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CHAPTER XIX.

GREAT FLOODS IN THE OHIO.

EARLIEST GREAT FLOOD KNOWN TO WHITE MEN-TABLE SHOWING THE STAGE OF HIGH WATER FOR SIXTY YEARS-THE FRESHETS OF 1847 AND 1883 --GREAT FLOOD OF 1884- TABLE SHOWING THE RISE AND FALL OF THE WATER DURING FEBRUARY--WORK OF RELIEF COMMITTEES- PHYSICAL HISTORY OF THE FLOOD,

AS the Ohio* river drains a wide scope of country, it has been subjected to many great floods since the advent of the white man. What they were anterior to that date we know not. From the earliest times it was regarded as a beautiful stream. When first visited by the French voyagers in the latter part of 1t:00, they were so impressed with its beauty that they named it La Belle Riviere. Tradition tells us that in early times the channel was narrower than it is to-day. The banks were lined with trees, vines and creepers, which, in many places, extended to the water's edge. After the trees were cut away the channel gradually widened, as there was no longer any resistance offered by roots and vines to the encroachments of the water during high stages. The direction of the current, too, was changed in many places on account of shifting sands and the formation of bars.

FLOOD OF 1773.

The first account we have of high water was in 1773. Three brothers, James, George and John Medfee, of Botetourt county, Va., visited the Ohio Valley for the purpose of seeking a place to settle. Early in June, 1773, they started in canoes from the mouth of the Kanawha, and descended the Ohio rapidly, because of a great flood in the river. This flood, it is said, was twelve feet higher than the great floods of 1882 and 1847. This is doubtful, for such a stage of water would have made it higher by three feet than the flood of 1884, which is the highest of which we have any authentic record. It is supposed that it was this flood (1773), the height of which was afterward found marked by these visitors, or the Indians, on a tree standing below where Fort Washington was afterward erected, and which was long pointed out as the greatest height of the river then known, either by personal experience or by tradition. The Medfee brothers said the mighty torrent bore them swiftly along, and the valley was full from bluff to bluff. There was scarcely any dry land on what are now known as the "flats " of Cincinnati, and Mill creek valley. Dismayed at the watery scene, they left the river and hastened inland to a point in Kentucky where they had friends living, and there they finally settled. They are believed to have been the first explorers in search of a place to settle in the Miami country, although Christopher Gist had ascended the Great Miami on a mission to the Indians as early as 1751.

Judge Symmes says that on the 29th of January, 1789, be left Maysville with Capt. Kearsay and thirteen men, detailed for the protection of the settlement he proposed founding at North Bend. "The river was uncommonly high," he writes, " higher than at any date since 1773." From this statement we infer that, it had attained an unusual height. When the party reached Columbia they found the "place under water with the exception of one house only." The houses were not

* Kis-ke-pi-la-sepe. i, e., Eagle river, was the name given to the Ohio by the Shawanese. But the Wyandots, who were in this country generations before the Shawanese, called it O-lie-zuh. This is regarded as the primitive name and means "great, grand and fair to look upon." The French voyageurs used his name in their boat songs-adopting its significance when they called it La Belle Riviere,--[Tector's Past and Prevent of Mill Creek Valley, p. 68]

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numerous, but the inundation of, the lowlands showed that the place was not a desirable one for the foundation of a town.

The flood of 1832, which reached a height of 64 feet 3 inches on the 18th of February, was a notable one. It was the highest ever known at Pittsburgh, according to the best data attainable, and was higher than that of 1883 from Pittsburgh to and including Ripley, 414 wiles below Pittsburgh, and 45 wiles above Cincinnati. The flood of 1884, while it did not equal that of 1832 at Pittsburgh, exceeded all floods below Pittsburgh to Cairo, and laid the foundation for the flood in the Mississippi river that covered the territory on either side for forty wiles, and resulted in the highest water at New Orleans since 1874.

FLOOD RECORDS.

The following table showing the highest stage of water at Cincinnati from 1858 to 1884, and also in 1832 and 1847, is taken from the published report, of the Relief Committee in 1884, and will be found valuable for reference. From 1885 to 1893 the record has been obtained from other sources. The figures, which give the stages of water for thirty-eight years, are:

YEAR. DATE. FEET. INCHES. YEAR. DATE FEET. INCHES.

1832, February 18 64 3 1875, August 6 55 5

1847, December 17 63 7 1876, January 29 51 9

1858, June 16 43 10 1877, Jan nary 20 53 9

1839, February 22 55 5 1878, December 15 41 5

1860, April 16 49 2 1879, December 27 42 9

1861, April 19 49 5 1880, February 17 53 2

1862, .January 24 57 4 1881, February 16 50 7

1863, March 12 42 9 1882, February 21 58 7

1864, December 23 45 1 1883, February, 5 A. M 66 4

1865, March 7 56 3 1884, February 14, 12 M.... 71 3/4

1866, September 26 42 6 1885, January 19 45 10

1867, March 14 55 8 1886, April 9 55 10

1868, March 30 48 3 1887, February 5 56 4

1869, April 2 48 9 1888, April] 39 11

1870, .January 19 55 3 1889, February 22 38 .4

1871, May 13 40 6 1890, March 26 59 3

1872, April 13 41 9 1891, February 21 51 11

1873, December 18 44 5 1892, .January 18 41. 7

1874, January 11 47 11 1893, February 14 49 7

The great flood of 1832 was a notable one-the highest, known up to that dates and until 1883 the "oldest inhabitant" always referred to it as high-water mark, until the freshets of 1883 and 1884 wiped out the record. The damages caused by the rise of 1832 were not great, when compared with those sustained in 1884, because there was less property and individual interests to be placed in jeopardy. With the record of 1883 river men and close observers were quite firm in their opinions that it was not likely to be broken soon, if ever. But they were soon doomed to be disappointed. In one year it was wiped out by an excess of over four feet.

