View of River Street In Troy, New York, showing the Collar, Cuff and Shirt Factory of Cluett, Peabody & Company, the largest of its kind in the world, closed on account of the floods. Thousands of people were thrown out of work on account of the overflowing of the HudsonCopyright by Underwood & Underwood, N. Y.View of River Street In Troy, New York, showing the Collar, Cuff and Shirt Factory of Cluett, Peabody & Company, the largest of its kind in the world, closed on account of the floods. Thousands of people were thrown out of work on account of the overflowing of the Hudsonlink to high-resolution image
Copyright by Underwood & Underwood, N. Y.View of River Street In Troy, New York, showing the Collar, Cuff and Shirt Factory of Cluett, Peabody & Company, the largest of its kind in the world, closed on account of the floods. Thousands of people were thrown out of work on account of the overflowing of the Hudson
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Under the martial law established at Dayton, citizens were kept off the streets at night as a precaution against lootingPhotograph by Underwood & Underwood.Under the martial law established at Dayton, citizens were kept off the streets at night as a precaution against looting
Photograph by Underwood & Underwood.Under the martial law established at Dayton, citizens were kept off the streets at night as a precaution against looting
LOSS BY DEATH AND OF PROPERTY
Four more bodies were recovered Wednesday from flood wreckage, making the total of bodies found in this city stand at eighty-four. Of these all except seven were identified.
Coroner Benkert, who made a wide-spread investigation among families, some members of which were among the missing, said that he estimated that at least one hundred and twenty-five bodies would be recovered. It was expected that other bodies that had been washed down the river would never be identified as Columbus victims.
The property damage in Columbus, like the death toll, was confined principally to the west side, the business and manufacturing districts having gone almost unscathed.
THE WORK OF RECONSTRUCTION
Governor Cox and the State Relief Commission on Tuesday left on a tour of the state to visit cities and districts that were hit hardest by the flood to determine what relief was necessary in each case. Before their departure, however, conditions in Columbus were fast approaching normal, and the residents with a cheerful, courageous spirit had commenced the repair of their devastated city.
CHAPTER VIIIColumbus: the Beautiful Capital of Ohio
CAPITAL OF OHIO SINCE 1810—EARLY HISTORY—CITY OF BEAUTIFUL STREETS AND RESIDENCES—SPLENDID PUBLIC COMMODITIES—TRADE AND INDUSTRIES—CHARACTERISTICS OF ITS RESIDENTS.
CAPITAL OF OHIO SINCE 1810—EARLY HISTORY—CITY OF BEAUTIFUL STREETS AND RESIDENCES—SPLENDID PUBLIC COMMODITIES—TRADE AND INDUSTRIES—CHARACTERISTICS OF ITS RESIDENTS.
Columbus, Ohio, the capital of the state and the county seat of Franklin County, is located at the center of the state at the junction of the Scioto and Olentangy Rivers, on a slightly elevated alluvial plain, and is nearly equidistant from Cincinnati, southwest; Cleveland, northeast; Toledo, northwest; and Marietta, southeast, the average distance from these points being one hundred and fifteen miles. It has a population of some 180,000.
Columbus was made the capital by the legislature in 1810, and became the permanent capital in 1816, the original territorial and state capital having been Chillicothe. The first state buildings were of brick, and cost $85,000. The present massive buildings and additions are of dressed native gray limestone, in the Doric style of architecture. They cover nearly three acres of ground, and their total cost has been $2,500,000.
CITY OF BEAUTIFUL STREETS AND RESIDENCES
As early as 1812 Columbus was surveyed in rectangular squares; it was incorporated as a village in 1816, and chartered as a city in 1834. In general outline the city resembles a Maltese cross. It extends eight miles north and south, and seven miles east and west on its arms of expansion. Its longest streets, High and Broad, bisect the city north and south, and east and west respectively. The uniform width of the former is one hundred feet, and the breadth of the latter is one hundred and twenty feet. Broad Street is planted with four rows of shade-trees for its entire length east of Capitol Square, where it penetrates the fashionable residence district. High Street is the leading business thoroughfare. Capitol Square, a miniature park of ten acres, is situated at the intersection of these streets, two squares east of the Scioto River. The residence portions of the city contain many beautiful homes and fine mansions. There are numerous apartment buildings; the houses of the average people are substantial and comfortable. On the business streets are many handsome, commodious blocks; many steel, brick and stone office buildings, as well as commodious railway buildings and stations. The streets are wide, well paved and lighted, and are kept in good condition.
