Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-03-14
ALL P|TTSBURG IS
MENACED BY FLOOD
Water Threatens to Break
Previous Records.
NINE ARE DEAD ALREADY
Rivers Are Now Rising Eight Inches
an Hour.
TRAIN SERVICE IS SUSPENDED
Ice Gorge in the Clarion River May
Go Out at Any Moment, AIDING
to the Trouble.
Rivers Are Now Rising Eight Inches
an Hour.
TRAIN SERVICE IS SUSPENDED

PITTSBURG, Pa, March 14.-Pittsburg
is in The grasp of one of its greatest floods.
The record of ten years has already been
passed and the rivers are still rising.
If the rise continues at the present rate
the record of 1884, when the water reached
the highest stage since 1885, will have been
passed long before nightfan The stage in
1884 was SO feet inches.
Today at 10 o'clock the marks registered
80 feet, with the water creeping up at the
rate of six inches hour and still rising
at all headwater points.
Every tributary along the upper rivers
is swollen and DISPATCHES from all sections
of western Pennsylvania report the smaller
streams beyond their banks and the sur
rounding districts submerged
Weather bureau officials predict "a feet
over at Pittsburg.
If this stage is reached, the flood will not
only be the greatest in seventy-five years,
but the most disastrous in the history of
the city.
List of Dead
Warm. heavy rains throughout this en-
tire section for nearly forty-eight hours,
added to by the melting snow from the hills
and mountains, caused all the streams to
rise with alarming rapidity. Until an early
hour today, however, a flood of unusual
proportions was not expected, and the rush.
ing waters caught the people unprepared.
AS a result of this the damage will be
much heavier. 1t was estimated early to-
day that the loss from the closing down
, of manufacturing plants alone would ex-
coed half million dollars, and the damage
to property from the high water would be
much more
Nine deaths are attributed to the flood
SO far. This includes the three trainmen
who lost their lives by the collapse of the
two mer drowned last night when the tow
boat Cruiser capsized in the Ohio river
The other fatalities reported are:
Lloyd Weyand. aged thirty years, and
William Beers, forty years old. drowned in
Laurel Hill creek near Somerset, while try
Ing to ford a stream.
George Johnston. aged five years drowned
In GirtyS run, Mlvale.
Annie Shut aged seven years drowned in
Blue Baker creek, near Hastings.
Water is Deadly
At 5 O'Clock this morning the stage of
water reached in the rivers here was 30
feet and rising inches an hour The
stage at that time was 8 feet over the
danger mark. The lower portions of Pitts
burg and Allegheny and surrounding towns
were inundated Skffs and wagons are
being used to convey people throughout
the flooded districts and if the rise contin-
ues at the same rate for the next couple of
hours the wagons will have to be dis
pensed with.
AT the local Office of the weather bureau
1t was said that the present flood is the
most remarkable on record. Telephones
and telegraph wires are kept busy sending
warnings throughout the flood district Ac-
cording to the officials the flood water is
rising beyond all expectations and the sit
uation is serious.
The health bureau is engaged in notifying
the people TO boil the drinking water In a
statement issued today it is said that the
water is poisonous, owing to the flood con-
ditions, and a typhoid fever epidemic is
feared If precaution lis not taken All the
dirt and filth from the river banks above
Pittsburg is being washed down. The wa
yer mere at present is muddy and not fit to
be used.
Alarming reports are being received from
an parts OF western Pennsylvania and West
virginia. Every stream is OVERLOOKING its
banks. Many towns are almost submerged:
hundreds of houses are surrounded by
water and the people are living in the sec
ohd Hoors; the coal mines along the rivers
IN the Monongahela valley are flooded and
thousands of miners idle: mills and
business houses have from one to three
feet of water in their first floors necessi-
tating suspension OF business Damage
10 property in the suburbs and above the
city will be heavy. Unoficially this dam
l.
legheny county several fatalities have oc-
CURED on account OF the high water and
number Of deaths reported from the
river.
Ice Gorges Formed.
The danger to Pittsburg and vicinity is
greatly increased by heavy ice gorges in
the Monongahela and Allegheny rivers
about twenty-five miles above the city. One
Ice gorge in the Clarion river at Parker
ia thirty miles in lanoth apd eaptiouoa
rains and high temperature threatens to
start 1t toward Pittsburg at almost any
moment. The Youghiogheny and Kiski-
mnltas rivers are swollen never before
remembered, and the volume of water is
causing the Monongahela river to overflow
Its banks with great force and inundating
territory not heretofore affected by flood
waters. All the railroads entering Pitts
burg, except the main line of the Pennsyl-
vania and Pittsburg and Lake Erie are
crippled. Only the Baltimore and Ohio
train service is almost suspended, and on
the branch lines of the same road above the
hc. Trains on the West Penn division
of the Pennsylvania railroad are being
brought direct into the city, as they are
unable to reach the Allegheny station
Street car lines in the suburbs are either
suspended or are running spasmodcaly,
and many persons are having much diff
Guilty In reaching the city.
The flood Is the largest since 1884, when
the highest official record ever taken here
was 33 feet 6.10 inches. At the rate the
water is now rising This stage may be
passed before noon.
High Water at GAINESVILLE.
GAINESVILLE. Ohio. March l4-Three
Hungarians were drowned here as result
OF the flood this morning A score more
of foreign workmen were living in a house
that was surrounded by the Muskingum
river overflow during the night. When they
n WA de m LAM