For twenty-seven years after 1832, with the exception of five or six years, there was a gradual decline in the annual high stages of water. The lowest stage of which we have any record was one foot nine inches, which was reached on the 17th of September, 1881, and it remained stationary at these figures until the 19th of the same month, inclusive.

According to the reports of the Chamber of Commerce the river on the 11th of February, 1881, had reached a height of fifty-nine feet at. Cincinnati. This circumstance, added to the rapid rise of the waters at all points above, and the enormous rainfall that had prevailed for a long time, and still continued, in the territory drained by the river, made it certain that the city was about to be subjected to a flood as great as any that it had experienced in the past, and rendered it quite probable that all previous experiences of floods in the Ohio would be exceeded.

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RELIEF COMMITTEE APPOINTED.

In view of this alarming prospect., a meeting of the Chamber of Commerce was called fur the purpose of taking steps to appoint committees and otherwise be prepared to meet what seemed to be an inevitable calamity. A Relief Committee, consisting of fifteen members, was appointed and authorized to receive contributions and to furnish relief to sufferers by the flood. Subsequently the committee was strengthened by the addition of thirteen more names, added by Chairman H. C. Urner. Subscriptions to the proposed relief fund being in order, the Chamber by a unanimous vote appropriated $5,000 as a contribution to the fund. S. F. Dana was chosen treasurer, and Sidney D. Maxwell secretary. An executive committee was appointed, consisting of six members. Buildings were secured for the storage of provisions, and headquarters for the committee established. At a meeting of common council held on the 6th of February a resolution was passed requesting the legislature to authorize the city comptroller "to borrows a sum not to exceed one hundred thousand dollars to he placed at the disposal of the Relief Committee of common council to be used for the purpose of relieving the distressed and protecting life and property during the continuance of the great flood." In accordance with this action a committee of common council, consisting of seven members, with the mayor at the head, and seven aldermen, was appointed. At a meeting of the Relief Committee, held February 7th. the action of the common council was reported, and the gentlemen appointed as the council committee were added to the committee, " which henceforth was known as the Relief Committee of the Chamber of Commerce and Common Council of Cincinnati." For the proper performance of the work devolving upon the Relief Committee sub-committees were appointed, and a better organization was thus effected.

A large number of boats having been found necessary, Capt. W. P. Walker, Jr., was appointed admiral of the fleet, with two assistants. The committees and officers thus appointed at once proceeded to organize their several departments, and most faithfully and efficiently performed the laborious duties imposed on them.

In the meantime Howard Douglass, president of the board of education, announced that lie would assume the responsibility of ordering the vacation of such schoolhouses as might be seeded to provide shelter for persons driven from their homes by the floods. At a subsequent meeting of the board his action was unanimously approved. A number of schoolhouses convenient to the flooded district were occupied. both for places of shelter and the distribution of supplies.

The Church of the Atonement was also placed at the disposal of the committee, and, under the care of Rev. Father James Cary, many homeless persons were therein fed and sheltered.

The First Regiment. O. N. G., Col. C. B. Hunt commanding; the Regiment of Veteran Guards, tinder Col. M. L. Hawkins, and the Second Battery, Capt. Joyce, tendered their services to assist the police in the preservation of the public peace. These offers were gladly accepted by the committee, and, under the direction of the committee on police, the streets of the city, which, through the failure of the gas supply, worn unlighted, were regularly patroled by the soldiers of these regiments during the continuance of the flood.

One of the first cares of the committee, says Prest. Urner in his exhaustive report, was to provide for feeding the hungry and destitute persons who had been driven from their homes by the flood. To accomplish this a soup house was opened, which was maintained during the entire period of the high water. Au enormous quantity of food was consumed, and a very large number of persons were fed. Through good management the best of order prevailed, and the lack of crime and violence showed the importance of thorough organization and food distribution during the alarming prevalence of the high water.

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The unexampled rise of the river rendered the situation of many of the flooded buildings unsafe, and the committee, through the police department, had them under constant inspection, which resulted in the condemnation of a number of buildings and an order for their vacation. This order was executed with some difficulty, the persons living in the condemned houses in many cases being unwilling to abandon their dwellings; but with much persuasion, and some exercise of authority, they were all safely removed-it being necessary in some instances to seize boats from extortionate owners engaged in the removal.

CALL FOR ASSISTANCE.

