The New York Herald Newspaper, March 18, 1875, Page 3

—<<<———— NEW YORK HERALD, THURSDAY, MARCH 18, 1875.—TRIPLE SHEET. THE DELAWARE FLOODS. Map of the Delaware River from Deposit to the Water Gap, Showing the Extent of the Great Flood and the Threatened Towns. THE RUST OF WATERS, Breaking Loose of the Rivers from Their Tey Fetter TERRIBLE DEVASTATION Human Beings Swept Into Eternity. Towns, Villages and Farm Houses Visited with Destruction. FEATS OF THE FLOODS. Great Artificial Barriers © Wrenched, Twisted and Crushed. Btoppage of Railroad Trains and Telegraphic Messages. THRILLING ESCAPES FROM DEATH. Demolition of Bridges, Mills and Ice Dams. The People Save Themselves by Flight. PARTIAL SUBSIDENCE OF THE FRESHETS ———— Further Danger Apprehended from a Change of Weather. THE DELAWARE. THE CALAMITY AT PORT JERVIS AND GERMAN- TOWN. Pont JERVIS, March 17, 1875. At last the great agouy is over and Port Jervis epeopie have abundant reason to congratulate themselves that their town is still bere, and has received a Gamage that may fairly be regarded as trivial, 1 we compare what is with “what might have been.’? Some twenty or tuirty nomes only have beeh destroyed, two lives lost are ail that we hear of thus far, and two bridges are dan. aged, one that may oe repaired for $10,000, though $100,000 will scarcely replace the o:her, whicu, uowever, ia not the property of the town, but of tne Erie Railway Company. But the great ice rt that has threatened the town for & mouth is one, and the greater storm of ice that oame down with tho rise of the river yesterday is gone with ti, and the town 1s auil here and somparatively safe, As toe great volume of the river js now sweeping down i's bed bearing $till, Out tranquilly, Ward great ma: ol the broken, crumbled ioe, it seems scarcely possibie to reanze the excitement that agitated the com- munity but a few hours since; and, indeed, tho indifference, affected or real, with which many treat the recent danger svoms to indicate that shey never fnily roalized it. Yet tweive hours wuce We wore a community quite prepared to take pasaago with Commudore Noah, or any other Man Whose boat might have boen handy. THE WARNING OF DESTRUCTION Last night the alarm came that the enemy was in motion. Away up tie river, ae the report ran, the river had risen ten feet and Was rising “a foot siuinute. The tan lee: actually realized was a sudicintly alarmuig detail in this story, and the Threstened (oo; a minute presented a picture G! speculative horrors that the rural imagi- nation could wot graap. If the len fect should be maingaines ae fay down ag this What Wouid become o: Port Jervis? It would be plaved a great mikny more than seven waya tor Susday—sinco thay riage would eend a flvod over tho ice aecumulaiod! hora at jeast six feet higher than the bunk aud'give @ loot of depth at points avove the railway station, in water a loot dvep there is no [great power to curry houses » but there ik power to do much damage; aug, oreover, as} we ahali see presentiy, ihe Weler iiseifla not Phe greatest immeviate cause oO desteuctiog m cases of tis sort, Water sup. plies fhe fovea ae gibnpowder moves projectiles; ue the projscuiles In this Case were the tretuen- Us CaKOs OF lOe that Whirled Into the gigantic sovumulated lmpulno dat the myriad mowntaiu tor 1 \ \ a Carrieg Briq\ ay, &o My W Tents seemed capable of sweeping over and an- fiibilating any impediment whatever, TEN MINUTES TO THE DAY OF JUDGMENT, Naturally, theretore, the report rise ot the river nad in it the elements of panic. It came with the startling effect of un explosion, and the people, who had become apathetic and indifferent in the many days during which they bad waited in vain for this alarm, who had come to-belleve that the danger was over, were in the moral condition of people who felt that it was only ten minutes to the day of Judgment, with their names at'the head of the list. Between eight and nine o'clock in the evening @ report went the rounds that the ice was moving. in a short time the whole town was in great com- motion, The story originated from a despatch dated at Deposit, and many got the impression that it was from Germantown, only halfa mile distant, The people on the flats begap to pack up, and & great demand was made jor horses and wagons. But, through the prompt efforts of Chief of Police Samuel Walley, they were prevented in a great measure Irom moving their furnitnre, All night long the pvolic