The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1903-06-10
A BLOW TO SPARTANBURG
Greatest Disaster the County Ever
Sufered-The City of Spartanburg
Cut OF From all Railroad COmmu-
nicatiOn, the Power House Flooded
and Street Car Traffic Stopped for
Hours.

and Street Car Traffic Stopped for
Hours.
Spartanburg, June 6.-Clifton and Pacolet
Cotton Mills were wreck ed to day by a cloud
burst. Three inches OF rain early this morn
Ing on top OF two and a half Inches yesterday
had. Clifton Mill No. Is gone; Nos l and
badly damaged q score or more OF cottages
washed away. 1t Is estimated that l0O people
were drowned Much cotton and baled goods
washed down; upper dam gone; Mill No. 8
standing. About 5000 bales OF cotton and
hundreds of bales OF goods gone. Presbyter-
Ian Church, livery stable and meat market
washed away. Loss at these Two In ills M esti.
mated anywhere from 81 900 600 to S2,0G0000.
Several tenement houses washed away at
Whitney, but no great damage to mills.
The ,mall mill at Lolo, six miles north of
town, OF which Seth Scrusgs is president, is
gone.
Glendale Mill is not seriously crippled, ex-
cept five dams washed awav.
No word from Tucapau. Fairmont, Enoree
aud Fingerville.
Nearly all the bridges In the county are
gone. The railway bridges at Lawson'a Fork
aud PacoIet down. The one out OF Middle
Tiger yielded this morning. The bridge
across North Tyger near Moore e,tn went down Han
washed away this morning after the train
from Columbia reached Spartanburg
We have no railway communication In any
county towns cannot be reached. Telegraph
wires also down, except one TO Atlanta.
Some break IN the road about Saluda pre-.
vents any train going towards Asheville. We
are certainly ~ isolated
The power house was flooded in the morn.
Ing and the street cars did not run for several
hours.
The car bridge at Glendale is gone. Ali the
public bridges on Lawson's Fork and Pacolet
are gone. Dead bodies were seen floating
down the river by Pacoet Mills this morn
ing.
Mrs. Garner, mile below Whitney. were
washed away.
Hundreds Of people went TO Whites Mills
this morning TO zee the raging flood. The
mill and Ice factory were left, but the cotton
was carried down.
No message received from Cherokee Flats
and Lock hart Mill on Broad River:
A heavy rain fell this afternoon between
and o'clock, with no signs of clearing.
While the rains were very heavy here, five 10
six Inches in twenty four hours, 1t is believed
that a few miles north of town there wss d
heavier doWnpour.
No one can get from here to Clifton to give
relief to the sufferers. 1t is probable that the
loss 10 the mills, the county, the railrood and
the electric line Will go anywhere from S2,0GO,
600 to S3,0000OO. The loss suffered by the
| farmers has 10 be added to that.
THE DAY BEFORE THE FLOOD.
Spartanburg, June G.-Floods like that o
Kansas struck the Piedmont yesterday morn
| Ing about 3 O'Clock. Showers came in rapit
| succession during the day and by nigh
streets, fields. gardens and low lands wer
| flooded. The sInall streams were reported ai
getting high enough 10 eudanger bridges ant
wash crops away. At sunset IL looked as
the rains would hold up, but it began tt
thunder in various directions and the cloud
grew more threatening. In tlful shower
the rain began TO fall. About midnight th
flashing OF lightning was almost constant
shower after shower poured down, eact
seeming harder than the lact. Streets wer
turned into running streams, lakes were
formed on level places, gardens were soaked
and washed, streams were raised beyond TIL
danger point, and taking the twenty-fou
hours from A. NJ, yesterday till some hou
to-day, II was the heaviest rainfall ever re
corded here. Last night 1t measured 20 in
ches and yesterdays rain must have beer
more. So In one day We had about six In
ches Of rain. Early this morning no report
have come in az to danger done. No train
are running on the roads. The engines q
the power house arc flooded and no stree
cars are running II Is believed that Whea
standing in the fields is pretty well ruine'
and That which has been cut is equally u
, bad of.
Meagre reports are coming in this morning
They say that near all the bridges OF I'll
county are washed away or badly damaged
, The railway bridge at Lawson's Fork, tw