Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1917-06-19
AUGUSTA FLOOD
Continued from Page One)

the wharves, so that everything along
the water front was buried beneath
the flood So rapid was the rise eof
water that at about $50 Monday. morn
ing the fire whistle was blown to warn
the merchants of stores along the
east side of Water street that there
was danger of water getting into their
cellars. Many responded to- the call
and in the majority of instances the
goods were removed to a place OF safe
ty, although in some few places the
goods were left where they were
Monday morning showed the river
to be raging torrent. running like a
mill race and bearing on it's surface
hundreds of logs of all sizes, railroad
ties and driftwood, all hurrying to-
ward tie sea. Not all got by, however,
as glance at the railroad bridge will
show, for thousands Of these sticks"
as the lumbermen call them. piled up
against the piers. stretching nearly
across the river and looking for all the
world like giant iackstraws. There are
in the mass everything in the line Of
loss-spruce, pine. poplar cedar and
fir, but all piled up together to make
With the coming of the first logs Of
the morning there came also the usual
amount of speculation as to where thew
came from, and before the day was
half gone some Of those who basked in
the sunshine on the bridge and inci-
dentally watched the logs as they rae
cd down stream had them coming from
every point up the line, even as far
upriver as Shawmut There seemed to
be particular amount of interest in
that place, and finally when some one
heard, or thought that he heard. that
the boom a Shawmut had broken. let
ting out millions of logs that would
reach Augusta at about l o'clock in
the afternoon. there were people who
remained right there on the bridge I'M
til the logs should come along. for
they believed that the logs would pile
up on the new railroad bridge and
perhaps carry destruction with them
But the Shawmut logs did not come
and the latest indications last night were
that they would stay where they be-
longed. Some logs did come along, how
ever, at about 1890 from Kennebec and
vicinity. and included among them logs
belonging to the Kennebec Lumber Co,
Howard MacFarlane. the S. D. Warren
Co. and the Augusta Lumber Co. These
logs raced over the dam, and while some
of them piled up on the railroad bridge,
many standing on end and poking up
through the Orders of the bridge the
majority went down stream to eventually
find their way into Brown Island boom
or go through to the sea.
An exciting feature In connection with
this run of logs and one which set the
crowd into fever OF speculation. was
when hoisting engine owned by Howard
'MacFarlane, used In piling logs and
mounted on a raft, came over the dam
On the raft with the engine were the
shears" a part Of Its equipment, AMI
these shears caught the high tension feed
wires of the Central Maine Power Co.
which were stretched across the river
the raft for an instant, for when the
shears brought the wires together there
was a glare like a flash of lightning and
the wires burned off and fell into the
river. The raft and its outfit came over
the dam and kept on down river until t
reached Brown Island boom, where 1t
was captured
The jam OF loge on the railroad bridge
was the cause of much concern to many
because OF reports received from uprlver.
but which proved to be without any sat-
isfactory foundation. There were posi-
bilities enough. but the logs which rumor
claimed had been turned loose by broken
booms did not materialze, and with the
exception of lot that came along at
bout o'clock in the afternoon. and the
strays that were coming for the greater
part Of the time. there was nothing Of