barrooms were crowded, every one being iL.iy sausfied that not many hours could elapse belore*the ireshet would be felt at this point, WATCHING THE RIVER. The telegraph wires kept the authorities in- formed of the state of affairs all along the river. At tne Delaware House a watch was changed every hour, the patrol consisting of about twenty meu, Who watchea the river for two miles in length, Two locomotives were also kept plying up and down the road Irom the iron bridge, which was three miles above, 80 that no stone was left unturned to give tne citizens ample ume to reac @ piace of safety in case of imminent danger. All night this report of the evening’s advance was kept up; despatcbes from points constantly nearer and nearer came in. it gave an tmpres- sion of deliberateness, of calm, slow, long-deter- mined purpose, this tardy, terrible advance; and the terror grew greater—or, rather, the elfect grew greater—as fatigue and apprenension wore out the courage with which people were prepared to face the great calamity. 1 was caicuiated by Mr. Chanute at what hour, by the comparative progress made irom point to point, the great danger would reach us here, and the bour was set down foreight or nine A. M. to-day. Reassured by this many went to their homes and slept, but the more anxious kept on toot all nignt, or per- haps dropped away to a little slumber toward daylight, THE RBAL ALARM. At six o’clock this morning the alarm was given, a3 it had been concerted between the authorities and the people, that danger was im- Minent and notice was given to the people to leave Germantown, tae most expvsed point, As- sistance was given to many invalia and infirm Persons. Bata little iaier the same alarm was given in Port Jervis and the real excitement of the day began tn the bustle and hurry aod rush o/ the people in the jammed sireets to get away and save their little property. : Soon alter seven A, M. the announcing avalanche Teached tie iron bridge across the Delaware, at at the point called Sawmill Rift (showa lu the map). At this moment a locomotive, under charge of Division Superintendent Tnomas, came dashing down the rauroad track, whistling With all its mighs of sound, thus warning the peo- ple that no time was 10 be Jost in reaching places of safety, AS the locomotive came. mto Pore Jervis some haifa dozen other locomotives sent forth @ sirili scream that defles description. FLIGHT FOR SAFETY, Tn less than fiiteen minutes over two thousand persons were on the streets, and in half an hour Pike streei, leadiag down to the suapension briage, was black with tle throng. Soon wagoo aiter wagoa came rattlug down on the flats, and sucd & tumbling out of furniture from the vartous houses was never delore Witnessed in Port Jervis, Here and there could be seen men hurry- log along loaded dows with goods, Women running With children, ali seeking & pluce of safety, Lho hili-ides were lined with spectators, whiie the continual enrieking Of the humerous locomotives aod the ringing of boils added to the contusion Gud sent terror into the hearts oi many. soon the housetops were crowded with people. On the root of the Dulaware Huuse stovud dozens with fleld glasses taking observations and watening the bend at Germantown, AN DOMENSA BLAST, Near seven o'clook & great biest was made of filty pounas of nitroglycerine, This had been previously placed under the ice atthe strongest point of the dam to awn the critical moment When the rise of the Water Would make the woak: ening Of the structure advantageous, Undoubtedly this had a very great effect in weakening tue tiass, It threw large Ivagments 600 fost into the air aud destroyed the real point of resistance, A little belore seven the river beyan to rise siowly near tho towa, the suapansion bridge being crowaed With spedlators. Cuiet of Poles Walley Rad bis force cariy going the rounds to aid the people, Several women liad to be carried out of their houses in chairs; in jact no less than hali A dozen sick persons were thus rescued irom toe é i danger, DESTRUCTION OF THE MON Brings. The CLOTMONS WSs Of ioe, NOt less than twenty, peroups thirty, fee iu height, and trom oae to two nities jn length, was simply boing pashed Gown toe course o be river by tae Water vend tt, wad Was plougiiug ita way, Clearing out with tremendous ediciency Wh ver wae belare it, At of this rapid | NARROWSBURGH/tew . Sa, HONESDALE 4 V2 Senne Fe HAWLEY ants Re) Koi CAS MASTHOPE ot I j made