The Farmers journal. (Homer, Ga.) 1888-1889, August 22, 1889, Image 3

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HISTORY OF FLOODS. i lie Johnstown Calamity Compar ed With Other Disasters—The Previous Great Floods iu Europe, Africa and India, It may not ire generally known, hut. it is true, that the great flood ot Johnstown in Pennsylvania, is t;a. most disastrous so far as loss of life is concerned, that lias occurr ed in either Europe or Amerieafor nearly three centuries. There have been floods and lloods since the deluge. It has been no uncommon thing to look for re ports of overtlows in the ''■’alley of the Xile, With great loss ol life. Nor do floods in India cause any great surprise, for the frequency with which the Ganges and other rivers of India break their bounds, is well known. The same is Iruo of the rivers of China, and was once true of those of Spain, in the older times the breaking of d : kes in lid land carried desolation into many thousand families. But since James I? sat on the throne of England there has been no such horror known as that cans ed by the floods in southwestern Pennsylvania, with the exception of one in China, although even in > nr own country, tho Mississippi, nod many smaller streams have played very serious pranks with the people who happened to live near their banks. Probably tha most disastrous European Hood oa record within 1 lie last 500 years was caused by the failure of tlie dike in Holland m 1500. A general inundation fol lowed and 400,000 persons are said to have been drowned. The great est following this was Hie iloods in Catalonia in 1617, when 50,000 persons lost their lives. 'i here have, however, been some big Hoods during the present cen jury, both in this and other coun tries, that were damaging enough in their way. It was but shortly after the opening ot the century, in December 1802, that the river Li dev broke its bounds and did a vast amount of damage in the city of Dublin. It was even earlier in the same year that Lorea, a city in Spain, was destroyed by the burst ing of reservoir, which inundated t wenty leagues and drowned more than one thousand persons, In 1811 the Danube overflowed at a point near Pesth and swept away twenty-four villages and their inhabitants, and these Iloods were followed by others almost as disastrous in the summer of ISI3, when whole villages in Austria- Hungary and Poland wero swept away, In September ol ISI3 the Danube rose and swept away a corps of Turkish troops, 2,000 strong, who were encamped on an iwand in the river near Wifiner. During the same year 6,000 men ai d women were drowned in the tiiesia and 4,000 in Poland. In 1816, in January, there were e veral iloods at Strabane, Ireland, t sed Ly the melting of snow on jl:_ mountains. In the same year tLj river Vistula overflowed and destroyed 10,000 head of cattle anti 4,000 houses, beside numerous liv es, During 1810 there was a flood in the fen countrios in England, when 51000 acres of land were in undated. In IS3O there were great floods iu Vv’ica, and in 1833 came the great overt! >w in China, when 1.000 persons were drowned in Can ton alone. Iu 18-10 Lyons, Mar s dies and other towns in France were submerged by a break in the banks of the river Rhone. And so the list goes. Hero is something.' like the ehrenolical order in which various floods occurred: 18-10. Overflow of tho river Loire in the west and southwest of France, Damage, $20,000,000. The Loire rose 20 feet in one night. 1S4!). May—New Orleans flood ed by the inundation of tho Miss issippi. 1852. Floods at Ilolmfirlh in %d>ruary. Overflow of the Rhine and Rhone in September. City of Hamburg flooded by tho Elbe. 1856. Floods m the south of France, 1804, Lradfleld reservoir, Eng land, Wrst March 11/ 250 persons drowned. 1862. Forty thousand acres in Holland submerged. Inundations in France. ISG9. January—Cork, Dublin and other Irish cities were flooded and much suffering was caused. 1666, September—Great inun dations in the south of France. November—Great floods in Lan cashire, Yorkshire and Derbyshire, England. Mills were carried away, mines were flooded, railroads were torn up and many lives were lost. IS7O. Home was inundated and many lives were lost. The Xdng was obliged to relieve the sufferers wiih money, 1872. In October there were great floods in Nothern Italy and thousands of persons at Mantua, Ferrara and other toivns were left homeless. 1874, The banks of the Tham es river were swept and many lives were lost. May 16, the reservoir near Northampton, Mass., burst much in the same manner as did that above Johnstown, Mill Riv er Valley was swept by Ihe flood, 144 persons lost their lives. July 2-iih a waterspout burst; at Eureka, Nevada, and many lives were lost. July 20th 220 persons were drown ed in Pittsbfirg and Allegheny by the rising ol the rivers in Western Pennsylvania. 1575. By tho rising of the riv er Garonne in France a portion of Toulouse was destroyed in June and 1,000 lives were lost. From July until November of the same year England and Wales suffered from heavy floods. During the same period some 20,000 persons were left homeless in India by tho same causes. 1876. March—Se vere floods in France and Holland. December—Floods in England. 