The progress of the rise, although steady, was slow, and for some little time after the organization of the committee the citizens did not seem to appreciate the magnitude of the impending disaster. That they might be fully informed of the condition of the suffering people, the committee issued a call for assistance and urged prompt attention to, it in the way of contributions of money, food and clothing. The public was informed that, at that time more rations of food were being issued, and a greater number of persons fed, than at any time during the flood of 1883. There was a prompt response to the call, and from that time on until the waters had receded from the inundated parts of the city, the contributions came from all classes of the people. The College of Music, in connection with Mr. Henry B. Abbey, projected and carried to a magnificent conclusion a concert for the benefit of the Relief Fund, at which the celebrated singers of the Opera Festival gratuitously contributed their services. By this concert, which took place February 17, the substantial sum of $6,170.14 was realized.

To guard against imposition the committee only distributed relief through regularly established organizations and agencies, and at all times declined to make any . allowance to individuals. The charitable organizations of the city placed themselves at the service of the committee, and through them the work of relief was carried on with a zeal and intelligence that protected the fund from impostors, and efficiently contributed to the succor of all persons found worthy of relief.

The care of the distressed people of Cumminsville (Twenty-fifth ward), which the flood had converted into a vast lake, was delegated to a citizens' committee composed of three gentlemen, and they addressed themselves to the relief of the suffering with entire devotion, and accomplished their work to the satisfaction of the Relief Committee.

The Relief Committee, following the precedent established during the flood of 1883, decided that no part of the contributions received from places outside of Cincinnati should be applied to the relief of persons living in the city, but that. any such contributions which might be intrusted to the committee should be distributed for the relief of distress throughout the Ohio Valley outside of Cincinnati. That this should be thoroughly understood the committee gave public notice of its decision, and offering to take charge of any contributions that might be sent it for distribution at outside points. In response to this notice contributions in money to the amount of $97,751.22 --including $20,315.25 from the Ohio State Relief Commission--were received by the committee from sources outside of Cincinnati, and the total amount thus received was distributed throughout the entire length of the Ohio Valley.

The condition of the people living on the shores of the river above Cincinnati was deplorable. Suddenly driven from their homes, and in many instances compelled to flee for their lives leaving their household necessities behind them, their situation was most distressing, and urgent appeals for assistance reached the committee. As soon as a sufficient amount was received from outside sources to justify the expense of an independent expedition, the large steamer " Granite State" was chartered by the committee, loaded with supplies, and despatched on a mission of

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mercy. The cost of the cargo, to the extent of $15,000, was defrayed by the Ohio State Relief Commission; but the distribution of the proceeds of the amount contributed by the commission being necessarily confined to Ohio, Gen. A. Beckwith, representing the United States Government, also placed on board supplies to the value of $10,000, that both sides of the river might share in the distribution. The expedition was successful in its mission, and much suffering was relieved.

LIBERAL CONTRIBUTIONS.

To guard against deception the committee sent out special commissions to explore both sides of the river and ascertain the tree condition of the sufferers. The Ohio Legislature, in accordance with the request of the Common Council, passed a law authorizing the city comptroller to borrow $50,000, to be expended for the relief of suffering in Cincinnati, upon the order of the tax commission. The commission instructed the comptroller to pay the amount authorized, or any part thereof, upon the order of the executive committee of the Relief Committee.

The unexampled rise of the water entailed such widespread distress among the poor of the city, that the demands for relief exceeded the ability of the committee to supply from the fund provided by the voluntary contributions of the citizens. To meet these demands, the executive committee called upon the comptroller for $25,000 of the city fund. This amount was received and placed in the Relief Fund. So judiciously v, vas it used that upon the completion of the work, and the final adjustment of accounts, it was found that there was at the credit of the fund for the relief of Cincinnati an unexpended balance of $5,260.74, which was returned to the city.

Treasurer Dana in his report says that the amount received from local sources for the relief of Cincinnati was $96,680.12; amount contributed by persons not residents of Cincinnati, $97,751.22, making a total of $194,431.34.

The flood committee estimated the number of persons fed at the Sixth street, soup house, during the thirteen days it was in operation, at 65,000, and as many as. 7,500 were fed in one day. This did not include all receiving relief, as there were, many other stations where provisions and clothing were distributed.

Thomas J. Stephens, chairman of the military and police committee, reported that so long as the gas works continued to furnish light for the city, it was not deemed necessary to increase the patrol by the appointment of specials. Gen. Hickenlooper's assurance that, until the river should reach 64 feet, the manufacture of gas would continue, gave some hope that the extremity of darkness might be avoided; but when the steadily advancing flood marked 65 feet 1f inches on the gauge, the fires were put out and the supply of gas light ceased. Then it was that, the committee called out the military. This action quieted the apprehension felt that the city was in danger from disorder and plunder. For eleven nights these, soldiers were on duty, and greatly aided the police by partly relieving them of routine patrol duty outside the submerged district. During the continuance of the flood the best of order was preserved and fewer thefts and deeds of violence were reported than usual. When the reservoirs were running low, in consequence of the big engines being stopped by the flood, the realization of this fact caused the utmost vigilance to be exercised on the part of the police and citizens, and as a consequence there were hardly any alarms of fire. Much of the distress and loss of valuable property in 1883 was due to the unprecedented inundation of that year, which covered territory never before reached, and which, in the opinion of old river men,, was considered not possible.