no more account of ordinary bridges than the farmer’s two-horse subsoller would of the root of arose tree. Every fabric of that sort far up the river was ciea! away, and about seven o'clock A. M. it was at the trom bridge of the Eri Ratlway over the Delaware, just above here. Was a fine, strong bridge, made of wood and iron together, one o1 those Knitted fabrics of engineer- ing ingenuity that puzzle the iisdess passenger every day in the year with the glimpse of the mazy intricacy of bolts and girders and fasten- ings ol every conceivabie kind waieh they give. It held but a littie while, and yet was, perhaps, of incalculable service in creaking and dispers- tug somewhat the head of the column. Ot course, it gave way. This) was at twenty minutes to eight. The whole bridge aia not go, however. Some considerable portion of it was not immediately over the river, but stretched [rom a high point of the bank toward the edge ol the stream. All that partot the bridge that was over the chaunel was cleanly cut away, pushed down the stream and harled to one side to make way for the conquering monster that hurried past it for other achievements turther down the valley. At ball-past seven a despatch was received in town that the bricge had been carried away, and goon a locomotive reached the depot confirming the Jact and stating that while crossing the bridge the ice struck it, and the locomotive had not got ten feet off the east side when the bridge began to go, One man was on tue bridge at the time and barely escaped with his life. He wasa flag man and to the employ of the company. THE SCRNE Al GERMANTOWN. In the level between the river and the hills is the track of the Erie, and between the track and the river, a mile avove Port Jervis, 18 the village of Germantown, some hundreds of neat little two story trame houses, grouped on a jew regular streets, Into this village the waterand ice came with B roar that threatened annihilation, and 1t seems scarcely less than miraculous that 1t did on the whole so little harm, Some houses were bowled away, crushed and destroyed aitogether, otuers were dismantied and dissected—cast about in topsy-turvey indiference to architectural mten- tions—and irom some the people nad hairvreadth escapes; OUT, 1 View of What went on a few feet away, it seems incredible that there should be a house standing. Within a hundred yards of the iniddie of this little settlement the ice now rests Where the force of the water nurled it this morn- ing, piled in jagged masses, any piece of whicn hurled upon any house here wouid have ruined it. ‘These masses of ice are from siX to ten leet thick and from ten to fifteen Jeet square and are piled up by the thousaud at the very edge of the little se.tiement, Al the houses, as far as they reached, went before them like cheesecakes, buv how they leit any bouses at all is the wonder, But the deposit of ice on this level, to the north oi the stream, between Saw. Mill Rift aug German- town, greatly relieved tne pressure irom the Stream and made a difference in regard to the bridge lower down and to Port Jervis. Indeed, the Port Jervis bridge was not carried away by the ice but by the water. Aiong the flats, vetween Port Jervis and Ger- mantowp, siood @ train of seventeen cars ona turo out track, Whica the ice caught up and hurled into the air as if they were mere nothing. such a compicce wreck was never witnessed at any collision that ever took place. A lew of the wheels ana some ol the bottoms are all that now remain, The loss on these cars will not be less than $15,000. THE RISE At FORT JERVIS. ‘the water rose gradually about tie bridge until nearly eight o’clock, When 1t began to show itself on Thompson aud King streets, It came stealtn along quietly, bot every one could ses tnat mis- chief followed in its wake. At eight o’ciocs it t ganto snow Ws strength, and svon around Ger- mantowa Point came dashing huge cakes of ive, and the signal was sounded that the worst was heir at hand, At last that happened which wo one could bave hoped for, The great ice plough proved a plough tu the last, and & deep one, It ploughed out we great ice gorge and dam—cu: it through and Tarough, tore If into ten thousand fragments and moved it away. Lt was the intense moment of the drama, wheu the ice trom avove came down to the bridge and upon the ice lodged here, but when the rumors spread that the dam was started, that it Was Moving, that it was swept the sense