Montour American. (Danville, Pa.) 1866-1920, 1902-03-06
DANVILLE'S
GREAT FLOOD
North Branch Rises "a Feet, 9 Inches A
Portion of the Borough Inundated.

| Il
tracts embraced by the two brick yards
operated by John Keim. The canal
which was inadequate to carry eff the
overflow was Sunday morning bank
| full and later in the day entirely obliter-
ated under an immense sheet Of water
which encroached upon the town, flood
| ing Cooper street to the foot of Nassau
! street, the lower end of MOwrey street
and East Market street West as far as
| the A. J. zimmerman building. From
point above the Shovel factory to with
in few yards of Mill street, the d. l..
& w. tracks We're submerged. The
| Stove Works We're cut off by wide ex-
panse of water which presented the ap-
| pearance Of a lake bounded on the
South by the course of the canal and on
the North by the blast furnace of the
Bessemer Company and J. r. BENEFITS
| farm. The Shovel works were entirely
under water and Sunday night rise Of
| but few inches more We're required to
flood the moulding room of the Stove
works. Scores of cellars We're flooded,
while in few of the houses, especially
on the southern side Of Cooper street, the
water encroached upon the first floors.
The flood however, gave sufficient
warning and few families We're caught
unprepared, although put to any amount
| E 1;.,,.,,f,,-+
At the Reading Iron works, along
Northumberland and West Center
streets there was a repetition of precise
| " the same state of affairs that obtained
on Friday last, except that in the pres
ent instance the flood was caused by
back water from the river and the creek
was not abnormalIy high.
The water Sunday eve. was at level
with the roadway of the Northumber-
land street bridge, the Reading Iron
| works Were flooded to the depth of a
foot or more and the unfortunate fami-
lies along the two thoroughfares named
had again sought refuge in the second
stories Of their houses
The water has also backed up Biz
| yards run flooding a wide area at the
rear Of the stores on the East side of
Mill street There is not a cellar on
either side of Mill street, situated at all
favorably for flooding, that has not sew
eral feet of water in it Not few of
Z, h,, F,,1 81, 70 la
top Of the aqueduct and Mahoning
creek were on a level. The aqueduct
itself is partially wreck, the northern
side Sunday afternoon succumbing to
the pressure of water and floating away.
The river was nearly everywhere out
of its banks at many places being a
mile or more in width. Below town the
mighty food embraced, not only the
normal width of the river, but all the
meadow land, entirely obliterating Nah
Oning creek, and the canal and cover
ing the D. L. 6, w track with several
feet of water
The river was viewed by thousands
uNIll SATURDAY anu olLlh'bN NIChCu
from the sidewalks Of the river bridge
and from points of vantage on shore. 1t
was indeed a majestic sight. We are
all familiar with the beautiful Susque-
hanna in her gentler moods. We have
found rest and refreshment at midday
in the deep shadows of her romantic
shores and at evening have gazed upon
her sun kissed bosom as she lay like
| jewel with the emerald mountains
| about her for a setting. But now we
| have the broad river aroused uncurb-
ed; not the wash of the ripples but the
roar of the whirlpool. Regardless of
man, with force that no human pow
er can stay the sullen river rolls its
mighty water on to the sea.
Sunday eve. there We're many anxious
| hearts in town. During the day and
until late at night the water had been
rising steadily at the rate of two inches
an hour Many home was imperiled
and the only hope lay in the fact that
| high water mark had been reached and
the waters would subside, so that all
looked expectingly toward the morn.
All persons in a positionto know Sun
| day night agreed that the river had not
within nearly two feet reached the high
water mark of 1865. With that excep-
| ton the river is the highest in its his
| tory.
The food of So as will be seen from a
large photograph in the possession of
Robert D. Magill, submerged much
larger portion of the town than the pres
ent high water. The flood then break
ing over the river bank above town
! poured down through the borough sub
merging Mill street along with all the
! low area between the canal and the
higher land north The only portion of
the town above water We're the higher
portions of Market and Mahoning
streets and this lay like an island in the
broad eXpanse of the swollen river The
unprecedented food of 'G5 was unaccom-
panied by rain i'll this locality. 1t all
came from the country lying above, Just
as the present flood is caused by the
rain and heavy deposit of snow in the
mountains northward What once oC-
CURED may happen again and thus it
occurred that there was so much for
boding among our townspeople at
| night when at 9 o'clock the word came