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MONDAY,AUGUST 11.Awfulshores of Pappoose, engaged in searching for the dead, and;in surveying the wrecks of houses,? I bridges, fences, ,c.. ^ie lar£e trees which stood near the mouthOn last n.jrht, (10th inst.,) he most tcrnble of the creek are torn up by the roots and cast, Jaunty, in its destruct.on ot life and property, illto the Mississippi, while piles of timber lum-,!.■! has ever Mailed tins eommun.ty, was oc her, drift. A.c.? on every lmnd attest the restless fury of the flood.Iisioned by a sudden and unprecedented frcsh-«t.n Pappoose creek, an ordinarily insignifi-lar.t stream, which ruus about centrally thro’this city.We retired about 10 o’clock, with net theslightest apprehensions of an .unusual storm.— About 1? o'clock it began to rain.and from that e until 4.the water fell in unceasing torrents,It?TTiaccompanied by fearful flashes of electricity.j deafening bursts of thunder.The stream above name ! rose with fatal ra-ft ?iw -Richman . Fulliam’s new brick building, bythe bridge on Second street, we believe, is uninjured.Freeman’s Furniture Warehouse, just below the bridge, just stands and that is a!!.Ibis calamity calls, more than ever, upon our liberal and public spirited citizens, to come tip to the aid of the authorities. Without theaid of the citizens it is impossible to repair thedamages, as soon as the wants of the people ab-j iditv, to a height unknown in the memory oi solutely demand.We have here, too, a lesson on the folly oftemporary improvements.fifteen thousand dollars of public money ha.* been swept, by this and former freshets, into theMississippi. Fifteen thousand dollars, which, it it had been expended in putting up permanent and durable culverts and bridges, would to-day, despite the floods, furnish the citizens w ith good and secure thoroughfares, where now they are entirely cut off. We trust this suicidal policy will be stopped at once, and that public liberality will enable the authorities todo what is done well, and lt;ecure it against these casualties..cite-men, becoming a bread and furious tor-r.-r. sweeping away houses, fences, and bridg-- before it. One dwelling near eiohtji street \u totally destroyed, the inhabitants barely (--aping with their lives—losing a great portion of their furniture, c., and one horse : wnc i in a stable, from which it was impossible to rescue him—one horse escaped however from the same stable.Near Sixth street, a small frame, occupied by industrious widow woman, who supported rrself arid three small children by her own• v rtions, was surrounded bv the flood—on the' mi\ver «:lt;ie sixtv feet in \\ itlfh, and four or five-* Jeep—on the other thirty or forfv feet wide,i •r... • «/.. fifteen feet deep. The cries of the unfor-•jnate woman, who seems to have lept in un-*ciounes until all escape was cut off, arous-i a few of her nearest neighbors, but they could •. vr )wr no assistance. She had got out of :lt;e win low. and was upposed. in the darkness.j !-e on the roof with her children, and her*-reams and the cries of her babes, heard in*4ue I k m, amidst the roar of the flood, were• . t-ro:;»din to t!:e p wtrles spectators. j \ large tree t rn up from its roots, and frag- ,,e n -f buildings and drift wood, swept down , oh violence ; gainst her frail home. It stood ock—but it is inferred that at this junc-‘ ; ' t woman, loosing her presence of ].. J. and unable to hear what was said fromjsh-re. attempted to stem the flood, a id es-e with her babes. T his act was her des-- - . All perished—the mother and three.run. Her h dv was found when lightj ^ n. j ar'.iallv buried irt huge drift-wood, at lt;? the house of Mr. Svvem, on Fifth, a . ud and thirty yards below her dwelling.— « Jim* we wntc. (7, a. M..)the bodies of lt;• * children have, none of them been found — * r Fifth staeet, some five or six dwellings •' f xxied, and the people driven out—but no were lost. Stables, fences and gardens■ ere destroyed.‘I •• Avert and a part of the embankment A Ur i Fourth was swept away. The • ccurred at the crossing of Third and :fa* 1 on Second street, leaving at each . impassible chasms in the artificial emir :/«. and cutting off all communication,n *; t '■'ii f t. between the north and south ‘ -i.s of The citv. Crossing was done at theijlt;yic.4£•4h of Papoose in a skill, early this morn-r * lt;mlai.kment ar.d darn, on Svcamore at/ r■h, i* partially gone, leaving a chasm fif-*rn feet wide and twenty deep.i ' ei!.: ankment on the Avenue at Tliird-st.#| --tmdy gone, leaving it in an impassibleI* -tiilGIi.ifou .dations just completed of three or I .^rge buildings on the corner of the Ave-a d Third, are destroyed, d .e :ick lt;*pp »ite the American fctable, was ' r led by the flood, and the earth in front corner tenement, was washed away to ^p-h of six or eight feet. Mr. McAulav,r ’.pied it. vacated it in the midst of theiwitiilns family, but did not attempt tol0*‘€ his household fixtures. ji**tr\fjtciredaia near Purcell’s, on Third and Spruce./ i* completely away, and considerable dam-* me to fences, c., in that quarter.houses standing in the flat between Sec-FhinF just above Sycamore, were* The inhabitants escaped from the l^t } or the lio’j^e ori Third, through the rear *1 ows, and took shelter with the family in- rv.—their bedding, furniture, c., areuc‘] injured by the flood.i lamily in the frame, near St*cond, arous-‘ir neighbors, by their cries, and the wo--md children were rescued by being borne y land on the shoulders of men. If this •■^l:ad stood in the current, the inmates -F.ave perished, as no man could stand in c depth of four feet—as it was all their ''hold furniture is wet and injured. w ir.ade an examination of the various dams ! ;{'Kges. in company with tlie Hon. Mayor, -High!, this morning. Crossing Papoose a s*dif. at the mouth, we went with much ■* *° creek, expecting to find bridge,* ad gone. The water had poured over * ^ itice °f the flat, doing much damage pr|vale property. In the vicinity of the j j *“ri!i,ft^Table small fishes were floundering ;- ’id. It-ft there by the receeding flood.‘ ^ v-^iilge and dike stood fast—the bridge,^: |ie the most untoward circumstances. Tonent, a Isnge raft of square timber I ,lf ’ fast by two strong cablets to the umbers below—and not less than two . ^ ^a.v-logs w ere jammed under and a-k * bridge on the upper side., V.1 or^sonMad Creek, the embankment ^ “Nl 4 s? and that across third below the ^ ^ ? alone remain, of all the work which eeii *°iie on the several streams and ra-' years. One half of the citizens are *roin all communication except on foot,^thebusi1•mess part of the city..000r^pair the damage done to the public works r‘ I big, together with the loss of four hu-‘ nes; and much private property, makes , 1fs misfortunes the heaviest and direst * lt, whicli has ever befallen any western A;of 0llr population.^ ’^dnds of persons, men, women and chil-Pf. j,een this morning alonj the
Newspaper Details
Muscatine Iowa Democratic Enquirer
Muscatine, Iowa, US
Sat, Aug 16, 1851
Page 1
Full Page
Clipped by
Musser P.
IA, USA 03 Sep 2018
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