of reliel, of unconstrained Joy, Xcitement showed—what had not been altogether apparent in the demeanor of the peo- piechow deeply their feelings had veen wrought yy tae incidents OL This event in their lives, As the repost spread that the dam was moving there Wus a rusa and @ clambering for high places from Which tO observe the grattiying sight, and the housetovs, the tops of curs aod otier elevated points Were more than éver filled with the nappy multitude. THR ANVIL YIELDS TO THE IAMMER, It was uaturally a happy moment. People who had wondered tor @ munth past whether the tce here lodged might not prove their raid, and who had now ogea startled vy o fresh alarm and the lmminent tureateung of anotaer danger—tne coming of the hammer thas was to cruah them on this great anvil—saw with the deepest conceivadie content the great anvil crashed under the trial bluw Ol tue great bummer, But the town was suved, As the ice gorge moved uway, and a channel was plougied tor the water, ali this great Volume tial Was sweepiig into the town went back. Ail the food anove sub. sified and tie great danger was over, PDH AVSPENSION BRIDGR CARRIED AW) About nine 0° K the Ice that came dashing down (ue rivex scemed to increase in size; ib fact, Some OF The Cakes Were twenty eet in length. iwo or three times they dasiou up agamet the Susoension Bridge, bic they did Ho maternal dam. age, As soon us the gorge had moved ul seemed lo congratulate themseives that tue bridge Woud bewuved, but they Were doomed to disappoiut mont, for in guoat twenty minutes a portion of | the iron bridge came dasning along with ano: Hous force, ICappears that witer il had been car riod away it groauded about iwo mies doove Ue p it, bat Was soon iorced out into the streaiua gain by the heavy rash of ico, and then there Was bothing TO Biiy 14 passage down to Pol Jervis. As ib passed Germantowa it stvuck a little two story irame baildiog and dashed it lato a ces. Ol tt Came loward the Saspen- and sirack Mat juss north of the aid sapped is ike & pipe stem, the bridge, With ail the culverts on Away went Tae dastorly Side, Aud lu less toad thred iminates the Wavle struccure Was swept away. Only aew Wires haoginy irom the Woper cabie Were 1oit. As the norineasieriy culvere Was started it duaned aguinsy tue irame ouilding adjoining the briage On Lhe east side and carried away & portion of the first and svcoud stories, A cooking stove wene | fying inthe an, jolowed by chairs and tables, wud in & second the place was a periect wreck, ‘The butlding was owned by Jona Kirg and wus oceupied by one Mra, Douglass, but the utiet and wer amily had ail been removed to a place of AS the Suspension Brig woes carried away a shriek Of horror arose the crowds @t Various points, aud every snouted, | | | om one “THERE GORS THE PRIDGE |" ‘The iron bridge, alter carrsiug away the Suae pension Bridge, wae lorced voward tae easterly | dowa the ri aud cows Were crashed in tho surging masa, been shore and struck two small merged in water. into a tnousand iragwments, iron bridge dashed and rounded Point, and was then lost to sight. adistance of tuily three mules and stopped v buildings hall sub- Carpenter's was finally ata place called Van Noy Island, the fresuet over 500 houses were inun- dated at Port Jervis and Germantown, At tne former place the water reached First street and Jersey avenue, submerging all of Raliroad avenue, Lumber street, Ihompson, Water, King, Pike. Brown ana three small streets sourh of Ratiroad avenue. Every house. with the exception of about hall a dozen, Was deserted, On one could be seen @ man sitting witha board in tus oand, evidently intending to use tt az a float should tue house be carried away. A WOMAN'S PLUCK. A woman named Hurley reiused to leave her house, and the water rose clear‘up Into the sec- ond story of the building, while she remained. When the water had receded and the people came near the house she stuck he head out of the win- dow and laughingly said:—“What a lot ot scare- gevils ! What was you atraid of? TI knew the Water could do no harm to Christians.” lt Was quite amusing to see men running with chickens and goats in their arms at the early start of the food, One feliow came along pulling three hogs by a rope, but he only managed to get them haifa block, 1or they all wouid endeavor to take Opposite directions, and at last he was com- pelled to desert them jor bis own safety, and sson they*90k One route as a reward