1877. New Year’s Pay the water overflowed the piers at Payer, Folke stone and Eastings, England, causing niueh damage. IS7B. April—London suffered from inundations for several days. 1879. A flood in Szegendin, Hun gary, swept away the entire town. Ov er one hundred persons v ere drowned and more than six thousand dwellings were destroyed. .Ju e—The riyere Po snd Mncio overflowed, causing conch damage in me north of Itah. October 16 17—Floods in Alicante and other Kpanish provinces destroyed 1,000 lives and swept away several thousands of houses. December—Hun gry was again visited by floods. 1880. The midland counties of Eo gland suffered severely from overflows, 1882. In January there weie bea ■y\ Hoods ail through the Ohio and Mississippi valleys, and there was much loss of life and property. 1887. From three to four million lives lost by inundation in China. l.eirer, [From the Journal’s Correspondent.] Washington, Aug. 12, ISB9.—what become of all the defeated politicians of high rank? Where go all the men who march out of tho political arena to the gay music of triumph that in stalls the sncieesora? Right here in Washington scores of them remair. Some of them fall in love with the wide avenues, the cleanliness and the ele gance of the city. O.hers find that they have been so long away from the places they ones called “home,” that old associates and interests are severed. You can hardly go a block on the av enue cn any sunshiny day iu the sea son without seeing a hall dozen people intimately associated with the official life of yesterday. They are for the most part a prosperous, happy set. fond of good dinners, inclined to doze over the wine, and worried no more by their constituents. The gout has now more teirots for them than tho “dees trict committee’' ever had. Tbere is Gen. Belknap, whose wife has recently returned from Paris to in troduce her daughter into society. 11 a erect, slow moving figure and long white beard seem always on the street in the evening. He smokes slowly and solemnly, after the manner of his old chief, then Pres. Grant. Toe shadow of the big scandals that dis tinguiehed bis administr.atftn as aca 1 • inet officer seem to havo died out of his mind, even as the recollection of the insane extravagance of his wife that forced the good-natured weak man into the toils, has been softened. Gen Belknap is now a lobbyist. The iron gray hair and brown eyes of Grant’s secretary of the treasury, now “Lawyer’’ Boutwell, are familiar to all elub men. lie looks upon the time when ha did not call Washington “fume” as being lost, and the thought makes him sombre. His successor in the cabinet, Wil liaiu A. Richardson, is now Chief Jus tice of the Court of Claims, and lives in a magnificent house in the North west. His residence is near that of ex- Postmaster-Gen. Cress well, still an other of Grant’s advisers, and now the busy president of the Citizen’s Na tional Bank. Hon. George Bsncrott, waiting, Bd aDd full of honors for the coming <d the gi v en messenger, is a figure of tire long past; he was secretary of ihe ua vy under Pres. Polk, and had a bri! liaut career in the diplomatic service, although bis political reputation was loDg since swallowed up in his fame as a historian. He abandoned horse back ri-ling last season and even sold his saddle horses* and is now seldom seen beyond the flower beds of his own home, Ex-Secretary McCulloch has a con stitution ot iron and is as hale and hearty as when ha was secretary ot ihe treasury under i’res. Lincoln, au office that he has tw.ee had tho itouor of holding. New’Millinery Store* James T. Comer, MAYSVILLE, GEOrGIA Has Employed A First Class uV* V Qv \A/vVw\rV* With a New Stock of Hats from New York and Baltimore of the latest styles, from the finest to the cheapest. Also fine Dress Goods, Ribbons ami Laces, Kid Gloves, Embroideries, Corsets of all kinds. In fact a Complete stock of fancy notions. Shoes, Mats and Clothing. Tobacco, Staple Grocer ies, and Harness and Leather. All Kinds of Drugs and Patent Medicines, COMER’S GUARANTEE CHICKEN CHOLERA CURE. Standard and Pacific Kerocene, Machine and Castor Oils, by the bottle or gallon. Agent for Athens Factory goods, and many more. A D. Boone’s Georgia Test and Acid Work’s Pure Bone, Fermau’s Soluble Bone and Kein ical Guario. The best line of guanos in the united states, prie sas cheap as the cheapest. Breeder of fifteen varieties ot fancy Ducks, Chickens and Geese. Eggs lor 6ale. 44. Gunnels, Power & Cos., —.HARMONY - GROVE,— * — v DEALERS IN f Plantation Supplies. * x 'YJGQ^ v 6 <maA Qwgmo* • We Keep in stock a fall supply of good and fresh goods. We can not be surpassed in Quality and Dnranility. We buy at lowest market figures; we defy competition in prices. We want only a living profit on onr sales, Me do not claim to be Yanderbilts, nor do we wish to accumulate their fortunes. We are receivins daily, a full snpplv of our Customers every day wants. Country Produce Taken in Exchange at Highest Market Prices. Hardman & 0 omp’ny, t I-larMONy GrOVE DEALERS IN HardwarE & Cutl’rY. Oor Lino of Stoves, Tinware, Agricultural Implements, Etc., can ... . round in better Quality aDd Durability, Elsewhere. We also keep ago ii ot guns for the fall trade. Cali and examine our stock and prices, i D