Evening star., 1918-02-13
Aqueduct Bridge Undamaged.

No damage of any kind was done to
. Aaueduct bridge. SO far as could be
aScertainef today. An eXamina ton is
to be made of the piers of the bridge as
soon as possible. but. as no ice jam
formed above the bridge, il is not be-
Heved that either the piers proper or
the heavy stone riprap work at their
bases suffered.
Several thousand dollars of damage
was inflicted on the lighthouses and
boat club buildings. however, and still
more was caused by the sweeping
away, smashing or sinking of the pleas
ure craft that had not been taken
from the water before the freeze, or
had not been hauled up to points on
the bank where the piled-up ice and
rapidly rising water could not reach
them.
The breaking of the river ice along
the water front and above Georgetown
followed the giving way of the ice
above the government dam near Great
Falls. Late last evening the ice coy-
ering the river above the dam began
to give way:pushed downstream by the
pressure of yielding jams farther up
the Potomac. Because of extremely
low water the ice formed a jam at the
government dam. This. in turn, caused
a sudden rise in the water above the
dam and this broke the gorge about
midnight. the ice going over the dam
and causing no injury of any kind
Just above Little Falls this down
coming ice jamned again. but as the
lively small fragments, no great dam
age was caused when it let go and
started down the river again.
Break Without Parallel Here.
This breakup of the ice and con-
seQuent release of the water held back
by the jam met the incoming tide
along the river front about :. 30 o'clock
this morning. and the result was a
break that. according to old river men,
has never had parallel here
At Aqueduct bridge the water rose
five feet within less than an hour, and
then fell with equal rapidity. The sud-
den rise threw vast masses of ice
"a gainst the Georgetown shore, smash
ing, solintering and wreckins the en-
tire front of every structure along the
river bank at that point.
Boathouse men who have occupied
living quarters on their craft during
dhe winter barely had time to get into
their clothes and run for high ground
before the grinding. crashing masses
of heavy ice crushed in the fronts of
the structures. No casualties. how
ever. were reported to the police of the
seventh precinct in Georgetown.
Upper River Practically Clear.
BY SIS o'clock the ice had passed
the Georgetown channel as far as the
~ :
gorge of broken ice formed above
Three Sisters. but this gradually broke
away and hoated down stream. At
the Georgetown end of the bridge a
small jam formed between the abut-
ment and the first pier. but this is not
expected to cause any damage when it
gives way.
A three-mile current carried the ice
down in small patches, and men who
have lived along the river for years
said today that no further danger was
to be anticipated.
An ice jam was reported today just
below Seneca, but this was said to be
breaking away RAPIDLY and starting
down stream in small fra agments.
Above the government dam near
Great Falls it was reported this morn
ing that the forming and giving way
of gorges further up were causing the
water to rise and fall in bewiIdering
succession. Rises and falls OF two feet
or more, it was reported. were occur
ring as often as three or four times in
an hour
Bridge Timbers Carried OF.
AT 7:2o o'clock the ice masses struck
the tenders of the Highway bridge, and
within twenty minutes most of the
timber work about the draw pier had
been ripped away and carried off.
The fender work of the railroad
bridge stood the impact, but is so badly
twisted that the greater part of the
west end will have to be rebuilt Four
scows belonging to the Colurn bia Gram
lite and Dredging Company came down
from Georgetown with the first of the
ice. and though damaged, they swung
under both bridges and were carried
On down the river.
The tugs Minerva. Selectman and
Baby and a big sand-dredging machine
belonging to the Columbia Granite and
Dredging Company. houseboat with
power launch alongside of it and sew
launches
out from Georgetown. The Minerva
was sunk on the edge of the channel
bank, about quarter mile above the
bridges. Only the top of its pilot house
and upper deck is showing above the
water. and it is thought 1t will be a
total loss. The dredge is lying on the
edge of the channel bank a short dis
tance below the Minerva. and is ap-
parently afloat. 1t is caught in the
still ice and is not moving.
The Selectman is reported to have
her crew aboard with steam up and it
is thought she will be saved.
The tug Baby lies in the still ice on
the edge of the channel bank, short
Nnofi nnI De-