for thelr ob. stinacy, and were cairied down the stream amid the ice, A valuable horse was drowned by the Ireghet, its owner being unable to get it out of its stable. It was surprising that ull the horses on the lower side of the flats were not carried away. NAMES OF VICTIMS. Among those wh» nave sustained a loss are Amos Woodwara, J. ‘I, Beddeil, Mr. Cregao, C, Menols, T. Brancn, C, Douglass, W. M. Rhodes, Mr. Murpny, Mr. W, Mulr, C, Jonnsoa, Mr. Snaw, ‘Thomas Ganley. Thomas Sheppard, Philip Tenton, Herman Nusman, Peter Cardy, J. P. Bowen, J. Hogan, Harry Karclake, Joha Kirk, P. Hollennead, J, Larde and Jopn Barns. A NARROW ESCAPE took place iu a lager beer saloon, located in a basement on Railroad avenue. Several meo were engaged in eating their breakfast when the water came in the Windows and doors, aod bevore they could reach the frout steps it was nearly up to the ceiling, All were drenched with water. About 400 men have been thrown out ot em- ployment, but it is calculated that will soon be resumed. There were over thirty locomotives in the round house, all oi which were fired up to be used if necessary. An effort was made to remove several trains of cars, but it was Not possioie to get them out ot the way in time, On the Pennsyivania side two small buildings were destroyed, but both were un- occupied. Chief ineer ‘Caanute, of the Erie Railway, alded greatiy in saving a good deal of property, and were it not for the loss of the iron bridge the company would sustain a very trifing loss. Join A, Abbott, of the road, has issued the Jol- lowing :— New York, March 17145 P.M, 2 will be no interruption of through travel on the e Railway, as an arrangement has the broad gauge line of the Delaware Wesieru Railway, betw are Railway Compa wor trains witaout change nh depot, at Jersey City, to Buttalo, Cincinnati at regiiar advertised trains will run as asual. lt is reported that two men hive been drowned about two miles above here, Their bodies were recovered, but there was no way of commun) cating with points up the river and their names were not ascertained. MORE DANGER, There are still fears of another flood, The vari- r cars from shieago and hours, Local ous streams that ron into tne Delaware are begin. | bing to fill again, and the peopie predict anotner drowning out, ‘The Water remains about the same tieight as ufter ten o’clock A. M. Immense quantities of ice have passed down all day jong. UP THE RIVER. Por? JERVIS, March 17, 1875. The first sign of impending danger appeared act Downsville, on the West Branch, in Dela- ware county. The ice began breaking up there yesterday alternoon, the river rising almost in an instant to @n immense height. The food did comparatively little damage watt It passed Deposit. Ashort distance below that place the ice formed @ heavy gorge in the channel. This was in @ few minutes piled thirty feet bigh with large cakes of ice, The water being dammed by this blockade It rapidly ran back to Deposit, burl- ing buge cakes o: ice upto the topof the Erie Railway embankment and leaving some across the rails, The raiiroad bridge over the river at Deposit was lifted slightly from its foundations, The lower part of Doposit was quickly iaundated, So sudden was the Nood that dwelllags were sur- rounded belore the inmates could escape, and they Were removed in boats. Houses were seen floating away among tae brokea ice in a very short time, and horses, cows aud pigs Were seen ou ali hands swimming jor places of safety, Deveroux's oxtensive sawmill was removed ivom foundations, aud thousands of dollars’ worth of lumber were swept away, The water had reached almoas the contro of the village, anu stores and dwelliaga wore being emptied of their contents, When a chanel waa iorced through the gorge and the water receded, passingina food of hoaving ic , Dearing away Jumbor, fences, trees And several buildings, Many Valuable horses B tween Deposit and Hale’a Nady portions of the carcaasea of horses li¢ high up on the ioe cast upon the banks. SWART INTO RPERNITY, From Deposit the flood passea vy Hale's Eddy, where (t took away nearly a million feet of lumber ready Jor raiting, belonging (o Nenry Evans and | James Vurnilt. | jookout Out lor the property, Was§washed away | belove he could escape, and his body has not yet ® or tree standing along | When the advancing ice | struck tue ice gorge at Hale's Kady, which tormed ou Fobruary 27, there was a momentary check. | Ths moving ice