The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1901-04-22
RECEDlNC WATERS leave
DISASTER IN THEIR TRAIL
Millions of Dollars Worth Of Property Destroyed by
Great Flood in Ohio River.
Worst is Now Over, But the Ruin Wrought is Widesea
Few Fatalities.

Pittsburg. Pa, April Ms-The most
Widespread and destructive storm. from
material point of view, has passed.
1t has left a zone of ruin zoo miles in
diameter 1t was unusual in that it
possessed so many different features.
Cities seventy miles from Pittsburg
were tied up by one of the worst snow.
storms eyer known. While the snow.
fall was from eighteen inches to three
feet deep, which is not EXTRAORDINARY,
the snow was, so wet that it chung in
weighty masses to shade and fruit trees
and electric wires and poles, bearing
them 10 the. earth. It settled on steam
and street railways like wet sand,
stopping an traffic and making pedes-
trianism almost IMPOSSIBLE The fan
was so heavy end. spontaneous in some
places that the residents declare 1t
seemed Ike the bursting Of a snow
cloud.
A few miles away from these unfor-
tunate towns were municipalities IN
Just as dire straits from rain. but
speedier prospects for relief. as the
rain viii run off faster than. the snow
can melt, yet here traffic was practical
ly suspended. Water overhowed ana
washed out railroad tracks. and hill-
sides came down and buried the rails.
In addition, nearly every towLf on the
Ohio river between Pittsburg and
Wheeling is in darkness tonight. Elec-
trio light plants or their wires are dam
aged and the gas in the mains is gen
orally turned s0ff TO prevent explosions,
So 500, 600 or more people tonight are
cropping about in the dark
A remarkable feature of the. storm IS
that but few fatalities directly attrib-
utable to its cause have been report
ed A railroader caught in a wreck
caused by a landslide and the death OF
an old woman from shock, are the only
ones known 50 far. There may be
others, but as communication is cut off
from many populous places, IT Will be
the end of the week before the total
can be counted Up.
Loss May Reach S3,ooo,ooo.
The money loss is just as dificuIt to
foot up. 1t may reach $3,0o0,000. The
railroads think they have lost $1,000, O00
The loss Of wages TO the army of work
down the riyers Viii mount up TO $500,
600, and the repairs to plants will be a
large sum The damage TO stores
stock residences and furniture IN
Rittsburg, Allegheny. and towns ana
cities down the Ohio, viii probably
reach S5g0.O00 The telegraph compa-
mics have suffered severely, but cannot
yet compute their losses
In addition, there is the enormous
Indirect damage caused by the almost
complete suspension of trade. What
that amounts to no one can determine
exactly, and estimates simply reflect
the conservative or radical character
of the computeT-
Pittsburg and Allegheny are slowly
emerging from the miIrky flood. At s
~ frT7fenf rivers rRcpN-
ing nearly a foot an hour The high
est point reached at Davis Island dam
was twenty-eight and four-tenthS feet
at a. m, which means twenty-eiSht
feet at the junction of the Allegheny
and Monongahela rivers. The water
remained stationery until about 3 p.
m, when ii began to fall. Conservative
estimates of the total damage in this
district is between $2.0e0.000 and $3,000,-
GOO. Fifty thousand workers are suffer-
ing from enforced idIeness.
While there have been greater foods
at this point, there was never one that
caused so much financial loss and dis
comfort. This is due to the denser
population caused by the recent growth
Of the two cities. and to the fact that
ali the notwithstanding plants along the
river were operating, most of them
working night and day, until the rising
waters put out the fires and drove the
workers to higher grounds
Damage to Railroads.
On the Fort Wayne railroad the worst
trouble WAS a snow blockade between
Salem and AfaSsiIlon. This began sat
urday morning and tied UP the road for
twenty-four hours. At 8 o'clock this
morning the track was cleared and
trains began meVing- The same troU-
BILE kept the Cleveland trains of the
Pittsburgl & Lake. Erie late. five trains
having been hlOckaded at WINDOW.
near Ievittsburgs fer twenty-five. hours.
This snowfall did not extend east OF
Newcastle. but at y Youngstown it was
two feet deep and the drifts in the
north of that city were up to locoElotlVe
hea diights. The wreck OF an Erie train
Uttered the road 50 that deep drifts
formed undisturbed- Water was two
feet deep on the Lake Erie tracks at
Sawnliu Run, but trains got. through
Big landslides occurred on the Lake
Erie and Baltimore & Ohio at Soho, on
the Pan Handle, on the south side of
Resserner. at several points, and the
The slide at Soho was 150 feet long
and it required fourteen hours work
to clear one track. Through east
bound trains We're loaded at Thirty
third street, passengers being, trans
ferred by street ears
At SlzOh0, between Monaco and Ali
quippa, the Lake Erie received its most
serious landslide One hundred feet
of the westbound track was carried
fifty feet down the steep bank, the
whole. face of the bank slipping down
into the river On the lines OF the
Pennsylvania and Baltimore & Ohio,
to wheeling, great damage is reported,
and both lines We're tied ZIP for sew
eraI hours Five miles of the Pitts
burg, Ressemar & Lake Erie tracks
were either under water or mud The
bank was continuously, sliding down
onto the tracks. and a large, force OF
men could not keep them clear
The damage to telegraph poles and
/ lines along. all the roads was enormous
and it viii take several days to fully
repair them. Trains are now running
4 on all roads, but no attention is paid
to keeping up TO schedules.
Scenes of AFFECT Misery.
The. submerged districts in Pittsburs
and Allegheny are today a scene oil
AFFECT misery Cellars, and in. some
I instances the first floors of stores and
4 dwellings,. are covered With water
Where the flood has subsiied, 1t has
| LEFT behind a greasy. yellow scum two
! to three inches deep.
The residents. spent all day trying
to- restore their homes to some. DEGREES
OF decenoy and comfort. The damage
to furniture and buildings in Allegheny
is estimated at about Sloo,oea It vii