The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1937-02-18
REBUILDING BEGUN IN
COMMUNITIES ALONG
OHIO RIVER
Thursday, February Is, 1887

The deSolation left by the Ohio
river flood, the tremendous task
of reconstruction and the prob
lem of the homeless are described
wildly in a letter written by Mrs.
A. L. MartinSOn of Huntington,
West Virginia, to her friend, Mrs.
L. H. Lipp of North Redwood in
which she declares her eXperien-
ces IN tOrnadOes, dust storms, biz
yards and army camps are ''calm
and tame" compared with the
horror of rising, SWirling dirty RI
VC~ water and the tragedy in its
wake.
The letter, written February 6,
says:
Yes, we are refugees of the
flood l can never describe, the
horror and after desolation. At
first i was thought we would just
have back water and that a ma
jOr food was out of the question,
therefore preparations for evacu-
alton were not made until the last
minute. Our home was built on
high enough ground to escape
waters as disastrous as the 1918
flood so we thought we could re-
main in the house. Well, we NOV
ed a lot of things out of the base
meat, put the rest about 3 or f
feet above floor level January 20.
Then the water began to rise 3
inches an hour and came into the
basement. We worked until after
midnight carrying canned fruit
etc. up into the kitchen. Couldn't
get all and by morning the base
ment was full, then, began the eX-
Odus to the second floor and wat
ching the current increase and
things getting nearer to water.
January % about Z p. m. we had
most everything upstairs in the
bedrooms and water all around
the house so we couldn't get out.
Our Va was on the railroad
tracks high and dry. We called
for a coast guard cutter and they
carried Mrs. Mann and a Doctor
living up here at the hospital pro-
vided a place tOr her. All night
it poured in the entire valley CLIO
miles, and by Sunday, January "a
the water was working itself up
through the ground in small gey-
sers. All through the night were
shouting Ito attract attention)
and pitiful cries for help and
boats, children, adults, dogs, pigs,
animals of all kind in panic and
q shortage of boats and help. We
still stayed in the house, by 2 p.
m. we had carried everything but
kitchen laundry, the piano and
stove etc. to the upper floor and
the water was to the porch. Gas
oline tanks began to break loose
and float and explode. Small cot
tages were drifting. People in
them too, women standing waist
deep in water in their homes beg
cling for boat and help and all
the while having babies in their
inward stretched arms, babies be-
in. born in boats, schools, any
where at all and still the rain
came in torrents. We were res
cued from the house Sunday
night, then Monday the city was
without power, gas and water and
about 3 days no water for hardly
anything, our lips are still swollen
and cracked. All transportation
was cut off and food scarce. After
the waters receded the sight is
terrible, cottages and houses the
size of your drifted off founda-
tons smashed and banged togeth-
err, everything with 2 incres of
dirty Shiny silt and soaked, in the
homes furniture f1oated and chur-
ned around until reduced to kind
ling, $4,000 without a thing. Our
loss was a blow too. the most i'm