rose with the jorce bebind it ina | DiicRe great Wave, Move than ity feet high, and eolied | Qbeemeuts. A. Whiteman, Who was keeping a Every fen the bank was carried oi Boch in an itistant were hurled | Down the stream the | It was carried | labor | j due | river. Gitterts pt |ASH.PACONG IS, 8 hurried down in the flood, mules beyond Hancock, everything was inundated. | George McComb, who was in a barn, 100 yards | Jrom the river, pulting the harness on his horse, heard the roar of the Nood and nad time to reach a large chestuut tree near by and climbed beyond the reach of the advancing water and ice, which rolled threateningly below him for hours belore he could leave his perch. A TRAIN CHECKED BY THE FLOOD. At Hancock, where the East Branch joins the Main stream, the water had been rising gradually all day, but no break up was considered 1mminent- At a quarter past seven last evening the ice began breaking and the river commenced rismg very rapidly. ‘Tram No. on the Erie Railway, was approaching Han- cock at that time. The great flood burst upon the sight of those aboard the train as it came thundering down the valiey. ‘The train Was stopped scarcely twenty-live leet above the water margin, Which extends far agead over the flats, which stretch a quarter of a mile from the river bank. The avalanche was sweeping every- thing bevore it. Huge trees, that had witastood the winds and storms of centuries, snapped be- fore it like reeds and topplea over to joi the de- stroying deiuge. For three mules down the stream the flood advanced without resistaoce, Within eighteen inches of the railroad track, upon whico huge blocks orice were hurled at intervals, A SCENE OF TERROR. The passengers in tne train fled in terror to the hign ground on their rignt; men, women and children, peiimeil and with no regard to baggage or property of any kind which they might have in the cars,, The sight was one to terrily the sloutest neart. Women fainted and were carried trom the cars, The air was filled with the. cries of irigotened women and children, and the gathering darkness added terror to the scene. Three miies | below Hancock tne ice became gorged in the channel. Ing very jew seconds the water was rushing back along its track to Hancock. At sev- eral places the railroad track was covered with tce and water, and every telegraph pole tne entire dis- tance was levelled to the ground. The iron rate road bridge across the hast Branch 1s seyenty | Jeet from the bed of the river. So great | was the jam tuat the ice was heaped up so that it nearly touched the stringers. The villagers were horror-stricken. Destruction | to the lower part of the place was threatened. in less than a quarter of a minute the water raised ten teet above its food height. Fortanately the pressure Was So 1@imense that the gorge gave way und the water fell as rapidly as it had risen. Vakes of ice weighing hundreas of tons were lett lying across the eastward bound track. When the great dam Was atits highest it was nearly a mile | wide and forty feet high, In its lowest part, sip- gularly, the damage to the railroad was sight. It Was with grea: aificulty that many of the passen- gers Who nad left the train could be imduced to board, but the tram was finally started y and met no further obstruction, COURSE OF THR DELUGE Night now enwrapped the scene. The moon, shin- ing on the surging flood, brougnt out in bold relict its ragged profile aud surrounded it with new terror. Rushing ov down the ri it reached Kport, sweeping the banks above clear of lumber, fenc telegraph poles and everything movabic. The o te | timber lor fliiteen raits was carried away from the bank at the Village, and to is thought that three tramps, Who had been hired by tne railroad com- pany to watch & pile of railroad ities, were | srowned (ney have not been seen since the | food. The hign bank of the railroad protected 1b | from damage, put the track was piled imo: ice ) jor imies, Lhe accumulation of the food bow rep- resented a@ fortune a milliounaire might cove!, aud contained the fragments of many an humvie home. Raion and desoianon marked 1s track, but greater Was still to come, RACING THE TORRENT. After the destruction of telegraph communica- tion at Hancock, Kk. W. Ware, superintendent of the track on the Delaware division, started in a handecar for that point to give warning to the sta- tons below; but the combined efforts of a force of stout laborers were insuiticient