The severity of this lesson was not overlooked by the people, and while the flood of 1884 was greater in extent, and many more persons were forced to vacate their houses, yet the loss of property and consequent distress, was perhaps not more than in the preceding year. It was ascertained that 4,930 houses were inundated and

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21,856 persons either compelled to vacate or reach their houses by boats. The work of the police, however, was arduous and required the most active kind of service. A large number of the relief boats were manned by the police and kept busy from daylight till dark, and regular patrol duty in boats, day and night, was continued throughout.

The inspection of all dangerous tenements in the flooded quarter was another duty of the police, and in many cases it was found necessary to compel the vacation of such premises as were deemed unsafe. The only serious accident during all this time was the falling of a house on Last Front street, whereby several lives were lost. After the water receded, an examination by the police resulted in the discovery of one hundred buildings that were deemed unsafe. The extraordinary expense incurred by the police department amounted to $1,788.76, which was paid by the Relief Committee. The pay of the military while on duty, at the State allowance of $2.00 per day, amounted to $14,000. This sum, by Act of the Legislature, was ordered paid out of the fund appropriated by the State for the flood sufferers.

STAGES OF THE WATER.

In the report made by the Chamber of Commerce and the Common Council of Cincinnati, there is an elaborate table showing the stages of the river every hour from February 1st to the 29th, 1884, inclusive, together with a comparative table of the stage of the water for the same days in 1883. It is of exceeding great value to those who desire accurate information, hourly, of the gradual rise and fall of the river during those memorable floods. From that table the following has been compiled showing the stages of the water during each day at noon of those months:

1883. 1884. 1883. 1884.

FT. IN. FT. IN. FT. IN FT. IN.

Feb. 1, noon 29 5 38 4 ½ Feb. 16, noon 64 41/2 68 5 1/2

" 2, " 28 3 45 10 1/.2 " 17, " 62 4 66 2 1/4

" 3, " 27 49 4 ½ " 18, " 60 5 63 5 ½

" 4, " 30 49 10 ½ " 19, " 59 60 4

" 5, " 30 5 52 4 ½ " 20, " 57 7 59

" 6, " 29 5 59 " 21, " 55 10 55 10

" 7, " 42 8 61 7 3/4 " 22, " 53 6 52 2 ½

" 8, " 52 5 62 6 ½ " 23, " 49 6 48 8

" 9, " 57 2 63 8 ½ " 24, " 45 1 45 5

" 10, " 59 1/4 64 10 ½ " 25, " 42 1 41 1

" 11, " 60 7 66 2 3/4 " 26, " 37 11 37 1

" 12, " 63 6 1/4 68 3 ½ " 27, " 34 5 33 2

" 13, " 64 111/2 69 10 " 28, " 31 10 29 7

' 14 " 65 1 ½ 71 3/4 " 29 " - -- 25 6

" 15 " 66 1 3/4 70 2..

At 4 A. M. February 15, 1883, the water was at its greatest height, 66 feet 4 inches. At noon, however, it had declined 2 1/14 inches, as shown above.

At 8 A. M., February 14, 1884, the water reached 71 feet and remained at those figures till 10 A. M., two hours, when it gained 1/4 of an inch. It remained at this figure till 11:30, when another 1/4 was added, making 71 feet 2/3 inch. At noon another quarter was gained, and the maximum, 71 feet 1/2 of an inch, was reached. It stood at these figures till 1 P. M., when 1/4 of an inch was lost. From this hour till 6:30 it stood at 71 feet 1/12 an inch. At 7 P. M., it had fallen to 71 feet, and at midnight it was down to 70 feet 10 inches, From that hour the decline was slow until noon of the next day, when it receded more rapidly.

PHYSICAL HISTORY OF THE FLOOD.

The great floods of 1883 and 1884 seemed to be forerunners of the deluge which destroyed Johnstown in 1889, caused the loss of more than 3,000 lives by drowning, and the inundation of the upper valleys of the Susquehanna on the eastern slope of the Alleghanies. Physically considered these great floods bear peculiar relations.

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R. B. Stephenson, in his report to the Chamber of Commerce, says that the causes which combined to produce the flood of 1884 were geographical, topographical and meteorological. The Alleghany, with its sources and tributaries, drains an area of 13,000 square miles; the Youghiogheny and its tributaries, 2,100 square miles, and of the Monongahela and its other tributaries, 4,900 square miles, making the total water shed of the Monongahela 7,000 square miles, which, added to that of the Allegheny, gives a grand total area of 20,000 square miles drained by the sources of the Ohio river. These waters were augmented below, during the first week of February, 1884, by the Muskingum river and tributaries draining the southwestern portion of Ohio; the little Kanawha river, draining the western slopes of West Virginia; the Elk river, supplied by springs on the south side of Rich mountain, and rising and spreading out until it became navigable eighty miles for steamboats, and emptying, at Charleston, into the Kanawha, which, with its tributaries, drains the entire southern half of West Virginia; and yet below these there were added to the waters of the Ohio those of the Guyandotte, Big Sandy, Little Guyandotte, Licking, Kentucky, Green, Tennessee, and Cumberland rivers, on the south side, and the Scioto, Little Miami, Great Miami, White, and Wabash rivers, on the north side, nearly all being navigable rivers, and the hundreds of streams tributary to these, as well as many small streams that empty directly into the Ohio, on both sides.

