The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1904-03-27


| point OF fourteen feet was nine That
1 is, the interval between big floods av
eraged no more than two years. But
during the twenty-five years from 1882
| to 1903 inclusive there were two big
! floods and only two. The interval rose,
| in other words, from two years to
eleven years.
But no big flood is mentioned by Mr..
/ Delano from 1852 to 1862; so that, if
worthy, the interval between floods
may have been as long before the,
/ war" as since the days of Henry Viii
! lard and his golden spike.
The fact that no official river gauge
had been established before 1873
brought some dispute as to one of Mr..
! Delano's statements in 1881.
Another InfaIIibIe Mark.
J. S. Sewall, then city engineer, re-
! called another high record on another
warehouse-that of Lyman Dayton. Mr..
(. Dayton had said, in 1854, that his mark
Indicated "the highest water known up
i to that time" And Mr.. SeWall, in
| 1881, described the Dayton mark as
about the same height as the water
| is at present''-that is, 1876 feet by. the
| government gauge. Mr.. Delano had es-
timated the height of water in 1852 as
eighteen or nineteen inches above the
mark for 1881.
| If Mr.. Delano was right, the flood of
1852 was by far the biggest of the thir-
teen foundations, and the water rose
then to an equivalent of twenty one
feet by the government gauge. If Mr..
/ Sewall was right, this biggest" flood of
1852 was just about as big as the next
! largest on record, that of 1881, of which
/ the maximum was 1876 feet.
/ The river rose, fifty-two years ago,
1 several feet above the floors of the
/ Constans warehouse and what other
| buildings existed then along the levee
\ near the foot of Jackson street. Tradi-
ton asserts than guests in the tan1a-s
rack log tavern, now the Merchants
| hotel, at the head of the Jackson street
/ hill, displayed some apprehension. The
West side flats disappeared, but no
damage resulted. The Indian residents,
| with characteristic foreknoWledge of
foods had moved their tepees to the
bluffs some days before the river spread
| abroad.
In 1852, says Mr. Delano, high water
rose again above the western bank.
He does not guess the probable stage;
it must have been not less than four
teen feet.
Ice Gorge Does Damage in 1866.
/ April %, 1866, the river rose as the
immediate result of an ice gorge at
Pine Bend, below the city. The water
went up five feet in four hours. The
levee entertainments on this side were
damaged, as we'll as the railway tracks.
A big ice gorge formed about the same
time at st. Anthony Opposite Min
neapolis). When the gorge broke it
did much damage to logs, bridges,
piers, etc. The local flood began to
| lessen April 26.
The next spring-for river floods fire.
) quently appear in successive seasons
the Mississippi began to rise April Is.
The West side was again inundated.
The ST. Paul & Pacific tracks, enter
ing the city over the same general
route as are followed now by the Great
Northern, was overf1owed for two or
three days; all trains stopped at Sew
enth street. The waters began to sub
side April 20.
Up to thirty years ago, it should be
explained, the present wholesale DIS
trict of st. Paul was little more than
a marsh. Whenever the river rose alb
normally. water backed in over this
marsh and extended for many blocks
to the northward along Trout brook,
Phalen creek and the edge of Dayton
bluff.
The same year a June rise" oc-
CURED. Indeed, the rise of the river IN
June was formerly considered 1nevl-
table. although there has been no June
rise of consequence during the last
| twenty-four years. The rise began with
a heavy rain June g. The rains con-
tinued during June and July, so that
by July 20 the suspension bride at st.
Anthony Crossing to Minneapolis at
the present Bridge square, became I'M
passable. Many booms broke and many
logs were lost. July % the east span
of the railway bridge at Minneapolis
was carried away. AS might be sup
posed West st. Paul was flooded.
April IS, 1859, the river began rising
for food that did not reach its max
imum until May 2. In the fall of the
same year heavy rains persuaded the
river to break dams and booms at An
Okla and st. Anthony and to flood West
st. Paul.
Big Rise in 1870.
From April to April 9, 1870, the
river rose rapidly. By April railway
| trains were compelled to stop at Sew
enth street. April 10 the water rose
to about nineteen feet-that is, nearly
ito the maximum reached subsequently
in the great flood of 1881. West St
Paul was thoroughly flooded. April 1S
the river began to fall.
In 1873, when the present gauge was
put in place by the local weather bu-
reau, the zero on the gauge was copied
from Tie ZclO I'll OieiCi e1li
cial gauge recorded, in 1864, on one OF
the piers of the Wabasha street bridge
This zero is supposed to have marked
the level of the lowest "low water
accurately observed up to 1864. Less
than dozen years ago. however, the
river fell several inches below the gov
eminent zero. Since that time the
gauge has marked an extra foot "beloW
Zero All readings by the government
gauge are in feet and tenths of a foot
not in feet and inches.
The same spring that the regular
gauge was adjusted the river rose
March 81, to a height of 1874 feet, OF
: more than four feet above the loves
,;7<> Iax,a1e EIierI, xxro for oon,