SPLENDID PUBLIC COMMODITIES
The police and fire departments are excellent; the water supply is pure and ample, and the sewerage system good. The waterworks are owned by the city. A large municipalelectric-lighting plant was completed in 1908. Natural gas is the principal fuel for domestic use. Bituminous coal, in unlimited quantities, is found a few miles to the south.
The church buildings of Columbus include those of the following religious denominations: Methodist Episcopal, United Presbyterian, Roman Catholic, Lutheran, Baptist, Disciples, Friends, Christian Scientist, Evangelical, Jewish, Independent German Protestant, German Evangelical Protestant, African Methodist Episcopal, Seventh Day Adventists and United Brethren. The newspapers and periodicals include English and German dailies, secular weeklies, and trade, professional, religious, fraternal and other publications. There are numerous public school buildings, four being devoted to high-school purposes. Among institutions for higher education are the Ohio State University, Capital City University and the Evangelical Theological Seminary. Professional schools include one dental and three medical colleges, and a law school; and there are also private and religious educational institutions. Columbus is the location of a state hospital for the insane; state institutes for the education of deaf mutes, blind and imbecile youth; the Ohio penitentiary; county, city and memorial buildings; five opera houses; and a board of trade building. There are five public parks and a United States military post, Fort Columbus. This post, known also as Columbus Barracks, was originally an arsenal, and now has quarters for eight companies of infantry.
From Columbus steam railroads radiate to all parts of the state, intersecting all through lines running east, west, northwest,northeast and south; and interurban lines connect with a model street-railway system.
TRADE AND INDUSTRIES
Columbus is near the Ohio coal and iron fields, and has an extensive trade in coal, but its largest industrial interests are in manufactures, among which the more important are foundry and machine products, boots and shoes, patent medicines, carriages and wagons, malt liquors, oleomargarine, iron and steel, and steam railway cars. There are several large quarries adjacent to the city.
CHARACTERISTICS OF ITS RESIDENTS
The citizens of Columbus possess the characteristic push and enterprise of western people, and much of the culture and artistic taste of those in the east. The population is drawn chiefly from the counties in the state, and especially from those which are centrally located. The largest foreign elements are German, Irish, Welsh, English and Italian, and include scattered groups and individuals from almost every civilized and semi-civilized country in the world.
CHAPTER IXCincinnati: A New Center of Peril
A GREAT MANUFACTURING CITY—THE TUESDAY CLOUDBURST—ANXIOUS WAITING—HOMES SUBMERGED—FACTORIES FORCED TO CLOSE—THE SITUATION EVER GRAVER—EXPLOSIONS IN THE CITY—THE CRISIS—FLOOD DAMAGE.
A GREAT MANUFACTURING CITY—THE TUESDAY CLOUDBURST—ANXIOUS WAITING—HOMES SUBMERGED—FACTORIES FORCED TO CLOSE—THE SITUATION EVER GRAVER—EXPLOSIONS IN THE CITY—THE CRISIS—FLOOD DAMAGE.
Scarcely had Dayton, Columbus and Zanesville begun their real battle for restoration when Cincinnati became a new peril center. Situated on the Ohio River at the point where the Muskingum, Scioto, the two Miamis, and the Licking were pouring their millions of gallons of flood water into the river, the city was bound to suffer. It seemed as if the Buckeye State would never be able to escape from the clutches of the great demon of flood.
A GREAT MANUFACTURING CITY
Cincinnati is the county seat of Hamilton County, in the extreme southwest of the state, one of the great commercial and manufacturing centers of the Union, tenth in nominal rank, and seventh or eighth in fact. It is situated on the north bank of the Ohio River, almost exactly half way from its origin at Pittsburgh to its mouth at Cairo, Illinois.
On the western side of the city from west to south runs Mill Creek, the remains of a once glacial stream, whose gently sloping valley, half a mile or more wide, forms an easy path into the heart of the city, and was an indispensable factor in determining its position. Highways, canals and railroads come through it, and the city's growth has pushed much farther up this valley than in other directions. The railroad stockyards are on its eastern slope. Cincinnati extends for about fourteen miles along the river front, to a width of about five in an irregular block north from it, but attains a width of six or seven miles at the extreme point along the creek valley.
The bottom level below the bluffs along the riverside is the seat of the river shipping business, and has as well the usual fringe of low quarters; it is paved, and there is a broad public landing fronted by floating docks, wharf-boats, etc. Above are the wholesale and then the retail business streets, with great extent and variety of fine business architecture, and gridironed with electric roads. The principal lines converge at or near Fountain Square, and connect with a ring of beautiful suburbs, within and without the city limits, unsurpassed in America.
