Year: 1874

SPRINGFIELD, Mass, July 13, 1874.


THE Mill River disaster had hard
ly begun to fade from public rec
objection before Western Massachu-
setts has become the scene OF an
other similar calamity. Fortunately.
however this latest disaster is quite free
from that shocking loss of life which
made the Mill River calamity so terrible,
and the destruction of property is much
less serious On Sunday afternoon, two
reservoirs situated upon Middlefield
Brook, a mountain stream flowing into
the Westfie1d River about twenty-five
miles west of here, gave way, and preclp-
itated their contents upon the pleasant
villages below, destroying a number of
buildings, doing great damage to the
farmers crops, and tearing away bridges
and track along the Boston q Albany
Railroad so effectually as to put a COM
plete embargo upon through travel for
several days. A good idea of the extent
of the disaster may be obtained from the
following summary:


The damage done by the loosing of the
100 acres of water in these reservoirs
was, first, to leave the industries of the
little village of Blush Hollow, short
distance below them, without water
power, to utterly demolish an old woolen
factory and grist-mill, ruin carriage,
felloe and shaft factory, destroy barns and
outbuildings wrench from their fOunda-
tions and tear apart dwellings, strip the
earth of rich gardens and orchards to the
bare rocks, and leave the roads impossible,
quilted; making, in fact, a second Skin
nerville in it's desolation of the bright
little village Rushing hence down the
shut valley and carrying away six wood
en- bridges, a wooden mill and two houses
on it's way, the flood struck the stone
arched railroad bridge across highway
and river at Middlefeld SWITCH and then
tore for itself wide passage, tearing
down the heavy masonry like mere stub
bles and scooping away the roadbed
a considerable distance. In the tortuous
course of the river below this point 1t
demolished for the Boston q Albany
Railroad stone bridge, and somewhat
crippled two wooden bridges by under
mining their abutments at various points.
Rising over the railroad track it washed
out the road-bed and also swept OIL
highway bridge. Reaching Chester, the
water carried away one wooden bridge In
the center of the village, more or less
damaged the foundations of dams and
stock of several manufacturing estab-
lishments, and quite ruined many fields
and gardens below this village.


The floods chief damage outside OF
that to the railroad was the carrying
away of a bridge at Rolling Brook, and
here it gradually lost its force and power
of mischief The entire damage by the
flood is roughly estimated at $3oO,00O,
and the estimate is a moderate one, in
cluding nothing of the throwing of per
sons out of employment and the enforced
idleness of the place.


The lower and larger of the two re-
servoirs that gave way was built in
1889 by Uriah Church & Sons and Will
lam d. Blush, by constructing dam
across the valley on the line of the high
way between Middlefield and Beckett.


This was built in very simple style,
by dumping earth in shallow layers, lev
cling it off and carting over it.. and car
rying alongside, on both the inner and
outer slopes, rude wall of stone, laid as
carelessly as an ordinary field wall,
and with but small incline, SO that the