The Lamar register. [volume] (Lamar, Colo.) 1889-1952, 1913-04-02
Letter from Flood District
Troy. N. Y, March 20. 1913.
My dear Mother and Father:

MY GEAR notueT anu catnoT'
1 suppose you have been reading
oil the disastrous floods in the Hud-
MOre than that, l suppose you have
been wondering ii we are DROWN
ed or why we have not written. 1t
would have done no good ito write
sooner tor we are entirely cut off
from the Outsidee world except
for telegraphic communication to
New York city and as far vast as
Cleveland, Ohio, and one train each
way a day to Greenfield, Mass.
The city was flooded nearly all
over down town, and from 1920 u.
m. yesterday until midnight there
were eleven Tires Ill all, some Il
them assuming great proportions be
cause they were in the flooded dis
tricts and could not be reached by
the fire fighting apparatus. The
Two largest ones were slill burning
at supper time this evening. The
at night since Thursday and the
power plants have been SO damaged
that it will be some time before
the lights will be on again. No troll
ley service; cars that were stalled
in the flooded district are now
standing in water up to the floor
and some are nearly submerged.
Before l go any farther I'll re-
lieve probable anxiety; that is.
We are high and dry. The ocean
would have to raise about 600 feet
before the water could touch the
place where We live.
1t was quite q sight to 60 down
town and see row boats in the
principal streets. One would think
they were in Venice. South Troy.
which Is lowest. got the worsr of
it on this side and Green Island lot
the worst on the other side. and il
lies directly across the river from
where we live. Waterliet Is next
in line. Thursday afternoon at
O'Clock three of US walked across
the lower bridge at Waterliet,
which was then pretty well flood
ed. While we were over thare the
water rose so fast we could lot get
back the same way. and had to
walk about a mile and a half in a
round about way to get to the next
bridge. and then waded water al.
most to our shoe tops. Had we
stayed another hour we would have
been compelled to stay until this
morning. ABOUT IL or IL of our
fellows had that experience. Two
of the bunch got back last might.
Yesterday morning every bridge
across the river was closed to
pedestrians except the railroad
bridge. That was only allowed to
be crossed because it was
safely weighed down with car
loads of coal. sand and pig iron. A
oSSo OASC0 hOoo3 AkOaoCu uoWh eshe
struck this bridge, about noon. but
an engine and a gang of men soon
removed 1t to the other side piece
by piece and let it go on its jour-
ney. 1t does not look much like
a house. as you will see by the pic
tire in the paper.
The papers we are mailing you
cover the subject pretty thoroughly.
l got down between classes long
enough to get a couple of good
views. Will mail you some as soon
as we can get them printed. The
view from the Institute buildings
was immense. 1t was a strange
sight too, for it looked SO odd to
see the wide expanse of water and
so many streets filled with water.
We had field glasses. and these
afforded still better views. At the
height of excitement, about IL a.
m. yesterday, we counted five fires
over the city at one time. Fire
fighting apparatus were hurryins
along in almost every section you