The Flood

The great storm and flood last week, of which we had but the beginning as our paper went to press on Friday night, appears to have been general throughout the country, and our exchanges from all quarters comes filled with accounts of disasters and hair-breadth escapes. From New York and New England, from Virginia and Maryland, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, &c., the burden of the papers and telegraph dispatches is the same. To give anything like a full account from all directions would occupy more space than we can command, so that we shall attempt little more than a resume of disasters at and near home.

AT DAYTON. – The chief disaster at Dayton was the destruction of the fine bridge, erected by the people four or five years ago, at an expense of some $1000. It was taken off bodily, leaving nothing but the naked abutment. The dam was not seriously injured. A break in the feeder will probably stop the mills from running a month or more. Of individuals, the Messrs. Green are the only serious sufferers. Their dye house, a new building erected north of the woolen factory, has been so badly damaged as to require re-building, and the kilns, hearths, kettles, &c., in it are mostly ruined. The lower floor of the factory was also six or seven feet under water, and suffered considerable damage.

FOX RIVER FEEDER. – The Fox River feeder, leading from Dayton to Ottawa, has again, as usual, suffered serious damage. Some sixty or seventy rods of the bank at Dayton has been swept away, the lower gates and wing of the guard lock have gone out and the lock otherwise much damaged. There are also several smaller breaks in the feeder lower down, and a good deal of dirt has been washed into it. It will take a month at least to repair it.¹

1. The Ottawa Free Trader, February 14, 1857, p. 2, col. 1