WHEN THE CAUSES BEGAN.

The meteorological causes, says Mr. Stephenson, began on the 14th day of December, 1883, when the winter's first fall of snow occurred in the Ohio Valley, less than one inch in depth at Cincinnati, where the stage of the river was 10 feet 7 inches on that day, a minimum to which it did not again decline for a period of six months or more. To the snow on the date named, was added rainfall to the depth of sixteen hundredths of an inch. Light snows fell on the 15th, 16th, 18th and 19th of December, followed by a heavier snow on the 20th, and twelve hours of snow on the 22nd, the fall of the day last indicated measuring 6 3/4 inches in depth. The snow then on the ground was partly removed and partly more closely packed by a fall of sleet and rain on the 23d that equaled a rainfall of 2.57 inches, after which the temperature became so cold that ice appeared in the river the following day, which disappeared on the 28th, under the influence of light rains which fell on the 27th. Light rains, but enough to carry much of the snow into the river, and solidify that which remained on the ground, fell also on the 30th and 31st. The total fall of snow, sleet and rain, during the month of December, reduced to rainfall, was 5.61 inches. The highest stage of the river during the month was 49 1/2 feet, on the 28th, when it began to decline.

Light snows were frequent and a cold temperature prevailed from the 1st to the 14th of January, 1884, when a heavy snow set in at 5 P. M., continuing until the following day; and on the 19th there was another light fall of snow. These alternated with sleet and rain, and the temperature varied, during the last five days, between zero and 60 degrees above. The first half of the month was generally cold, but there were slight variations in the weather conditions. These variations and other influences were sufficient to cause the river to fall, first, from 49 1/2 feet on December 28, to 15 feet 5 inches on January 13, then rise to 24 feet 1 inch on the 19th, then fall to 15 feet 9 inches on the 29th, and rise again to 31 feet 3 inches on the 31st, when the flood of 1884 properly began. The 30th of January found upon the ground much of the previous fall of 18 inches to 4 feet of solidified snow, packed upon the hills and mountains and valleys of the Ohio river and its tributaries, and the smaller streams tributary to the latter. The depth of snow that fell at Cincinnati during the month of January was 10 inches, and much more had fallen at other localities that would affect the condition of the river. The rainfall of the month was 1.23 inches. The snow, sleet and rain, reduced to rainfall, was

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2.21 inches. One rain followed another from the 30th of January to the 13th of February, which affected the river accordingly.

CLOSING DAYS OF JANUARY.

During the two or three closing days of January a warm temperature spread itself over a territory represented by the length of the Ohio river, but events in March showed that it did not extend more than one hundred miles on either side of the same, nor up the Allegheny Valley, nor up the tributaries on the east side of the Monongahela, else the magnitude of the flood of 1881 would have been much greater. On the 29th there was a general rain over the southern half of the water-shed heretofore described, but it missed the Allegheny drainage, the snow being scarcely disturbed, and the ice remained firm in the Allegheny and Youghiogheny rivers and their tributaries. The rain and warm weather continued up the Monongahela and some of its contributaries, and that river continued to rise, while simultaneously all tributaries of the Ohio below poured out floods of water, not all, however, from their headwaters. But restricted as was the territory covered by the warm temperature, which at Cincinnati was 59 degrees at 2:30 P. M. of January 31, it was fraught with grave consequences. The ice, which had held firm in the Youghiogheny river throughout the winter, was, on that day, partially broken up, and while it did not pass into the Monongahela until the 5th, it piled up in its own bed, caused adjacent territory to be overflowed by back water, and destroyed much property. The Monongahela rose on January 31 to a depth of 29 feet at Brownsville, and 21 feet at Pittsburgh, and much coal property was carried away.

The ice in the Muskingum and Little Kanawha rivers gave way on the same day, and both of those tributaries poured their floods into the Ohio, the stage of the Ohio at Marietta being 21 feet, and at Parkersburg 24 feet. Freshets in the Elk river and Paint creek caused the Kanawha river to swell to 19 feet at Charleston on January 31, and this water was being added to that in the Ohio at Point Pleasant during the 24 hours that the latter rose 12 feet at Catlettsburg, the result of a flood in the Big Sandy, from Louisa to the mouth. The Scioto river also poured out strong, causing the Ohio to swell eight inches per hour at Portsmouth, where the stage on January 31 was thirty feet.

It will be observed that at all of the points named above on the Ohio river the rises were simultaneous, being due to local streams and local causes alone. This was also the case at Cincinnati, where the river rose 12 1/2 feet during the same 24 hours, the Little Miami river and smaller streams on its south side pouring into it their floods of water. The stage of the Licking at Butler Station was 21 1/2 feet, and while its flood was being emptied into the Ohio, the water was prevented from passing off so rapidly by the strong cross-currents at points below, where the Great Miami river on the north side, and the Kentucky river on the south side, formed a barrier to its swift progress. The latter river was rising three inches per hour at Frankfort, where the stage of water reported was 22 feet, and all streams that empty into the Ohio below Carrollton were also rising.

