Pocahontas star herald., 1915-08-27
THE GREAT FLOOD
ON SPRING RIVER
o. A. Lemons Owes vivid descrlp
tlOn OF awful scenes alOnO
SprlnO River from MAN.
moth Sprino 10 Hardy

nhhalA hNiNaiH W RliAhk iahNi N"Nh
the X. q. railroad they will dnd a
wholly barren district, bereft Of all
its growing vegetation; swept by
the raging torrent Of that small
stream, which was swollen by late
excessive rains, flowing from the
neighboring mountains.
The river, in ITS destructive
course, swept over the many farms
in its path-destroying their thous.
ands of acres of grain. When just
a few hours before, the broad
meadows and great fields of waving
corn could be seen-now was only
one vast expAnse Of water.
The principal source of this de
structive stream was body Of wa.
ter known as Warm Fork. Trayefs.
ing the mountains north Of Nam;
moth Spring, it flows near by Thay.
err, No., and along the east side Of
the X. c. railroad, where It crosses
the railroad about one hundred
yards below the Mammoth Spring
depot and empties into Spring
river at the mouth of the great
spring. And where IT crosses the
railroad 1t washed the dump from
under the rails for a space as wide
as the bridge across the stream.
1t also tore away the embankment
from around the government fisher
les, setting at liberty the great col.
lection Of fish.
While the great spring itself was
practically undisturbed by the rains
1t was, for the second time IN ITS
history, known to the present gen.
Grafton, to become muddy.
The railroad was made utterly
impossible by the great land slides
from the slopes of the cuts IN the
right-of way, throwing dumps Of
rock and dirt across he track from
three to six feet high. The people
of Hardy and WIlliford we're awak-
ened in the night by water almost
up in their beds.
Many Of the small buildings be.
longing to the railroad company,
and others, were upturned, and some
completely demolished. The lum.
Der sheds of Hardy were complete
ly destroyed and their contents
scattered tor miles down the track.
Many cofiins from the undertak-
er's building were left along the
right-of.way which seemed to signi'
fy the great loss and damage.
The fine wagon bridge at Hardy
was destroyed and at Williford the
water rose to depth of from 4 to 8
feet IN the store houses. Most all
the contents of these buildings were
washed away and what renamed,
when the weather permitted, was
placed on tables and counters out in
the streets to save them from damp
and mould. Many pieces of furni-
ture was seen along the railroad and
feather beds were seen lodged on
the right-of-way fence.
In some places the water had
covered the tops of the telegraph
poles and great drifts were seen in
their tops and lodged on the wires
which contained furniture, great
punches of hay and scores of pump
kins. Thousands of ties were scat
tered over the fields and ridges,
which had washed from the tie
yards and even from under the rails.
Great hay stacks could be seen
broken and lodged on trees and
snags. Large trees from six to fif-
teen inches through were left half
bent over with the bark pealed off
to the top by large timbers and
building materials that were forced
down the maddened stream.
The old soldiers and settlers,
who had come to the Old Soldiers
RennloE, were continually receiving
distressing news from their neigh
borhoods. The creeks and small
streams had overhowed their banks
and were rayaglng the bordering
fields The destruction seemed to
be, not alone along Spring river,
but all over the countryiu general