Among the sights of interest is the busy public landing or levee. The Grand Central Depot, a terminal of several of the largest roads, is centrally situated near the river. Among the most prominent buildings are that of the United States Government Custom House, the City Hall, the City Hospital, the Springer Music Hall, the Odd Fellows and Masonic Temples,the Public Library, with 431,875 volumes, and the Museum of Natural History. St. Peter's Cathedral, St. Paul's Protestant Episcopal Cathedral, St. Paul's Methodist Episcopal Church, the First and Second Presbyterian Churches, and the Jewish Synagogue are handsome edifices. Fine hotels and theaters are numerous. The biennial musical festivals are famous.
THE TUESDAY CLOUDBURST
The troubles of Cincinnati began on Tuesday, March 25th, when the city experienced a cloudburst that started the gauge rising in the Ohio River, temporarily flooded the streets of the city and carried away two bridges over the White Water River, at Valley Junction a short distance to the south.
PREPARING FOR THE WORST
By Thursday Cincinnati was facing one of the worst floods in her history. It had rained steadily for twenty-four hours. The flood had entered several business houses in the lower section during the night and early morning found the entire "bottoms" a sea of moving vans, working up to their capacity. At eight o'clock in the evening the gauge showed 60, a rise of more than three feet since the same hour that morning.
East and west of the city on the Ohio side of the river the lowlands were inundated and much damage done. In the low sections of the city many houses were flooded and the inhabitants of these sections fled to higher ground.
Across the river at Newport and Covington, Kentuckysuburbs of Cincinnati, similar conditions prevailed and the police early warned dwellers of the danger that threatened. Dayton and Ludlow, other Kentucky suburbs, were also sufferers from the rising flood and many houses were already completely under water.
TOPOGRAPHY OF STRICKEN SECTION OF TWO STATES Practically every town and city shown in this illustration suffered from the floods, most of them from loss of life and all of them from property damage.TOPOGRAPHY OF STRICKEN SECTION OF TWO STATESPractically every town and city shown in this illustration suffered from the floods, most of them from loss of life and all of them from property damage.link to high-resolution image
TOPOGRAPHY OF STRICKEN SECTION OF TWO STATESPractically every town and city shown in this illustration suffered from the floods, most of them from loss of life and all of them from property damage.
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A seventy-foot stage for Cincinnati was predicted. The Central Union Station was abandoned and all trains leaving or entering the city were detoured.
ANXIOUS WAITING
Slowly the treacherous waters rose while tired watchers waited anxiously. Conditions were not acute but distressing. The people knew that they must face conditions worse than the present. All the lowland to the west and east of the cityhad been submerged and also along the water front of the business section the commercial houses were gradually disappearing under the yellow river. Hundreds of families along the river front in Cincinnati had been forced to move by the encroaching river and many merchants had removed their goods from cellars and basements to higher ground.
Chief of Police Copeland, however, had the flood work well in hand. The police were put on twelve-hour duty and worked in the flooded territory in rowboats.
The city armory sheltered many persons and preparations were made to distribute food at the city jail. Nearly every landing place along the river front was piled high with furniture, bedding and other household effects.
HOMES SUBMERGED
Along the Kentucky shore conditions rapidly became worse. At Covington more than five hundred houses were submerged and their occupants given shelter and protection in public buildings.
Plans were formulated to care for flood sufferers, and a meeting was held at Covington at which arrangements were made to raise a sufficient fund for the poor. At the same time arrangements also were made for policing the flood zone and preventing looting.
The river-front section of Ludlow was deep under water and the residents had moved. Bromley was entirely cut off from other neighboring towns. Dayton, Kentucky, and other nearby small towns were in the same isolated condition, and there was much suffering in consequence.
FACTORIES FORCED TO CLOSE
Many of the large manufacturing plants closed because operatives were unable to reach their places of employment.
Newport, which, with Covington, is directly opposite Cincinnati, forming the larger of the suburban sections, was in almost as bad a case as its neighboring city. The flood of water had risen in all parts of the town.
One of the bridges across the Ohio had been closed, and the authorities were preparing to close others to the public, thus cutting off the south shore from communication with Cincinnati, and also closing practically the only railway outlet the latter city had to the South and East.