FEBRUARY OPENS.

With a change to cold weather during the night, the month of January closed, and the memorable February opened with the mercury 30 degrees lower than on the previous day; but, notwithstanding this, the Ohio, Licking and Little Miami rivers continued to rise. The Allegheny was swelling some, but the river was falling at Pittsburgh, and all the upper tributaries had ceased to rise, except the Scioto, and the Kentucky river was falling at Frankfort. The Ohio continued to rise from Steubenville to Portsmouth, the rise at the latter place being six inches per hour, and the stage of the river there had reached 43 feet, The further rise at Cincinnati during the 24 hours ending at 6 P. M. of February 1st was 7 feet 10 inches, and at the hour named the stage of the river was 40 feet 5 1/2 inches.

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During the next two days no rain fell in the Ohio Valley, and the Licking river was falling. The Ohio was falling on February 3d from Pittsburgh to the mouth of the Big Sandy, and the decline extended on the 4th to Portsmouth, where the stage of water had on the previous day reached 47 feet. But the river continued to rise steadily and rapidly at Cincinnati, having entered the buildings at the foot of Main and Walnut streets on the morning of the 2d, and those at the foot of Broadway on the same day, the river's upward tendency being aided by the arrival of waters from upper tributaries in quick succession until it reached 40 feet 11 1/2 inches on the 4th at 7 A. M., when it declined so perceptibly that at 2 P. M. the surface of the water was one inch lower; but between 2 and 3 P. M. there was a heavy fall of rain that carried much of the solidified snow into the river and local tributaries, and a rise again set in that did not cease until noon of the 14th, when it culminated in the highest stage of water at the mouth of the Licking river that had ever been seen at that point by an enlightened people. The rainfall of the 4th amounted to 1.35 inches, and the temperature had risen to 62 degrees. A dense fog bung in the bottoms at 3 P. M. so dense that artificial light was necessary in all buildings south of Third street. Rain was falling at all points above, and the Licking and Little Miami rivers were again rising, and also the Monongahela. At midnight the stare appeared, but the river continued to rise nearly two inches per hour, and before daylight all buildings fronting on the river, between the suspension bridge and Main street, and between Ludlow street and Broadway, had been invaded by the water, the advance being due to local causes.

OMINOUS SIGNS.

The conditions of February 5th were such that a few close observers of river phenomena believed that in them existed the germs of a flood greater than that of the previous February, but no alarm was excited among the mass of the people, although the bottoms of Cincinnati were covered by water, and Lawrenceburg and Aurora, Ind., were partially submerged. The temperature at Cincinnati ranged from 49 to 62 degrees, while the rainfall of the day was 1.56 inches, and it was equally as much at points above on the Ohio river and along its tributaries. The rainfall of the first five days of February, 1884, was 1.11 inches more than during the first five days of the previous February. More rain had fallen between 6:30 A. M. of the 4th and 2:30 P. M. of the 5th, than fell during the entire four days that immediately preceded the same stage of water on February 8, 1883. The river was 20 feet and one-half inch higher than at the same time of the previous year, and there had been but nine years in which the stage of the water exceeded that at midnight of the 5th.

The Licking river was rising 12 inches per hour at Cynthiana and Boston Station, with 18 feet of water at the latter place; the Ohio was again rising at Portsmouth, with 45 feet 10 inches of water; there had again been heavy rains up the Big Sandy, and that river was exhibiting the effects; the New river had swelled to six feet at Hinton, and was yet rising, while the Kanawha was already rising, with 15 feet of water at Charleston, and 23 feet at Raymond City. Rain was causing the Muskingum to pour out again, and the rise of the Ohio at Marietta was at the rate of four inches per hour. Rain had fallen constantly 24 hours at Pittsburgh, and there the stage of the river was 18 feet and rising, and at Wheeling 26 feet and rising. The ice poured out of the Youghiogheny river and into the Monongahela, carrying with it houses, stables and other property. The Stage of the Monongahela at Greensboro was 26J feet, and at Brownsville 24J feet, and it was rising at both places, with rain yet falling. The Allegheny had risen to 10 feet at Oil City, and was yet rising, and rain falling. The Kentucky river, which, when it pours into the Ohio, prevents the water of the latter from passing off freely, and is thus a factor in producing high water at Cincinnati, was on a stand at 19 feet at Frankfort, but a heavy rain was falling.

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The opinion began to prevail on the 7th, and was strengthened as the day advanced, that all of the prompt measures for relief that had been adopted at Cincinnati were not justified by the actual situation. The temperature became cooler, the mercury ranging from 40 to 63 degrees; and although the aggregate of rainfall since the river began to rise was five inches, the light sprinkle of rain that fell on the 7th amounted to only twenty-three hundredths of an inch. The river came to a stand several times, when its stage was 61 feet 9 1/2 inches.

At Steubenville the river reached its maximum at 3 P. M. on the 7th, 49 feet, which was two feet higher than in 1832, the highest previous flood. At Maysville the water was yet 6 1/2 feet below the high-water mark of 1883, but it was rising two inches per hour.

HALF HOURLY BULLETINS.

