Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1901-04-22
DAM GIVES WAY.
MiddIefeId, Mass, People
Scramble for Higher Ground.
Fierce Storms Rage Throughout New
England and the South.
Enormous Damage in Many Sections No Loss
Of Lie Reported.

Chester. Mass. April 21.-The Flood
Hollow dam in Middlefield gave way,
about d o'clock. tonight, letting loose
the water in the big reservoir, which
rushed with terrific force into the west
branch of THE Westfieid river. sweep
ing everything before IL and submerg-
ing the greater part of this town. No
lives were lost. but great damage has
been done, the extent of which il is
impossible now to estimate.
The dam was built in 1874. to take the
place of the one which was destroyed
by the freshet of the year before. 1t
was poorly constructed of stone and
timber and had been constant men
ace 70 the town of Chester The heavy
| rains ovcrtiowed the reservoir and the
| dam showed signs Of Weakening early
| this morning. Station Agent Cole of
| this town was sent by the officials Of
| the Boston & Albany To inspect il. He
at once sent word 10 the people Of
| Chester to take to the hills. for the
dam was almost certain to go out.
Thirty families in the lowlands got
W nat iUliiSS Ailty toSflitl
| made for places of safety. They We're
none too soon FOR the dam broke and
| with a deafening roar a torrent of wa
| ter was let loose into the Flood Hollow
brook which empties into the Westfield
| river. The huge timbers of the dam
Were hurled into the foaming torrent
| and went in one great. crashing mass
| on toward chester.
! Two quartz mills at Flood Hollow,
| barns and outbuildings, We're swept
along in the torrent. At Bancroft. the
| station for Middleneld. the Boston +,
Albany stone bridge was carried away,
| together with coo feet of tracks. Wreck
ers will be sent out from Springfield
| and Pittsfield. tomorrow, but it will
probably be two days before trains are
| running.
| Chester presents desolate sight.
The electric light station is submerged
and the town is in total darkness.
Houses are flooded and the streets fill
ed with the timbers from the dam. Mr..
| Garo's house is completely surrounded
| by water and there is no way of reach
| ing it. The inmates are safe in the
second story. The water is going down
rapidly and all danger has passed.
Daylight may show worse state of
affairs than can be learned. tonight.
The reservoir was built originally to
| furnish reserve power for the wooden
| mills formerly at The Hollow and
run by the Church Bros. OF late years
the power had been used to drive the
| machinery of a quartz mill located near
| the site of the old wooden mill. DAM
aged by rain. the reservoir dam gave
way. precipitating a lake of water
down through the narrow and winding
| Middlefield depot. plunging stream
joins the larger stream coming down
from the village of Beckett. Before
| reaching this larger roadbed Of the
Boston & Albany. The railroad crosses
| the river many times between the Mid
| dlefield station and Chester and great
damage was done at many points.
The stone arch bridge. two miles
west Of Chester. held up for time but
the force of the torrent was too great
and the abutments gave way. thus
leaving a yawning gap in the railroad
which will require considerable time to
repair even temporarily. Large sec
tons of both tracks are reported to be
washed out between Chester and Mid
dlefield and between Chester and Hunt
near Mullallys Crossing. At bridge
No. 12?, two miles east of Chester. a big
trestle, built recently to allow of re-
pairs on the bridge. was swept away
and the bridge wrenched off it's base
The flood gave Chester a severe
fright and for 4 time the situation was
decidedly interesting. Word was re-
oeived by telegraph at $40 that the res
ervoir dam was crumbling and soon
after 6 the dam broke away. The water
i'm the river had been up to the edges
Of the bank all day, and after the dam
went out the river rose gradually un-
I'll it was about eight feet above high
water mark. The water came down. n
raging torrent. overlooking the banks
and flooding the streets. Gardeners
electric light plant was soon flooded
and the village was in darkness.
The food picked up hen houses and
outbuildings as if they We're paper
boxes and swept them along to the
Main street bridge. where they crash
ed against the aDutnehS anu WEI"
broken into pieces the mems HoatlnS
off on the flood. J. G. GamwelIs store
house. containing wagons end sieignS
for sale, was swept away with the con-
tents and all was lost. The guests at
Whites Hotel packed up their belong
inCs and made haste to get on higher
ground on the other side of the river.
but the hotel was not flooded. The
food reached its height at about 1.3O
and then began to recede and at $50
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