No food shortage was anticipated, but warnings were issued by the mayor of this and other nearby cities that merchants must not take advantage of the situation to charge extortionate prices. All attempts of this nature in Cincinnati were promptly curbed by the authorities.
THE SITUATION EVER GRAVER
With nearly 15,000 persons in the towns on the Kentucky side of the Ohio River driven from their homes by the rising flood that was sweeping down the Ohio Valley and with more than 3,500 homes altogether or partly submerged, the flood situation in the vicinity of Cincinnati on Saturday was assuming graver proportions hourly.
The water reached the second floor of a number of business houses along Front Street and was half way up on the first floor of several blocks of houses on Second Street. Severallines of the Cincinnati Traction Company, operating in the lower district were abandoned. Reassuring word from the packers, commission men and general produce merchants came early in the day, when it was estimated by experts that Cincinnati had enough food supplies to last at least ten days without inconveniencing any one.
Railway service into and out of Cincinnati was virtually at a standstill. The Louisville and Nashville trains were leaving the city for the West on time, but arriving trains were much delayed.
So far only one life had been lost as a direct result of the high waters here. Miss Anna Smith, the first victim, drowned in an attempt to reach Newport in a skiff that capsized in midstream. Her three men companions were rescued while swimming to shore.
KENTUCKY SUBURBS IN TROUBLE
Newport and Covington were virtually surrounded by water. Conditions there were worse than elsewhere and nearly ten thousand people were driven from their homes. Relief measures, however, were adequate. Manufacturing plants in the lowlands ceased.
In these two cities the only fear was that health conditions would be seriously affected because of the clogging of the sewage system and the stagnation of back water. The water works and gas plants continued in operation, but the electric light plants had been forced to cease.
In the Kentucky towns of Dayton, Ludlow, Bellevue andBromley identical conditions existed, but in their cases all communication with Cincinnati, Newport and Covington was suspended. These towns remained in isolation until the water had fallen sufficiently to permit the operation of street cars on the south side of the river.
In these towns there were 2,000 persons cared for by relief committees. More than 500 homes disappeared under the flood waters. Property damage assumed alarming proportions, especially as this was the second time within three months that the Ohio Valley had suffered from high water.
By Sunday the outlook for Cincinnati was brighter. No trains had gone out of the city except south to Kentucky by way of Covington, and rail and telegraph communications were still badly demoralized, but fair, warm weather which had continued since Thursday had greatly helped the complex situation. It was predicted that the river would reach its greatest height at Cincinnati on Monday.
EXPLOSIONS IN THE CITY
Spreading over a vast expanse of territory in Cincinnati, as well as an almost equal amount in the various towns that lie along the river on the Kentucky shore, the Ohio continued to rise.
During Saturday night the central part of the city was thrown into a semi-panic by an explosion that could be heard for miles. The Union Carbide Company, at Pearl and Elm Streets, had been destroyed in an explosion caused supposedly by the carbide coming in contact with water.
The river reached the stage of 69.3 feet at noon, Saturday, and continued to rise at the rate of two-tenths of a foot every two hours.
Two companies of the Ninth United States Infantry, stationed at Fort Thomas, Kentucky, were held in readiness to march at an instant's notice to Covington, where Mayor George S. Phillips feared the city might be in need of military protection due to high water that virtually surrounded the town. When the river stage reached more than 68 feet on Friday the gas plants were put out of commission and the city was in darkness.
Of the few important towns in Kentucky, opposite Cincinnati, only one, Newport, maintained direct communication with Cincinnati. Through Newport communication was obtained with Covington by a circuitous route. In Newport there were already under water nearly one hundred and twenty square blocks, located in the section along the south bank of the Ohio River. The other towns, Bromley, Dayton and Ludlow, were still without outside communication, but reports from there were that there was no immediate need of assistance.
THE CRISIS
The river continued to mount. It rose two-tenths of a foot during Monday night and early Tuesday the stage was 69.8 feet. The weather forecaster, Devereaux, said he expected the river to rise another tenth, after which it probably would recede. Up-river points reported the river either stationary or falling slowly.
At midnight Tuesday the river began to fall. The whole city breathed a sigh of relief. The Government stated that the river would be inside its banks within a week.
FLOOD DAMAGE
The direct and indirect damage caused in Cincinnati by the flooding of the river-front and low-lying residential sections was very great. An estimate of the indirect loss can never be made, while the direct loss is placed at more than $2,000,000.
Across the river in the Kentucky suburbs conditions were deplorable. Estimates were that one thousand homes there had been inundated and that more than four thousand persons were homeless.
