The sun., 1901-04-23
FLOOD SWEPT
NEW ENGLAND
Connecticut River on a Great
Rampage.
WHOLE TOWNS INUNDATED
Reservoir Near Huntington, Mass,
Breaks Loose Destroying Prop
erty and Demoralizing
Railway System.

New Haven, April %. - The worst
flood recorded in southern New Eng
land in ten years is raging. All along
the Connecticut river from Holyoke,
Chicopee and Springfield, Mass, to
Hartford and Middletown, Conn.,. resi-
dents are preparing to flee In case the
torrent overtops the banks, which it
now almost covers. Up the Naugatuck
and the Housatonic valleys in Connect
cut the rivers have flooded meadows
and entire towns, have blocked street
car traffic and have made washouts
which will delay trunk and branch line
passenger traffic.
"A reservoir on the Niddlefeld river,
a tributary of the Westfield river, broke
away at Huntington, Mass, precipitat-
ing an immense volume of water down
the valley through Chester and Hunt
ington, destroying n large amount Of
property and completely demoralizing
the Boston and Albany railroad system
between Westfield and pittsfeld. Large
sections of the double track of the rail
road are washed out and stone arch
bridge between Chester and Middletield
WAS swept away by the flood.
4 Telegraph and telephone service Is
crippled. and reports from the flooded
district are very meager. No loss of
life has been reported The reservoir
was two miles up the valley from Mid
dlefeld railway station, through the
valley in'which Brush Hollow is locat-
ed. 1T was built originally to furnish
reserve power for the wooden mills Re
esnHy the power had been used to drive
tDe machinery of Il quartz mill near the
site of the old woolen mill. Damaged
by rain, the reservoir dam gave way.
Great Damage to Railway.
Near Middlefield depot the stream
joined the larger stream coming down
from the village of Beckett. Before
reaching this larger stream the tribu-
tary, now swollen to a torrent, came to
the high <roadbed of the Boston and Al
bany railroad The railway crosses the
r)vep many times between the Middle
heid station and Chester, and great
damage was dcne Mt all those points.
The stone arch bridge two miles west
OF Chester, on which occurred the rail
road disaster of Sept. ]. 1893, was torn
up. leaving yawning gap which ii
will require days to repair even tempo
rarily Large sections of both tracks
were washed between Chester and
Middlefield, and between Chester and
Huntington there are several big gaps.
Chester had bad scare as the tor
rent came tearing down upon it. The
Hood picked up hennouses ana out
bnildings as II they were paper boxes
and swept them down stream. The
guests at the White hotel packed up
and made haste to get OH higher
ground. Their fears proved groundless
however for the hotel was not flooded
An engine attached TO a freight train
on the Central New England railroad
which was leaving Winsted. Conn, fol
New Hartford, plunged through tres
tile in the West Winsted yards and
went into raceway leading to the
factory of t. G. Richards & Sons, hard
wate manufacturers.
The engineer, Timothy Farrell; the
fireman. Harry Pearson. and William
Ahearn, yard watchman, who wer,
in the cab, escaped by jumping. A cal
containing laborers was derailed, ant
the occupants fed in terror none o
them receiving any injuries, however
The accident was caused by the higl
water in the raceway undermining th
trestlework foundations.
The water in Highland lake, whicl
1t was feared would overflow an,
spread destruction through the town, i
now slowly receding, and it is believe'
that the danger is over. All day watch
men L kaut rllnrd LN tha Luke