At Cincinnati the water had covered Second street at Vine, Walnut and Main streets, and the interest, in the condition of the rivers had become so universal that the superintendent of the Chamber of Commerce not only caused half-hourly bulletins of the stage of the river at Cincinnati to be posted, but also organized a thorough system of intelligence by telegraph, embracing such points on the Ohio and other rivers as would affect the stage of the river at Cincinnati. So full were the reports thus obtained that at no time during the flood was he asked to secure others. The doors of the Chamber of Commerce were thrown open to the public from early morning till midnight, that none might be uninformed of the situation. At Cincinnati the has-works were submerged at noon when the stage of the water was 62 feet 6 1/2 inches.

The Ohio reached its maximum at Marietta at 6 o'clock in the morning, being 3 feet 2 inches higher than in 1832, and at 5 P. M. it was falling at the rate of four inches per hour. The highest stage reached at Parkersburg was 53 feet 3 inches on the same day. The Licking river continued to fall, with 11 1/2 feet of water at Boston Station, when the weather was cooler, but cloudy. The conditions were favorable to an early decline at Cincinnati, where the rainfall of the day amounted to only six-hundredths of an inch; the wind shifted from the southwest to the northwest, and the mercury fell from 57 to 30 degrees during the day. But the conditions were such at points on the Ohio below Marietta, and in the Kanawha Valley, that rendered it almost certain by noon that all previous flood visitations at Cincinnati were to be eclipsed. The river swelled more than a half inch per hour throughout the day. At 9 A.M.. it reached 63 feet 7 inches, the high water mark of December 17, 1847, and by midnight it covered 64 feet 3 inches, the high-water mark of February 18, 1832. The Covington gas-works had ceased to supply light, and 8,000 people were homeless. New Richmond was all under water, and the people of California, Ohio, were suffering for food. At Ripley, yet farther up the river, the water reached the mark of 1883 at 3 P. M., and at 9 P. M. it was 22 inches higher and rising one inch per hour. At Maysville it reached the mark of 1883 at 10 A. M., and at 3 P. M. was within three inches of that of 1832. The conditions above there were yet more alarming. Point Pleasant was entirely inundated, there being four feet of water in parts of the town that had escaped the flood of 1883, and the back water from the Ohio extended up the Kanawha fifty miles, inundating all the farms, houses and villages in the valley, and entirely wrecking the track of the Ohio Central railroad. The width of the Kanawha varied from three to five miles. At Gallipolis the Ohio was 6 feet 11 inches higher than in 1883, and five feet higher than in 1832, and was still rising one inch per hour. At Catlettsburgh rain was falling in torrents at 5 P. M. and the Ohio was three feet higher than in 1883. the water extending back six squares from the river, submerging all houses to the hillside. The water at Portsmouth was five feet higher than in 1883. At Ripley the water was 22 inches higher than in 1883, and 11 inches higher than in

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1832. Although the wind continued to come from the northeast, the mercury rose from 36 to 43 degrees at Cincinnati, culminating in fourteen-hundredths of an inch of rainfall during the evening. At 12:45 P. M. of the 11th the stage of water at Cincinnati was 66 feet 4 inches, which was the maximum reached by the flood at 4 A. M. on February 15, 1883.

The up-river conditions still continued to be alarming. Nearly all the immediate tributaries were rising. Rain fell twenty-four hours up the Licking river. In Newport the Licking was on Thirteenth and Richie streets, and other streets were partly under water. The pumping engines that supplied that city with water were stopped in the afternoon. The stage of the Ohio at New Albany was 68 feet 8 inches; in 1832 it was 69, and in 1883 it was 72 feet.

NEARING THE CULMINATION.

On the 12th the range of the mercury at Cincinnati was from 48 to 66 degrees; a light rain fell in the afternoon, the snow continued to melt in the street, and some of the tributaries continued to rise. A windstorm from the south at midnight rocked from their foundations many houses in the water that had withstood the force and buoyancy of the current. Dayton and Bellevue were invaded, and the greater part of the northwest portion of Covington was covered, the water from Willow run being a foot deep on the Lexington pike, and a foot deep also on the Independent pike, one mile from Latonia Springs. There were 13,000 applicants for relief in Newport, half of the city being under water. The condition of the Little Miami river caused the Ohio to be relatively six inches higher at New Richmond than at Cincinnati. At Ripley it was rising slowly and was 5 feet 4 inches higher than in 1883.

At Ashland it was 5 feet higher than in 1883. At Ironton it was 7 feet higher than in 1883, and two-thirds of the territory occupied by the town was under water.

If the almost hourly varying conditions had heretofore rendered the future of the flood in some degree uncertain at times, there appeared natural causes on the 13th which gave assurance that its climax was near. The tributaries above Cincinnati were falling. These conditions all favored an early check to the rise here, but they were supplemented by another that was destined to exert more force in that direction than all combined, and to overcome the effect of unfavorable conditions yet to be named. During the clay there was a rainfall of 1.18 inches at Cincinnati. but the mercury fell from 55 to 42 degrees, the forerunner of a cold wave that was coming from the northwest. After a knowledge of this fact no alarm was excited by the intelligence that the Allegheny was again rising at Oil City. The stage of the river at Ripley, where a light rain was falling, was 71 feet 5 inches, which was 21 feet higher than in 1883.

