Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1932-01-17
District Weather History Made Clear

e0$ing account OF the ice during the winter
Of 17e4-the year probably referred to by Mr..
Jefferson. This is what Mr. Gusts says:
The ice in the memorable year of 1874
moved twice. 1t first descended in vast guam
titles from the Upper Potomac till it reached
the Three Sisters where it stopped and accu-
mulated In great masses and fro0e together
again; then came the deep snow, followed by
q general thaw and violent rains. The second
movement carried all before 1t. The showing
OF Of strongly built stone house or stable
from the bank Of where now is your town Is
q well remembered story of the past. Both
branches OF the river around Analostan Island
were open in those days, the Eastern Branch
being used as the ship channel The freshet Of
1854 tore open the western Branch and formed
in the one freshet channel way that would
have admitted the passage of an Indaman to
Georgetown, being from 81 to 30 feet depth
up to the whaIyes of the town.
"This channel was in all its usefulness when
I came to live in your vicinity in 1902, and
would have been ship channel for the largest
shipping up to this time but for the unfortu-
nate erection of the unfortunate causeway,
which, while doing good to none, has done
infinite harm to every one
Indeed. when this "Old Man River" gets
worked up and excited and goes on rampage
he Is quite likely to upset things as he races
BY Washington, and it will behoove those haV-
ing the development of Analostan Island IN
hand to build securely and well, for history VIII
surely repeat itself sooner or later and great
damage be again done by ice to property along
the river front. The Spring and Summer fresh
cts must also be taken into consideration, LOT
even the Weather Bureau cannot tell with any
degree of certainty how much water Will tal
On any particular dsy year hence.
HICHARD p JACKSON mentions among
n the great freshets in the Potomac those
of June 1885, which overfowed the wharves
and cellars along the line of Water street ana
did great damage to the CANAL and tells us:
1.-The freshets of April and September 1843,
were equally as destructive. So was the freshet
Of October I847, when the banks Of the canal
were rent asunder and navigation suspended
until the Spring of ls48. The freshet OF April
1859 was very destructive; navigation was sus-
pended on the canal all Summer, and it cost
the company several hundred thousand dollars
to repair damages. The water in the river was
so high that 1t ran over the causeway which
Joins Analostan Island with the mainland, and
washed away the stone wall and made new
channel for the river, which damage cost the
town several thousand dollars to repair. We
have had since a number of freshets in the
Potomac during the years 1856, 1850, 1868,
1866 and 1867, but none of them doing much
damage The freshet of October /, 1870, Was
very destructive, carrying away more than one
half Of the Chain Bridge and washing away
the causeway and south draw of the Long
Bridge. The canal was greatly damaged, sew
eral lock gates were seen floating down the
river, and navigation suspended for several
weeks which cost the company between $4,000
and 100000 to repair the injury. The freshes
of November a. Is and Is, 1877, was higher
than either of the freshets of 1847, 1852 or
1870, doing serious injury to the banks OF the
canal which cost the company $3.50 600 70 re-
pair, and again washing away the stone cause
way, which joins AnaloSGan Island with tho
a chance COMMISSIONS
ers of the District of Columbia to repair the
damage"
CPEAKING of the Potomac River, reminds
- the writer of recent sarcastic allusion
made by Q member of Congress, in which he
referrsd to the members OF certain citizens
association as residents of Swampoodle Tom
Moore, the famous Irish poet, who visited this
city in 1904, said of the Potomac River, though
more cleverly:
Thus let US meet and m.ngle converse dear
BY Thames at home or by Potomac here!
Der lakes and marsh, through fevers and
through fogs,
Midst bears and Yankees Democrats and Frogs
Thy foot shall follow me; thy heart and eyes
With me shall wonder, and with me despise."
Later on Moore regretted the unkind things
he said about Washington, and let it be known.
and maybe the legislator WILL too.
As will be observed by the dates given by
the early writer before mentioned, intense
weather In Washington is the exception and
not the rule, and another thing to be borne
In mind Is that cyclones, heat waves Or bliz-
yards do not originate in Washington, but are
always reported as coming from Texas, Okla
homa, Alaska, Michigan and other places
There have been many severe Winter storms
occurring here within the memory of a num-
Der of our older residents The one which took
place at the time of Grants second maugu-
ration, March 4, 1873, was especially severe
for that time of the year. In speaking Of this
notable event the following day The Star said:
THE Inauguration ball last night may be
noted great success except in the matter Of
the temperature which the ball managers, with
the best intentions in the world, could not well
control. In the memory of the oldest inhabi-
tants there has not been before such a freezing