Evening star., 1901-04-22
Effects of a Special River Bulletin
of the Weather Bureau.
WARNINGS TO WHARF OCCUPANTS
Few of the Latter Believe There
VIII Be Much of Flood.
PRES ENT CON ID L tt o n 5

Fears of flood In Washington which dis
turhed nervous members of the community.
had been pretty thoroughly assuaged by the
assurances OF ola and experienced river
sharps today that nothing terrible would
happen, when all of sudden a special
bulletin from the weather bureau put the
alarmed ones on the anxious seat again
This document. which was entitled 'Speciai
River Bulletin" and signed Willis l..
Moore Chief L. s. Weather Bureau read
as follows:
..At 9 o'clock this morning the stage of the
pbtomac river at Harper's Ferry was ls.o
feet rise of So feet since AIN. yest"r-
day This will cause marked rise in the
river at Washington. and cellars on Loulsi-
ana avenue between 9th and 10Th streets
will be flooded to depth of several inches
by tonight. and the r street sewer at the
foot Of nth street will be full to the crown
Some felt after perusing the above that
the national capital might become another
Johnstown er Galveston, hut old tuners
were not inclined TO regard the outlook IN
such - IiuUS light.
Wharf Occupants Warned
To be IN tl.- safe side. however. Harbor-
master Sutton. when he received the pnlle-
tin. proceeded to notify the occupants of
the wharves between the Long bridge ana
the arsenal. in order that they might re-
when the harbormaster made his trip along
the river front the water was touching the
stringers of some OF the wharNes ana that
of Riley. the lumber merchant at Inc 1907
of 9Th street. was partly under water
While most of the riveTmen appreciated the
efforts Of the harboTmaster aud set at work
to protect their property others pa'd but
little attention to the warning.
Owners of small craft were busy TINS ar
ternoon securing their boats. Many of the
dealers recalled similar warnings they had
received when they went to great expense
removing property and the anticipated
flood failed to materia4ize Twice since
the flood of 1872 said man on the river
front this afternoon. merchants have re-
cefved flood warnings, and the floods failed
to come. For this reason many of us Will
probably pay no attention to the warn
ing
There was a fall of about one foot dur
Ing ebb tide today. and the south wind was
keeping the tide much higher than 1t
would otherwise have been
The present condition of the river it Is
stated. will not interfere in any way with
the movements of the river steamers. The
Fern. the boat OF the naval battalion of the
District militia. is at the 9th street wharf
Because of the threatening condition steam
has been kept up for nearly a week. Should
the river assume dangerous proportions the
boat will go to the channel and drop an
chor. Some preparations are in progress
at the arsenal to protect government prop
erty. and the authorities at the navy yard
are also on the lookout. 1t is likely that
tonight to be in readiness in case of emer-
gency.
Reports From Up-River.
General Manager G. l.. Nicolson of the
Chesapeake and Ohio canal expressed the
opinion this morning that there would be
no serious flood in the Potomac. In his
opinion the water would not be as high as
in the spring of 1897 He based his opinion
on a telegram received from the canal Of
flee correspondent at Harper's Ferry which
was received few minutes before 0 clock
this morning. stating that the water at
that place was nineteen feet above its nor
NAL, and that since o clock this morning
1t had been at a Standstil.
This news was regarded encouraging,
sand. coupled with 1t intelligence was also
received that the water at points above
Harpers Ferry. while quite high. was re-
ceding.
At the canal Office, from reports received
the Shenandoah and Potomac were both
affected by the recent rains and both are
far above their level. rise of nineteen
feet at the point OF their intersection means
rise OF six or seven feet at Georgetown.
and possibly more. 1t takes about twelve
hours. or perhaps longer for the water to
reach this place. and with the present
swollen condition Of the Potomac 1t might
be sufficient to overflow the wharves and
do some little damage. though not to
amount to much.
Swift Current-Much Drift.
The water in the river has been high and
swift for perhaps a week past. and this
morning the current was running at the
rate of FIVE miles hour. Floating down
stream We're immense quantity of logs
and driftwood. showing that the river In
the regions above had overffowed the low
grounds and the current was sufficient to
sweep away all loose material living
around. Some whole trees came down.
and logs from twenty to forty feet In
length were seen very often borne swiftly
along by the strong current
When a Star reporter visited the river
front OF Georgetown about IN o'clock this
morning the water was found to be quite
hlgn. and in some cases overflowing the
wharves. number of people were at
tracted 10 the place and We're watching the
progress OF the stream extremely muddy
all over. while In the current the driftw ood
was floating by in large quantities. The
wood fishers were out. and with long ropes
ana weighted end were hauling In floating
wood in large quantities. securing a supply
for home for the entire season
capt. j. II. Lee. who is interested in prop
erty along the water front. when seen by a
reporter. stated that the last intelligence
he had received was that the river at Har-
pers Ferry was nineteen feet high. and at
last reports was at standstilI At 4
o'clock this morning he had heard that the
river was nearly nineteen feet high and
raising at the rate of two inches an hour
He thought the waterway was about two
feet above its high water mark and that
az georgetown IL was raising at the rate of
two inches an hour. He had sent a tele-
an answer.
Potomac Boat House Flooded
AT Cumberland's boat house the water
reached above the wharf. but had not done
any damage The Georgetown University
boat house. while the water was well I'D
on its float. had escaped up to 10 o'clock
the flooding of it's floors.
The home of the Potomac Boat Club was
less fortunate. and the place was entirely
flooded 1t is situated lower than any of
the other boat houses. and for that reason
Is said to suffer at any rise. When Janitor
Bromley got to the place this morning
the water had not reached the floor of the
mouse. though last evening the floor level
had been reached. but the water quickly
went down. He left about 7:3O for his
breakfast, and returned in three-uuarters
OF an hour. according to his statement ard
found the water two feet deep all over the
floor of the building. showing how rapid
the rise.
BY $50 O'Clock the water was fully two
and a half feet deep and shortly afterward