The temperature grew colder and colder at Cincinnati, the highest on the 14th being 28 degrees. which lowered during the day to 20 degrees, and the great flood of 1881 reached its maximum at noon. The bulletins were eagerly watched by hundreds, whose hearts throbbed alternately with hope and fear, while the water lingered at 71 feet and I of an inch for the next ninety minutes, at the end of which time the announcement that it had declined one-quarter of an inch was received with emphatic demonstrations of joy, that were participated in to some extent by a whole nation of people, who had assisted to feed, clothe and shelter fully one hundred thousand of their countrymen. Five hours the water again lingered at one stage, while a fierce contest was raging between cold weather on one side and constantly arriving floods from upper tributaries on the other, and then a steady decline set in at the rate of one-quarter of an inch per hour, which satisfied waiting millions that the flood was actually abating, and that the water was seeking its natural bed, after having been recorded as the highest ever known of the Ohio river-a record that millions of people hope may never be made again.

312 - HISTORY OF CINCINNATI AND HAMILTON COUNTY.

OFFICIAL MARKS.

While the water was on a stand at its highest stage the authorities of the Chamber of Commerce had agents employed to indicate high-water marks at various -convenient points of observation near the public landing, that were reached by the use of skiffs, where permanent marks were afterward established, in some places being located immediately above the permanent high-water marks of previous floods. By these it was ascertained that the height of the flood above that of February 15, 1883, was 4 feet 81 inches; above that of February 18, 1832, 6 feet 91 inches; and above that of 1847, 7 feet 51 inches. The snow and rain which directly produced this greatest of floods, when reduced to rainfall, amounted to 7.03 inches, of which 6.82 inches fell in February before the 14th. The total rainfall during the remainder of the month of February was 2.05 inches, including a level of ten inches of melted snow that fell on the 19th.

With the mercury between 19 and 29 degrees, the receding water left a fringe of ice, by which the limit of the flood was easily traced at all points, where this sudden cold temperature had checked its upward progress at Cincinnati and in the vicinity. Not a street in Pendleton was free from water, and the line extended up the Deer creek valley to the foot of the " Highland House" inclined plane. Up the Mill creek valley it had spread eastwardly until Lincoln Park was entirely covered, and reached Baymiller street on Clark. It was four feet deep on the Colerain pike at Hamiltown. The fringe of ice was left north of Pearl street at Race, Vine, Walnut, Main and Sycamore streets, and the first floors of buildings at the north side of Lower Market were covered with water to Broadway. The water from the Ohio river, on the south, and from the Mill creek bottoms, on the west, met and commingled at the southwest corner of Fourth and Mill streets. It extended above Longworth street on Hoadly, and, from the west, on Sixth street, it covered some of the railroad tracks that lead out of the Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton railroad passenger station. On Eighth street the water extended eastwardly to Harriet. The usual avenues of promenade, traffic and trade, south of Third street, and west of a diagonal line from Third and Rose, and extending north westwardly past Clark and Baymiller streets, were navigated by small boats, of which thousands had come into existence as if by magic. The Mill creek bottom was a great bay of water, so deep that the largest steamboat that navigates the Ohio river could have passed over Eighth street; and had there been no telegraph wires and other artificial obstructions, the valley could have been navigable to Cumminsville by Ohio river vessels of any class. The Licking and Ohio rivers met in Newport at the corner of Columbia and Madison streets; half of the city of Newport was under water, and part of the Newport and Covington suspension bridge that spans the Licking river was covered by water several feet deep. The Ohio backed up the Great Miami to Miamitown, and at Madison was two feet higher than in 1883.

At half past six o'clock P. M., on the 17th, the river had declined to 65 feet, 5 1/2 inches, and the Shields engine at the water-works resumed pumping, and railroad trains commenced to depart from their own stations. The next day the Ohio was falling at all points, except Marietta and Cairo; the mercury ranged from 25 to 36 degrees at Cincinnati, and the sky was clear. At noon on the anniversary of the birth of Washington, when the stage of the river at Cincinnati was 50 feet, the headquarters of the Relief Committee of the Chamber of Commerce and Common Council of Cincinnati were closed. After sixteen days Newport was again out of water, but the water did not leave all buildings in Cincinnati until noon on the next day, when it had come to a stand at Paducah, at 54 feet, 2 inches. During the sixteen previous days State boundary lines were so far obliterated that Ohio towns were sometimes nearest the West Virginia or Kentucky shore, and some Kentucky and West Virginia towns seemed to have passed within the territorial boundary of Ohio.

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There were yet other towns whose locality could only be determined by two or three houses that remained, all others having been washed away. In some places water extended over low lands forty miles from the bed of the river.

The facts relating to this remarkable flood have been given very fully, for the simple reason that as long as it remains the highest on record, frequent reference will be made to the figures, and, for the benefit of history, it is important that they should be placed on permanent record. All residents of the city and Ohio Valley will devoutly pray that it may never be exceeded, nor even approached, in height. Another flood a few feet higher would be productive of appalling results. May it and the Johnstown calamity stand alone in history.