Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1912-03-23
Ottumwans Return From
Fight With Ice Gorge
Near Eddyville Yesterday
That Threatened Flood.
HEAVY PACK JARRED
LOOSE BY. DYNAMITE
Immense Cakes on Edge
/ Formed a Bow Shaped
Wall Headed Upstream
That Held the Water.

The breaking Of the immense ice
gorge by the use of large quantity
of dynamite yesterday some three
miles below Eddyville was accom-.
plished after a most discouraging bat
tie with the ice and waters about 3:I5
o'clock in the afternoon, and the Ice
reached the Market street bridge here
about 6:45 p. m. A rise of perhaps
two and half feet followed, but this
has since been largely diminished. The
stage here today Is far from alarming
and but little ice Is flowing.
George Zika, H. e. COlson and John
Whitson, all Of the Ottumwa Supply
& Construction Co., who had charge
OF the explosives in blowing out the
Ice gorge yesterday, returned home
last night about 10 o'clock from Eddy
vile, thoroughly tired after their bat.
tie with the ice, and wet from en-.
counters with the water after the
gorge was broken as they were max
ing for the north shore OF the river
zika Tells Of Gorge.
| Mr.. Zika in describing the work oi
dislodging the gorge said this morn
ling that the task presented most
disc scouraging aspect when the OttAm.
wa party reached the scene OF the
trouble. The ice was almost q solid
mass as far up the river as the eye
carried, and behind that lay mass or
mush ice that extended into Eddyville
The gorge was formed at point near
the mouth Of a creek on the south
side of the stream. near which an
island lay out In the stream. Between
the island and the north bank Of the
river, the ice had formed dam, the
bow Of which was up the river and
thus the pressure Of the water mere
ly made the dam that much stronger
as does the pressure on the keystone
Of an arch, for the dam was arched
with Ice standing on it's edge and
massed in tight like masonry This
dam, said Mr.. Zika, at its key in the
main channel was twenty to thirty
feet thick.
The ice that formed this dam was
twenty-to twenty-four inches thick
and made solid wall that was almost
Impossible to dislodge. and was only
dislodged after q quantity of dynamite
was judiciously exploded at places
found to reach the weakest spots In
the ice wall. Some appreciation Of
the force behind the ice dam may be
had when it is known that ice cakes
forming the gorge penetrated into the
dirt bank to the depth of two and
half feet and the depth in which the
ice was submerged in vertical posi-.
tion was about eighteen feet
The current of the channel cut on
| by the Ice dam, found its outlet over
the small island and thus was the
high water accounted for above and
about the gorge. The difficulty OF the
men to reach the gorge was such that
after an Intellectual attempt was made
to shoot the gorge from the south
side Of the stream, the Zika party had
to cross to the north side in beat.
This too was a precarious situation as
the condition Of the stream was such
that but one man with supplies could
be accommodated in the trips made
| in the boat.
Shoot From the North Side.
The real work Of shooting the gorge
| was done from the north side OF the
river. It was the work of fearless men
who dared to walk out on the Ice dam
in the channel. After one man would
locate the place for shooting the
other man with a pole and the third
man lighting the charge which was
attached to the end of the pole, was
by this means submerged as far into
the water as possible and all made
their getaway az fast as possible. In
this way the charge being shifted far
beneath the ice and under the gorge,
when the explosion came, the entire
gorge Of a mile and half in width.
would rise few feet and thus the
dynamite was aided by a hydraulic
force that eventually broke the ice
dam This was not accomplished until
hours Of shooting had been done as
most Of the shots would dislodge a
quantity of ice, throwing pieces fifty
feet in the air and breaking the ice.
but the hole would rapidly fill up with
other cakes of Ice and the dam still re-
main. The hydraulic pressure brought
to bear under Mr.. Zika's direction OF
locating the charges eventually accom-
plished what the dynamite Of itself