to outstrip the flood, and they were only enabiea to keep ahead of it, it moved 10 @ Wave fiiteen :eet high, crowned with ice, jogs, trees and miscellaneous drift, Its moron Was rotary, and seemed to reach clear to the bottom o! the river at every roli and surge. From Stockport it swept through Big Equinunk eddy, clearing raits and = lumber docks apd taking away three small buildings, It passed under the suspension bridge uniting the villages of Equtuunk and Lordvilie, badly shattermmg the pliers. At the Basket station another double span wooden bridge was destroyed, the massive stone pier crumbling to pieces like sand. ‘this bridge Was carried on tho ice as far as Hankin’s, where it lodged, causing another block. ade of the ice. Before it forced its way along the water bucked for two miles aud chreatened destruc tou to the railroad track. The lumber jor iiteen Talts jay piled near the mouth of Little Equinunk creek, between Basket and Hankin’s. If belonged tothe Brawans und Kellams, heavy jumber oper. aters, and was all carried away. TUS VILLAGE OF CALLICOON COVERED. The ice from Big Equinunk to Callicoou went | our atthe break-up in Peoruary. This extent of | lee, Which had covered sixteen imiles of the river, | alu day jammed on Ouilicoon Island, aud now stretcned back seven miles, When the food siruck it lt resisted for a moment and then gave way. Caliicoon Creek Was jammed back a mile, The bank was piled figh with ice in a jew minutos | and the Water broke over, Lt was lited ap and | broken to pieces, ‘The ice made a feariul jam at Rock Run snd fooded Vasdlicoon, Many of the residents had deserted their houses jong belore and stood ob bigh ground, powerless to stay the work of destruction golug On around them, Acres fertiue viver bovom were cut away this piace, and burely stick Of timber is to be Been, The jam at Rock Ran was of tly 4 auratiou thua any of the previous were, but broke uway avout Tmiunight COOMBCTON'S EXPHAYENCE. The flood passed beneath Cochecton Bridge Witaout celug apy damage, and got through Vochecton Falls, The danger that threatened Wat Village Was accordingly thougat to de over, about oue o'clock it Was discovered that the Water was backing Up rapidly, and it was at once known that a jam haa oceirred below. A despatch trom Narrowsvurg informed the peonie of Cochecton that the ice bad gorwea badly on Hog Island, two ralles wes: of the lormer piace, The jaM aid not oreak until two o’clock, And che tower part of Cochecton was drowned out. At Ger’s Flats, two | quite | grounds of | solid, This iarge body of unbroken ice oftered such resistance to the advancing mass that it gain checked. The ive at once commenced ptimg up im the “Narrows” beneath the bridge until it reached the beams. By that or the flood 1 3 forced Intact In the Eddy, and the jorced 1f to give way. It rted in the centre and the report that followed as Hike the firing of a cannon. Instantly tha portion of the ice nearest the Peunsylvania shore raised up ten fe nd, as kt broke into cakes, they. were thrown high into the air. THE DAMAGE AS BIG EDDY. The upheaval swept in a circie around to the New York siiore, forcing the ice and water throug a culvert beneatn the radroad, the outlet ol & pond on the other side of tue railroad, aga a sheet of water twelve feet deep and covering over twa AU upward press acres of ground was formed below the pond. The sudden rise twisted several large hickory trees off, standing at the mouth of the outlet, but the food ice having forced a sufficient channel on the Penu- syivania side, no lurther damage was done im tue | Eddy, Daroy Tannery, below Narrowsbarg, on the Pennsylvania side of the river, was surprised by the ice, and all operations there have ceased, PARTIAL ESTIMATE OF THE LOSS. The loss above Port Jervis cannot be less than $500,000, It is feared that the immense quantines of lumber destroyed will seriously affect the tnancial question in the lumber region. Tne flood of yesterday and to-day may be recorded as the most damagirg ever known in the Delaware valley. No idea of the ruin that lies in the water of the great ice flood in the welaware River above bis place can be lormed without visiting tne various places along the stream. Tne rise of the water was so sudden that, even though it had been expected jor days, it took the entire region by surprise, and where the least damage was anticipated there the most seems to have been done. Although the river ia | still