Evening star., 1918-02-14
POTOMAC ICE JAM
BREAKS; BRIDGE IS !,
CL0SEDF FOR WHILE
Several Hundred Spectators
Are Hurried Off of Span as
Floe Starts After Noon. :,
GORGE EXTENDS TO MILE 2
BELOW THE CHAIN BRIDGE
Great Damage to Boat Houses and
Wharves Along River-Craft
Taken to High Land.


| At 12:45 O'Clock today the huge ice
jam extending several miles up the river
from Aqueduct bridge broke and the ice
! began passing down the river.
The bridge was Immediately closed
to traffic, and police and military guards
hurried several hundred spectators OF
the bridge. Warning was telephoned to
watchers at the Highway and Long
bridges that the jam had broken and
the vast masses of ice we're starting
down the river.
| At ! o'clock traffic was resumed over
the Aqueduct bridge. The authorities
diate danger.
| At :15 the ice moving from the Aque.
duct bridge had Joined the jam extend
! ing up the river from the Highway
! bridge. The pack has extended up into
Little river.
At / 80 O'Clock it was estimated that
the river was sixteen feet above its nor
NAL level at Georgetown, with indicas
tions that it might 60 higher.
| The jam began to form shortly after 2
o'clock this morning and by noon had
extended up the river to a point about
a mile below Chain bridge. The ice was
packed soidly across the entire width
of the Potomac from the Virginia side
to the Georgetown shore.
Rescued From River. -
D. A. Reynolds and Thomas A. Lst1-
mer had narrow escapes from death
| in the river when the ice jam bruke.
Reynolds had entered Dempsey's boat.
house to attempt to get his canoe.
which was .storeA there. when the jan
broke, and Latimer. who Is one OF the
engineers working on the Key bridge
| went into the boathouse to help him.
When the jam broke both men saw 1t
was impossible to get to shore ane
! jumped on a cake of ice. Whirled
about by the current and almost
turned into the river by the gyrations
| of the cake of ice on which they had
| taken refuge. the two men were carried
200 yards from the boathouse under
| the piers of the bridge. Ropes thrown
\
their rescue after they were both
| thrown into the river.
| A rise of water of about fifteen feet
since Yesterday has practically com.
pleted the work of destruction begun
Yesterday morning, when the heavy ice
| first broke and began to move out Ihs
Great Falls canoe house and the Poto-
mac Boat Club today are filled with
| water to the second floor. while Demp-
sey's boathouse. battered, twisted ana
splintered into kindling wood along its
entire front. is held up only by the
weight of ice packed against it. Capt.
Moore's boathouse is smashed and
twisted off its foundations.
The water today had risen until the
railroad tracks along Water street were
covered. a switching crew early today
took all the freight cars of the tracks
| in time to prevent their being isolated
by the fast-riSing water.
Injured by Ice Floe.
Every houseboat and house along the
river bank as far up as the Chain
bridge has either been ground to bits
by the ice or flooded by the high water.
All along the canal bank residents of
these houses during the night removed
their furniture. which lies IN piles on
the higher ground
Several hundred canoes and racing shells
stored for the winter in the boathouses
and clubhouSeS near AQueduct bridge were
ing and placed in safe spots above the
rising water and out of reach of the ice
when the big jam gives way
The jam above Aqueduct bridge began
forming suddenly about . O'Clock this
morning. Lodging against the piers OF the
bridge the jam quickly extended up the
river. downrusaling ice from above adding
to it every minute. BY O'Clock THIS morn.
ing the jam extended to a point beyond
the Three Sisters. which were entirely
submerged and hidden by the heaped-up
ice Two hours later the ice jam EXTENDED
as far up the river as the eye could reach.
Late yesterday evening a jam formed
about a mile above the Chain bridge
and before midnight the ice had piled
up more than forty feet high, while the
water had risen to within six feet OF
the top of the towpath along the sanal.
This jam began to give way early this
morning. the ice in huge slabs being
bridge by u current estimated by river
men living near the bridge to be at
least eighteen to twenty miles an hour.
May Close Aqueduct Bridge.
At11 o'clock this morning Capt. Fai-
vey of the seventh precinct, after consult
ing with Army engineer officers, decided
to close Aqueduct bridge to all traffic un-
less the ice began to go out within .
few hours.
Suggestions that dynamite be used to
start the ice moving under the bridge
were not favored. at least for the
present. OWING 10 the 1act that TINS
would merely add to the extent of the
lam reaching up the river from High
way bridge TO the upper end of Ana
lostan Island
The latter jam. forming a complete
dam across the river. DETECTED the
water. which early today began rush
ing like millrace through the orr
dinarily shallow passage known as
Little river. This channel in an hour
became q roaring torrent, many of the
big trees on the island being uprooted
and swept down stream.
About O'Clock this morning a White
House auto. carrying President and
Mrs Wilson. went across Aqueduct
bridge, the President being on his way
to the Washington Country Club for
his morning golf.
The car did not stop. the President
contenting himself with the view he
could get of the ice jam in passing Re-
turning to the city the auto came By
way of Chain bridge. where the ma
chine stopped long enough for the :
President and Mrs. Wilson to watch
the ice-filled torrent for few min !
utes.
At Great Falls. it was stated, heavy
ice from up the river was cominG 4
down in hugh masses this morning. and