, and inter
feres with trade. Scores of bridges
have been washed away, in a dozen
counties, and the loss from this alone
will amount to many thousands. The
counties keep all the tax fund ex-
pended, and sOne of them may have
to Issue bonds to rebuild the bridges.
The damage TO lOwland crops will
amount to hundreds of thousand Of
dollars. Along the Cape Fear, the
Neuse, the Catawba, and other rivers
they have been completely swept
away IN some instances. Near tie
scene of the Bostian bridge wreck,
where the Catawba is crossed by the
Southern Railroad, the tracks are
the water heingfrom enc 70 four feeE
deep. The rain is not over, and
there was ii heavy fall last night, so
that the streams will not subside to-
day. The creeks are far beyond
their banks and are pouring vast
quantities Of water into the rivers.
The rain was general L roughout the
State, and the treshet is the most
destructive and Widespread that has
occurred in North CarOlina in years.
A dispatch from Marion gives this
account OF the food in Mcdowell:
The storm OF Tuesday was the
worst one that has ever occurred in
this section IF the State. A C0nser.
vutive estimate Of the damage done
to property and crops II tuis (Mc-
D5Hc.D county - Two handred thou
sand dollars.
All crops along the water courses
are entirely destroyed, Some small
farms have been left absolutely
worthless, Four or five cloudburst3
Occurred on the mountuIn aD I'VE
nsre, wa~n.ng away houses, barns
and mills.
80 far d., knoTn DO lives were
Lost. Al ron bridge over Crooked
Creek was washed away and the one
over Muddy Greek Was badly dam
aged. Cataw0a river at this point
Has taree teet higher 1a,an il bas
ever been. Is was two miles wide
where 5Ir average width il II hun.
uled teet. it has changed It's course
il several places. Logs and al kinds
of timh'r have dIif'ei TO great
heights azs,nst the bluff long the
river. Thousands OF fish were left