Here
and there, we are reminded that over the centuries of human
population in what we know as Indiana, there is occasional heavy
rain. As the purpose of the Fairfield 200 blog is to acknowledge two
of those centuries as our history, it’s worth noting that flooding
caused our demise.
Flooding
elsewhere. But in 1852, it’s doubtful anyone blamed the problem on
Fairfield, although they suffered all the same. This dispatch
published in an outpost paper in Aurora (Dearborn Co.) called the
Independent Banner:
A
deluge of rain!
“The
heavy and continued rains of Wednesday and Thursday (Dec. 25-26,
1852) in the Valley of the two Miamis caused a sudden rise of water
in those streams and their tributaries, which yesterday swept in a
flood over their banks, carrying away fences, out-houses, dams,
mills, lumber and in many places, bridges in its course.
“A
larger portion of the Eaton Railway is submerged and several bridges
carried away. The Venice bridge on the Brookville and Oxford Pike was
so obstructed with floating drift as to prevent it being traveled
through.
“The
passenger train on the Hamilton Railway that left yesterday with a
large number of passengers, passed the bridge beyond Hamilton when a
messenger on horseback announced to the conductor that the flood had
risen to such a height and bore with such force on the middle pier of
the Twin Creek Bridge that it had burst it asunder, and that the
adjacent embankment in many places had been washed away.”
In
another column:
“At
Connersville the river at that point was high and rising rapidly and
the water had come so near the telegraph wire which extends over the
river that it had to be taken down to prevent the driftwood from
carrying it off.”
* * *
Near
Fairfield, while the covered bridge was still 2 decades in the
future, one assumes a bridge across the river existed, and it
probably washed out. A mill on the river there was destroyed (see
clip at right).
The
Brookville American, on Jan. 7, 1853, published an article
saying the Whitewater Canal had been damaged and would be repaired
and in working order within a short time.
“The
canal must and will be repaired. And it can be done in three months
as well as nine. Then there will be six months for the mills and
merchandise to be making money – and six months to collect toll.
Repair quick and $40,000 in tolls will be saved to the canal and ten
times as much to the business of the valley.”
The
lot of damage occurred at Cambridge City. “The destruction of
private property has been immense.” Serious damage also occurred at
a feeder dam near Harrison.
A
woolen factory and bridge were destroyed at Laurel, The paper said
that “it was supposed in January 1847 that the destructive flood
that occurred on the first day of that month was probably a
centennial visitor.”
The
problem was, people believed it and built their structures along the
river assuming it couldn’t happen again. “The ruin and desolation
cannot be particularized.”
The
paper went on to speculate that farming methods of the time, the
digging of drainage ditches, was messing with the ecology of the
swamps near the rivers and that they could expect more flooding in
the future, perhaps every year. It would be many years before they
learned their lesson about tampering with the river.
In
the same article, the paper said the Spear and Stevens paper and
flouring mills would be repaired as soon as they had the money. The
paper said the Spears mill had been damaged several times in the
previous 5 years and invoked some patriotic zeal toward the
challenge.
“Some
Generals by an adroit maneuver, turn defeat into victory. Some men by
commercial failure thereby learn to lay a sure foundation for future
success and final wealth. In others, their real resources and true
greatness are never developed until they are brought out by adverse
fortunes.”
Amen.
I
don’t know specifically where the Venice bridge was located, but it
might have been the one at the state line east of Bath. That bridge
was dismantled and rebuilt in Butler County.
LINK TO THAT HERE