CHAPTER XThe Flood in Western Ohio
DISTRESS IN BELLEFONTAINE—PIQUA DELUGED—TROY A HEAVY SUFFERER—MIAMI ON THE RAMPAGE AT MIDDLETOWN—HAMILTON HARD HIT—BIG RESERVOIRS THREATENING—OLENTANGY RIVER A LAKE AT DELAWARE—FLOOD AT SPRINGFIELD—NEW RICHMOND UNDER WATER.
DISTRESS IN BELLEFONTAINE—PIQUA DELUGED—TROY A HEAVY SUFFERER—MIAMI ON THE RAMPAGE AT MIDDLETOWN—HAMILTON HARD HIT—BIG RESERVOIRS THREATENING—OLENTANGY RIVER A LAKE AT DELAWARE—FLOOD AT SPRINGFIELD—NEW RICHMOND UNDER WATER.
The rushing torrent of water that swept down the Miami River, surging over Dayton, devastated a score or more of towns in its mad course from the creeks around Bellefontaine to the point southwest of Cincinnati where the waters of the Miami merge with those of the Ohio.
DISTRESS IN BELLEFONTAINE
Cries of distress arose from Bellefontaine on Wednesday, March 26th. At that time millions of gallons of water were pounding against the banks of the Lewiston reservoir, fifteen miles from Bellefontaine, and it was feared that if the increasing flood should burst the banks the lives of every inhabitant of the Lower Miami Valley would be imperiled.
The immense reservoir at Lewiston did burst its banks between Lake View and Russell's Point and swept through the great Miami Valley like a tidal wave. It was this vast quantity of water, added to the already overflowing river, that inundated the cities of Sidney and Piqua.
The engraving shows a view of Broadway, Watervliet, New York, the principal business street of that city, covered with eight feet of waterPhotograph by Underwood & Underwood, N. Y.The engraving shows a view of Broadway, Watervliet, New York, the principal business street of that city, covered with eight feet of waterlink to high-resolution image
Photograph by Underwood & Underwood, N. Y.The engraving shows a view of Broadway, Watervliet, New York, the principal business street of that city, covered with eight feet of water
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The bridge shown in the illustration leads to the Carnegie Steel Company at Youngstown, Ohio. Ordinarily this bridge is far enough above the water to allow the large river steamers to pass underCopyright by Underwood & Underwood, N. Y.The bridge shown in the illustration leads to the Carnegie Steel Company at Youngstown, Ohio. Ordinarily this bridge is far enough above the water to allow the large river steamers to pass underlink to high-resolution image
Copyright by Underwood & Underwood, N. Y.The bridge shown in the illustration leads to the Carnegie Steel Company at Youngstown, Ohio. Ordinarily this bridge is far enough above the water to allow the large river steamers to pass under
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At Sidney there was no loss of life, but the town was badly flooded and early reports of loss of life ran high.
PIQUA DELUGED
The flooded Miami swept over Piqua in a great deluge. The water reached the first floor of the Plaza Hotel, which is situated in the high part of the city. Panic-stricken the people fled from their homes or sought refuge in the upper stories of high buildings. Fire broke out in many places. At one point in the city the water was twelve feet deep. Many persons were drowned. Many lost all their possessions.
Relief measures were taken by city authorities. The property loss was great, as most of the manufacturing plants were destroyed by the flood. A company of militia from Covington maintained order and cared for those made destitute by the flood.
TROY A HEAVY SUFFERER
The town of Troy was also a heavy sufferer. The state troops who arrived in the town on March 27th with provisions for Dayton were stranded.
One-third of the town was cut off from gas, electricity and water supply. A train load of provisions arrived. The provisions were carefully distributed.
One-half of the state troops left on foot for Dayton, following the tracks of the railroad.
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MIAMISBURG CUT OFF
Miamisburg, a town of eight thousand, was cut off for days. When news finally reached neighboring towns the death list was estimated at twenty-five. Later estimates placed it at less. Only one body has been recovered, but the property damage ran high.
MIAMI ON THE RAMPAGE AT MIDDLETOWN
As the result of the worst cloudburst known in twenty years the great bridge over the Miami River, at Middletown, was carried out on March 25th. Fifteen persons were afterward missing and scores of houses could be seen floating down the stream. The water and electric light plants were out of commission.
Two hundred houses were under water, their former occupants finding shelter in the school houses, churches and city buildings. The great Miami River was a mile wide at this point.
