Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1912-03-19
FRIDAYS FLOOD.

There was no doubt when the last
issue of The Enquirer went to press
that the rain which fell during the
early hours of Friday morning on up
to 10 o'clock, was the heaviest in the
recollection of the oldest inhabitant; |;
but 1t was not practicable then to give
a detailed story Of the extent Of the
damage, for as a matter Of fact 1t was
not until about noon that the foods
had begun to do their worst.
That the rain was a record breaker
goes absolutely without dispute. There
was no rain gauge available in this
immediate vicinity; but the fall as
measured by gauges at other points is
given at from to inches. A quar-
ter of an inch Of rain Is entirely salts
factory in the summer, even at the end
of long drouth, and a full inch Is
something tremendous. About four
inckss in twenty-four hours Is the
heaviest that was recorded here dur
ing the many years that the weather
was observed regularly. But even in
the knowledge of all this. If 1t Is fact
that the fall was from five to six inch
es in Spartanburg, Anderson and 9TH
er localities, the probability Is that the
fall over this section must have been
about the same.
A few items Of damage-the fact
that Lesslie's mill on Crowder's creek
was gone, and the fact that the Man.
ming branch trestle on the Southern,
had been undermined, were mentioned
last Friday, and while there was no
reason to believe at that time that fur
ther reports would make matters much
worse, there was no time to gather
fuller information. The fact Is that
ha nrlx fr
Its highest stage, and most Of the DAM
age was wrought after Fridays issue
of The Enquirer had been printed
From various sources, mainly through
Supervisor Boyd, who has been busy
since Friday gathering information, a
list Of the destroyed and damaged
bridges has been gathered as follows:
All tf , bridges on Crowder's creek
from the North Carolina line to Ca
tawba river, including the following:
Lesslie's mill bridge, Hands bridge
Hendricks bridge, Riddles bridge, ,Da-
vis's bridge, Thompson's mill bridge
and the bridge at the mouth Of the
creek at the river.
If any bridges on Beaverdam have
been washed away there have been nc
reports.
Allison creek carried away the w. T.
bridge and damaged the Plexico mill
bridge The bridge over Little Allison
at ]. Spratt Wright's also went, as did
the bridge over the back water at the
mouth Of the creek.
The bridge over Dutchman's creek
near M. B. Massey's, Is gone.
On Fishing creek the bridge between
the Glenn & Allison and the Hughes
place, was damaged; the M. G.. Willis
bridge was carried away, and also the
Starr bridge. The Weir bridge was
damaged and the western approach to
the concrete bridge on the Rock Hill
and McConnellsville road was washed
away. McElwee's mill bridge was
washed away and 80 was the bridge
on the Rock Hill and Chester road.
On Clark's Fork the McGill bridge
was damaged, the Galloway mill bridge
went down the creek q quarter Of q
mile; the W. M. Faulkner bridge was
washed away, the Scoggins and Hart
ness bridges were badly wrecked; the
bridge on the Hickory Grove and Sha-
ron road Is gone and the Kell bridge
was thrown down at one end.
The bridge at w. L. Pursley's was
moved The Buckhorn bridge on the
Rutherford road was washed away,
creek was carried away.
The S. P. Blankenship bridge on
Steele creek was carried away, the
Whites Old Mill bridge was damaged,
and Doby's bridge went on into the
river.
The fine new steel bridge over Sugar
creek stood the pressure without dam
age.
The bridge over Hogan's branch on
the Charlotte road went.
The Bell creek bridge in Bullock's
Creek township, was washed away;
the Youngblood bridge over Bullock's
creek on the Chester road was also
washed away, and the Robinson bridge
on Bullock's creek was damaged.
The bridge over Sniders branch
and Four Mile creek, in Catawba town.
ship, were more or less damaged.
The Catawba river bridge, between
Fort Mill and Ebenezer, was consider
ably damaged, three benches to the
approach on the west side being wash
ed out and two benches going from
the approach on the east side.
The Elias Falls mill, Mrs. R M. AL
lison's gin, and w. M. Whiteside's mill
on Clark's Fork were wrecked. Mrs.
Allison lost between seven hundred and
thousand bushels of cotton seed, and
the loss at Whitesides' mill included q
lot Of grain and flour.
There was trouble on the railroads
through the county, particularly on tho
Southern. Train No. ia, reported last
Friday as having been held up at the
Manning branch trestle because Of un-
dermined foundations, did not get to
Yorkville until 1115 Friday night. 1t
should have gotten here at 1907 a. m.
No. 113, westbound, due at 5.36 p. m,
Friday, left Yorkville at 1915 Saturday
morning. No. 1876, due in Yorkville at
8.48 Friday night, was detoured around
by Charlotte and did not come to York
VILE at all. All trains were late Sat-
urday night; but by Sunday the sched-
ules had been gotten in fairly good
shape again. Train No. 9, southbound
on the C. & NV, came in about four
hours late Friday night, having been
held up on account Of the dangerous
condition of q number Of trestles. At
Allison creek trestle, five miles north
of Yorkville, the passengers were re-
quested to get out and walk across and
the train came along afterward, the
risk of the trestle being borne by the
train crew only.
Reports from every section Of the
county bring the uniform story OF the
highest water on record and farms
badly washed everywhere. The dam
age runs up into the tens Of thousands
of dollars.
Supervisor Boyd came to Yorkville
Friday night 80 as to be in the easiest
reach of people from all quarters who
had bridge damage to report, and was
busy all day Saturday giving such in
structions as seemed best under the
circumstances. He could give no esti-
mate as to the probable total loss to
the county on account OF destroyed
bridges, or rather he did not attempt
to do so; but others have figured out
the aggregate at from $4,000 to $20,-
900.
Both Broad and Catawba rivers were
close to the highest marks on record.
LOCAL LAcoNIcs%
Tho Record On catawba,
Mr., G. L, Suggs telephones that Ca