white with floating ice the worst 1s believed to be over. From the head of the river to this place and far below, @ wall of ice blocks from ten to tweuty ieet bigh lines each bank. Thousands ot dollars worth ot lumber 1s strung along the whole length of the stream, jammed upin the ice, and the most of it is irrecoverably lost. THE SUSQUEHANNA. THE WORK OF DESTRUCTION ALONG IT3 BANKS— WILKESBARRE, PLYMOUTH AND OTHER TOWNS THREATENED WITH COMPLETE INUNDATION. Pittston, Pa., March 17, 1875. At three o’clock this morning there was not & cloud in the sky, and the moon and stars looked calmly down upon the work of destruction come pieted by the flood during the previous six hours. At daylight the streets were frozen and covered witha light mantle of snow. Standing on the only remaining span of the new bridge, the scene which met the eye was a dreary and desolate one, The river was clear of ice, except along its margins, butit rushed by with a tremens dous tury, leaping ana tossing its yellow waters as wildly as the Hudson when @ northeaster surg itup. The current had droppea down considera- bly, but this was caused by the change in the weuther, which closed up the many mountas uibutaries, THE WORK OF THE FLOOD. Looking over the vast sweep of the Susque« hanna, the track of the terrible flood is plainly seen in the huge slabs of solid ice piled up along the banks and in many places tossed up inte rugged promontories twenty feet mga. The the elegant residences along the river point on the wesc side are terribly distigured by the uncouth accumuations left by the angry flood. Im ana around thé junction there are painful evidences of destruc. tion, Houses have been wrecked, outbuildings swept away, iences remeved, trees ups rooted and vast deposits of ice leftin the low bottom lands, Just above the junction a mage nificent iron bridge spanned the Lackawan River, which empties into the Susquehanna at this point, This, too, jell @ prey to the flood and was completely demolished. Scarcely a ves tige remains of the handsome structure, WhiCD, though small, cos: nearly $10,000, ‘The back water from the Susquehanna carried itaway. Of the three large bridges woich were swept into the current, and whose mammoth prov portions passed out of sight intact, not a beam or girder 18 to be seen from the river banks, Shortly aiter they went down a terrible crash was heard below, where they probably struck on @ small island which iles just opposite Wyoming, im About the centre of the river, ANOTHER VISITATION FRARED, Aithough the bridges are gone and the river hag subsided considerably, there exist great ape prenensions with regard to a supplementary flood, which will undoubtedly set iu with warmer weather. It has been ascertained that ull the ice has not gone out yet, Indeed, a gorge of unusual proportions and strength hae Jormed since last night, beginning at a point about two miles above this ploce and extending up the river beyond Ransom, which is about eight miles irom here. This gorge is in extent abouts half @ mile wide, and it gocs ap the Susquehanna at least ten miles, if not surthers ‘The whole distance is covered with vast aores of crystal slabs, irom three to four feet thick, and massed in irregular conformations to the average height of twenty feet, Looking down upon it from a bridiepath in the mountain below Camp. bell’s Ledge to-night, the scene is one oi terrific Arctic grandeur, The rugged peaks of the crystal biucks stand like giant spears aad reflect the pale ie Water stood four leet deep in the houses. As | rays of the moon with spectral sigmifican Thie at previous points, large quantities of jamber | gorge ts lodged bere between two ty tein were swept away, ver othe ice lett Hog | ranges almost perpendicuiar ation Isiaud = 1t BOOn Struck «the =“Narrows’? in | and now covered with two or tI tf snow. the channel at Narrowsburg, Tis ts the COMMUNICATION CUT opening to Big Eddy, tne deepest place on the Both shores of the “Narrows’! ure perpen. uicdlay rocks thirty ieet igh, and a wooden a@bout one hundred leet long ned the pas tue Yocky foundation furnishing natural fhe ice iw the Big Bddy was jour over the obstruction, Whieo Wasson tormawvay and | ives tick, add Whed the Hood reached it Was Many farmhouses are suomerged, and all rail roud Communications are cut of, The Leniga Valley road, whicn touc! ere, is covered With water aud ice to the depth of sevorai feet, as Tie CONTINUED ON TENTH PAGE,