The city was practically cut off from the outside world. Tracks of both the Big Four and Cincinnati, Hamilton and Dayton Railroads were under water and no trains were running. The tracks of the Ohio Electric Railway were washed out in many places. A portion of the state dam in the Miami River, north of Middletown, was washed away.
Water from the river started the Maimi and Erie Canal on a rampage and submerged half of Lakeside, a suburb. The families of Harold Gillespie and Mrs. Mary Fisher were forced to flee from their homes in their night clothes.
The casualty list could not be estimated with accuracy. It was believed that from fifty to one hundred had been claimed by the waters.
About three o'clock the following morning the river began to fall slowly, but the situation was still dangerous. Supplies were rapidly running out, and a food famine was looked for. Misery was averted by the arrival of food late Thursday night, but building of fires was not permitted. The authorities feared an outbreak of flames similar to the Dayton conflagration. Ten thousand of the eighteen thousand population were homeless.
HAMILTON HARD HIT
Of all the cities in the Miami Valley with the exception of Dayton, Hamilton was hardest hit. Many persons killed, a thousand houses wrecked by the rushing torrent and 15,000 homeless was the toll of the flood in this city and environs, and the harrowing scenes attending flood disasters in the past decade faded into insignificance when compared with the havoc wrought by the latest deluge.
Before darkness blotted out the scene on March 25th, house after house, with the occupants clinging to the roofs and screaming for help, floated on the breast of the flood, but the cries for help had to go unanswered because of the lack of boats. What little rescue work there was accomplished was done before night came on, as the rescuers were powerless after darkness.
The city was then without light of any kind, the electriclight and gas plants being ten feet under water. Soldiers rushed to this city from Columbus were in charge of the situation, the town being under martial law.
The victims of the raging waters were caught like rats in a trap, so fast did the flood pour in on them, and few had even a fighting chance for their lives. Ghastly in the extreme was the situation. The cries of the women and children as they faced inevitable death, and the frantic but unsuccessful efforts of husbands and fathers to rescue loved ones, presented a scene that will go down in the history of world's catastrophes as one of the worst on record.
Fire added to the horror of the situation when shortly after midnight the plant of the Champion Coated Paper Company, which is six blocks long by one block wide, broke into flames. In less than a quarter of an hour the entire factory was a mass of fire and there was no chance of checking its progress in the least as the water service needed by the fire department was put out of commission early in the day.
The Beckett Company's paper mill, valued at $500,000 for buildings and equipment, collapsed into the flood the following morning.
SUFFERING AMONG THE REFUGEES
On Wednesday, March 26th, the river began to fall at the rate of nine inches an hour. After the season of awful horror the change brought hope. The work of rescue and relief, however, was exceedingly difficult.
There were only a few boats that could be used in thework of rescue and relief. Ohio National Guardsmen who arrived from Cincinnati Tuesday night did heroic work. They came in four motor trucks and brought food and clothing with them. One of the trucks returned to Cincinnati for more boats.
A relief train arrived from Indianapolis Wednesday morning and other cars and automobile trucks, loaded with supplies, managed to reach the outskirts of the city.
The Lakeview Hotel, which had previously housed fifty refugees, collapsed early Wednesday, but all the occupants left in time to escape death.
Williamsdale, Cooke, Otto and Overpeck, the north suburbs of Hamilton, were in ruins. On the west side of the river many residences were saved, but there was despair among the survivors, who were unable to get word from husbands and fathers who were caught on the east side and unable to cross after bridges were destroyed. Efforts to get lines across the river were futile.
Provisions for the homeless continued arriving in abundance, but the gas, electric light and water plants were in ruins and this added to the terrors of the living.
More than two hundred and fifty persons spent two days and nights in the little court house without light, food, water or heat, and often they were drenched with rain that leaked through holes in the roof.
REMOVING THE DEAD
As the flood waters receded on March 27th, the authorities immediately began the work of removing the dead. The first hour of the search saw ten bodies uncovered from the ruins, and the most conservative estimates placed the death roll at fifty.
THE FLOOD IN MIAMI VALLEY The above map shows a part of Ohio which was devastated by the most disastrous flood in American history. A large number of small streams converge into larger streams and then into still larger water courses, several of which form a junction at Dayton, where the greatest loss of life and the heaviest damage to property occurred.THE FLOOD IN MIAMI VALLEYThe above map shows a part of Ohio which was devastated by the most disastrous flood in American history. A large number of small streams converge into larger streams and then into still larger water courses, several of which form a junction at Dayton, where the greatest loss of life and the heaviest damage to property occurred.link to high-resolution image
THE FLOOD IN MIAMI VALLEY
The above map shows a part of Ohio which was devastated by the most disastrous flood in American history. A large number of small streams converge into larger streams and then into still larger water courses, several of which form a junction at Dayton, where the greatest loss of life and the heaviest damage to property occurred.
