St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1902-08-06
THE FLOODS CAME.
Water Causes Great Damage through
out the Town.


out the Town.
Fridays rain storm proved to be the
most disastrous one in the history of
Caledonia county so far as roads are
concerned and from almost every town
in this vicinity comes the story of dam
ages amounting to thousands of dollars.
While the rainfall was very heavy here in
the village it was probably less than in
surrounding districts. The official record
at the Museum shows that from p. m.
Thursday until p. m. Friday, 1.93
inches of rain fell, and for the same time
ending at p. m. Saturday ga inches
fell making total of 2 81 inches for two
DAYS. This amount of rainfall can be
better appreciated by comparisons with
the month of June, an unusually rainy
month, when 4 AS inches fell during the
entire 80 days.
In the village no great amount of
| damage was done. The sand hill at the
head of the Plain was quilted, Marion
avenue in Summerville was made impas-
sable and Concord avenue, up the hill,
was badly washed out. The crushed
stone sidewalks on Eastern avenue and
elsewhere suffered considerable damage,
but the actual financial damage in the
village was small compared with the
town outside, where it will cost. accord
ing to the selectmen's estimate, $4,000 to
repair the highways and bridges. Road
Commissioner Horace Jackson reports
that SO small bridges and culverts were
destroyed by the food.
The worst damage was done in the
Bible Hill and Center districts where in
several cases the roads are completely
destroyed. Up the hills in both directions
from Joseph Beauregard's house in the
Bible Hill district, as tar as the eye can
see, the roads are washed out, in many
places to the depth of Is feet. From
that place to the Center all the bridges
are gone and the highway is ruined. At
the Center the brook which runs by the
Methodist church was suddenly turned
into river, and the street for distance
depth of from five to ten feet. The
south wall of E. A. Mongeon's black
smith shop and the north wall of the ell
to the John Brooks house were carried
away. H. A. Lougee lost considerable
stove wood and Kendall Huse had a
pile of lumber carried away by the food.
About mile up the brook at
Erastus Halett's, building which had
recently been placed across the stream to
serve the double purpose of bridge and
storehouse was carried away and con-
siderable property stored there was
damaged or destroyed. The course of
Bible Hill brook was changed and
change will have to be m ade in the loca-
ton of portion of the road. On the old
road from St. Johnsbury to the Center
culvert and 25 feet of the highway was
quilted out to depth of ten feet, and at
the Gorham place the road for considera-
BILE distance was washed down to the
rock foundation and will have to be en-
tirely rebuilt.
From the top of the hill beyond AFRO
Pecks farm to the Meacham brook the
road is completely ruined. Near Peter
Landry's farm on Crow Hill there are
: serious washouts, and in the vicinity OF
t the East Village, the Severance and Will
t liams hill roads are badly damaged.
, This is only a partial record of the
damage done, and it will be many weeks
before repairs can be completed, although
the work will be pushed as rapidly as
possible.
: With the damage done by the great
). freshet of last spring, and the result o.
= Fridays storm, the highway and bridg
es account will be of abnormal proper
tions. No one is to blame for the two
4 disasters, but the significance of the Oft
: repeated warning from practical road
4 men, that country stone work was toe
: shaky, and country culverts too small
e has been forcibly impressed. The select
# men and Commissioner Jackson have
: citizens may rest assured that everything
# possible will be done to repair the dam
d age as quickly as possible.
e Our correspondents in surroundin!
S towns tell interesting stories OF the Hoods
: in other localities.