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Piled high upon the east side of the court house on Friday were coffins awaiting the flood victims, whose bodies were being gathered as rapidly as possible.
On April 3d, the city offered a reward of ten dollars for each body recovered from the debris left by the flood. Up to that time seventy-one bodies had been recovered. It was believed, however, that many bodies had been swept out of the Miami into the Ohio River and perhaps would never be found.
DAMAGE OF $4,000,000
Secretary Garrison, of the War Department, who toured the flood district of Hamilton on March 30th, as the personal representative of President Wilson, was told that the property loss was estimated at $4,000,000.
With Secretary Garrison were Major-General Wood, chief of staff of the army, and Major McCoy. They permeated the very heart of the city through zones of devastation which in many respects rivaled in horror those through which they passed in Dayton. They saw block after block in both the residential and business sections of the city, where street lines virtually were eliminated by upheaved and overturned houses jammed against each other and against the buildings which withstood the shock, in great and almost unbroken heaps of debris.
South Lebanon was cut off from Lebanon by a ragingcurrent that swept all the surrounding farm lands, entailing a property loss of thousands of dollars. All rivers and creeks south of Dayton to Lebanon were swollen by a heavy rainfall.
The flooding of the Miami at Cleves, seven miles below Cincinnati, caused the railroad embankment to break and that part of the town was under fifteen feet of water. The operator at Cleves said he distinctly heard cries for help, but he could not learn if there was any loss of life or the extent of the property damage.
The following day the waters had receded, but part of the city was still under water; no loss of life was reported. Hartwell and the vicinity felt the force of the rising Mill Creek caused by the breaking of the canal at Lockland. The large factories at Ivorydale were forced to close down, and many thousands of employees were thrown out of work.
BIG RESERVOIRS THREATENING
The Grand Reservoir at Celina, Ohio, in the extreme western part of the state, seriously threatened Celina and the adjacent towns. For two days the very worst was feared, but on March 28th, the river was slightly lower and no water was flowing over the banks.
OLENTANGY RIVER A LAKE AT DELAWARE
The Olentangy River, ordinarily only a creek, became a lake that covered most of Delaware. In many places people were left clinging to trees, roof-tops and telegraph poles crying for assistance. The work of rescue was practically impossiblebecause of the swift current of the flood, and most of those who were seen trying to save themselves were swept away to death.
The village of Stratford, five miles to the south, was entirely under water and the loss great. Property damage in Delaware itself was estimated at $2,000,000.
FLOOD AT SPRINGFIELD
Springfield suffered the worst flood in its history. Both Buck Creek and Mad River broke from their banks and flooded the lowlands. Several hundred houses in the eastern section of the city were surrounded by water. They contained families who refused to abandon their homes. Many factories were compelled to close.
There was no loss of life, but intense suffering due to insufficient food supply and the destruction of many homes.
NEW RICHMOND UNDER WATER
The flooding of the Ohio in the southwestern part of the state caused disaster in many other towns besides Cincinnati. On April 1st the entire town of New Richmond was under water. The people took up quarters on the hills surrounding the town. Provisions were received from Batavia and there was no suffering. No one was reported dead or missing.
At Moscow, near New Richmond, fifty houses were washed from their foundations.
CHAPTER XIThe Flood in Northern Ohio
YOUNGSTOWN AND GIRARD—CLEVELAND AND ITS SUBURBS—AKRON—MASSILON, FREMONT AND TIFFIN.
YOUNGSTOWN AND GIRARD—CLEVELAND AND ITS SUBURBS—AKRON—MASSILON, FREMONT AND TIFFIN.
No section of the country suffered more extensively from the flood than Ohio, of which state no part seemed to escape. In the northern counties the loss of life and damage to property were quite as extensive as in many other parts.
Fed by incessant rains, the Mahoning River rose at the rate of seven-eighths of an inch per hour until it reached a stage of twenty-five feet, which was ten feet higher than ever before recorded. Every large industrial plant in the city was flooded and fully 25,000 workmen were out of employment.
The financial loss to the Youngstown Sheet and Tube Company, Republic Iron and Steel Company, Carnegie Steel Company and other plants easily reached $2,500,000, while the loss in wages to men was extremely heavy because of the fact that weeks elapsed before the industries were again able to operate at full capacity. Fully 14,000 workmen employed in various industries of the city are thrown out of employment as a result of the high water.
At East Youngstown the Mahoning River was nearly half a mile wide and the Pennsylvania lines through the city and for a number of miles east were entirely submerged. The Austintown branch bridge of the Erie, which crosses the Mahoning River, was weighted down with a train to prevent its being washed away, the water having already reached the girders. Every bridge was guarded by policemen.
But one pump was working at the water-works pumping station. The flood was the worst experienced by Youngstown since October, 1911, when millions of dollars of damage was done.
Two hundred families were temporarily homeless, but the Chamber of Commerce with a relief fund of $10,000, attended promptly to their welfare.
Youngstown's only water supply during the flood was from the Republic Rubber Company, pumping 3,000,000 gallons a day, and the Mahoning Valley Water Company, which turned 4,000,000 gallons a day into the city mains from its reservoir at Struthers.
At Girard, northeast of Youngstown, Mrs. Frank Captis, who was rescued just before her home was swept away in the flood, gave birth to a baby boy at the home of a friend, where she was taken. The baby was named Noah.
CLEVELAND AND ITS SUBURBS
At Cleveland scores of families were driven out of their homes by the greatest flood in the city's history. Many narrow escapes from drowning were reported from all overthe city, where people were being transferred in rowboats by police and other rescuers.
One big bridge, in the heart of the city, used by the New York Central lines, went down. The steel steamer, "Mack," moored to it was unharmed. All traffic was kept off the bridge and no one was hurt. The loss exceeds $75,000. Other bridges were in danger. Boats broke from their moorings and battered the shore. Dynamite was used to open a way for the water into the lake. Great damage was done all along the Cuyahoga River through Cleveland, where hundreds of big manufacturing plants are located. Fifty thousand men were idle. The telegraph companies were crippled and many lights were out throughout the city, as the electric-light plants were partly under water. All the suburbs suffered severely.
All railroad traffic in Cleveland was suspended because of washouts and no trains entered or left. The Lake Shore Railroad tracks along the shore of Lake Erie were thought immune, but that road suffered along with the Big Four, Pennsylvania and Wheeling and Lake Erie.
Boston, Ohio, and Peninsula, Ohio, between twenty-five and twenty-eight miles south of Cleveland, on the Cuyahoga River, were submerged.
The dam of the Cleveland and Akron Bag Company went out at four o'clock Thursday morning, March 27th, dropping thousands of tons of water into the valley in which the two villages, with a total population of about four thousand five hundred, are located.
MAP SHOWING DANGEROUS RESERVOIRS IN OHIOMAP SHOWING DANGEROUS RESERVOIRS IN OHIOlink to high-resolution image
MAP SHOWING DANGEROUS RESERVOIRS IN OHIO
link to high-resolution image
AKRON
The big state reservoir three miles south of Akron, which supplies water for the Ohio Canal, broke Tuesday afternoon at two o'clock, sending a flood of millions of gallons of waterwhich swept away farmhouses and other buildings from the banks of the canal and damaged several million dollars' worth of property.
The huge volume of water which had been gathering in the three hundred-acre reservoir caused a report that there was danger of the concrete walls bursting. Most of those living near the canal sought refuge in Akron.
When the heavy rain continued over night the dam began to show signs of wear. Cracks in the concrete appeared. All during the night horses were kept saddled to carry the news ahead if the danger became imminent. When the masonry showed flaws Thursday morning the riders were sent out. They started several hours before the dam collapsed, and warned everybody near the canal in time for them to escape. The rush of water from the broken dam struck the city within a few minutes after the break.
Most of the bridges in the county were swept away. The city was in total darkness at night, and telephone and telegraph connections were destroyed. A few bodies were seen floating down the canal. Many houses were swept away.
MASSILON, FREMONT AND TIFFIN
At Massilon five known dead, three thousand homeless, half the town inundated and heavy property damage was the toll of flood water from the Tuscarawas River. The town was without light and gas. Citizens raised $11,000 to aid the sufferers.
The effect of the flood at Fremont was very severe. Thewater in Main Street was fifteen feet deep. Wires were down and buildings collapsed. Several lives were lost.
Death and intense suffering marked the great flood which swept clean the Sandusky valley. Tiffin became a city of desolation. Every bridge went down, and half the city was under water. Many were carried to death in the treacherous currents.