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Gazette & Courier - Monday, August 30, 1875
Burkville
The usually reliable Hampshire Gazette publishes the following item, under the head of Franklin County":
"A man named Louis Burke, who lived at Burkesville, a few days ago indulged in very blasphemous language because his crops had been ruined by high water. He cursed God for having his crops destroyed last year by heat and drought, and for destroying them this year by the flood, and concluded his blasphemy of the Creator with the expression "God damn him!" His tongue clove to the roof of his mouth and he died the next night, never uttering another word".
Now this was not a Franklin County man at all, but a resident of Burkesville, Ky.; and what is more, the wicked blasphemer is said to be still alive. The God fearing people of our own Burkville, Conway, have good reason to resent any such imputation.
Gazette & Courier - Monday, August 23, 1875
Shelburne Falls
We are glad to know that the Newell brothers have made arrangements with the manager of the peach train at Springfield, to have fresh peaches sent them every day.
Gazette & Courier - Monday, August 23, 1875
Shelburne
The freshet of last week did more damage than it was at first expected, especially in the northeast part. The road up the Brook to Warren Allen's is mostly swept away, including bridges, and the stream in some places has changed places with the road, and run with undisputed velocity, and for a long distance the road looks like the forsaken bed of an old stream. It must cost so many hundred dollars to rebuild the road that it is thought by some that it will be better to give up that route and build a road from the Boyden place across to Col. Wells' road, where a sort of bridle path now runs.
At about 5 o'clock Sat. aft., nearly half of the big dam at the cotton factory gave way, and in 20 minutes that half was a complete wreck. The damage is estimated at about $3000. The dam was known to be in need of repairs, signs of weakness having been detected in it soon after the tremendous ice pressure of last spring, and the mill had been shut down, and work on the dam was to have been commenced Mon. The repairs would have cost some $500.
Work will be begun on the new dam at once, and it will cost $2500. It will be about 6 weeks before it will be ready for use, the 85 hands employed by W.A. Fisher & Co's. mill, and the 45 employed by the Pequoig Hosiery Co. in the same building having a chance to rest in the meantime.
Gazette & Courier - Monday, August 16, 1875
News about home: Greenfield items
The storm last Wed. night was one of the hardest we have had this section for a long time. For several hours the water poured down in perfect torrents, washing out the roads in all directions. The gorge road to Shelburne was rendered impassible. At the Glen Reservoir, drawing off of the water, preparatory to the proposed alteration, had been commenced the previous day. The pond had been lowered 14 by 15 ft. But a perfect flood came down the brook above during the night, rapidly filling the reservoir, and the next day it was pouring over the dam at a great depth, and the land below was overflown.
Residents in the vicinity said that there appeared to be more water in the Glen hook than at the time of the flood of '69. The water that came through the mains in the village had a mixture of mud that was not particularly agreeable to those who are dependent upon it for a beverage and for cooking.
The Executive Committee of the Connecticut River Valley Association of Odd Fellows met at Lake Pleasant Thurs. and made the preliminary arrangements for the fourth annual picnic of the Association at Lake Pleasant July 15. 17 lodges were represented and a great deal of enthusiasm manifested in the programme, which will include an address by Rev. A.H. Sweetser, vocal and instrumental music and dancing, and last but not least, a grand union dress parade of the patriarchal branch of the order. Five encampments have been invited to attend and participate, and 3 have already accepted the invitation. There will be by far the biggest gathering of Odd Fellows ever assembled in this part of the State. The public are invited. At least 3 bands will be present.
An extraordinary thunderstorm passed over the old Hungarian capital of Buda, opposite Pesth [i.e. Pest] on the Danube Mon. The lightning was incessant and hail fell in such quantities that the roofs of the houses and the surrounding hills were covered 2 ft. thick with ice. The waterfall was extraordinary. Torrents swept through the streets of Buda carrying men, vehicles and everything movable down the river. Many houses were suddenly flooded and destroyed before the inmates could escape. Over 500 of the inhabitants are missing, and at least 100 drowned or killed by falling walls. All the railways are interrupted. [See "The floods of Buda-Pesth in the New York Times online index for July 26, 1875].
Gazette & Courier - Monday, June 28, 1875
Millers Falls
Lewey & Wheeler are repairing the damage done by last Spring's freshet to the bridge leading to Northfield on Millers River. The whole of the south abutment has had to be taken down and relaid, and a portion of the foundation of the pier, also, has had to be relaid. The damage done is estimated to be about $2000.
Gazette & Courier - Monday, June 21, 1875
The location of the new bridge
The County Commissioners spent the Centennial, when other people were enjoying a day of recreation at home or of enthusiastic patriotism at the Hub, in settling the new Turners Falls bridge, making surveys and measuring distances. There were difficulties in their work that were not easily surmounted. It will be remembered that a few weeks ago the Board attempted to cross over to the island below the dam for this purpose, when an oar of the skiff they embarked in was broken, and they were forced to abandon the undertaking until the waters should get into a more placid state. On Thurs. Col. Holmes of Riverside acted as boatsman, and landed a portion of the party on the island by rowing out into the stream above the dam and then dropping down with the current to the desired point. Another party was entrusted to the care of Commodore Smith, the old ferryman, who piloted his skiff across below the dam, by which a wire for measuring was stretched from the shore to the island. The turbulent channel between the little and big islands was spanned by throwing across the line. the island was then surveyed and the distance across the channel on the Gill side.
/ This work, which required a good deal of paddling about from one point to another, consumed the entire day. The measurements taken are as follows: From the river wall on the Turners Falls side to the little island, 267 ft.; across the little island, 187 ft.; across the channel between the two islands, 451 ft.; across the large island 230 ft.; and from the island to the Gill shore, 216 ft. This would make the distance to be spanned by the bridge or rather bridges, for in reality there will have to be two, 821 ft. But this measurement is only from the river wall on the Turners Falls shore. The Water Power Company say that a bridge must span 150 ft. more to permit the widening, when necessary, of their canal. The only serious difficulty to be encountered at the terminus on the Turners Falls side. The space between the shops of the Clark & Chapman Machine Company and the building of the Montague Paper company is only 27 ft., and through this space the bridge must come. To be in a direct line with Avenue A, a small portion of the buildings on one side or the other, and perhaps both, will have to be removed; while directly in the center of this space just below the bulkhead, a water wheel is located, which would probably have to be taken out.
/ The place originally designed for this wheel was beneath the shop on the bulkhead, and it could probably be moved there with no serious opposition. We do not think that the Clark & Chapman Company will claim heavy damages unless there is serious interference with their buildings and the expensive machinery with which they are filled. On the other hand the Montague Paper company have built this portion of their mill since there was talk of locating a bridge here and since surveys were made expressly, the friends of the bridge claimed, to defeat their plans. Whether this would have any weight in awarding damages remains to be seen. A gentleman connected with the Water Power company informed the Commissioners that damages would be claimed if this location were adopted, that would amount to half the sum stipulated by the Legislature for the construction of the bridge, but the Commissioners propose to call a meeting at an early day, for the purpose of ascertaining the land damages, and settle this point, perhaps, before they accept proposals of the construction of the bridge.
/ It has been suggested, and we believe the plan is favored by the Turners Falls Company, that the eastern terminus of the bridge can be carried across the dam to a point just above the line of the bulkhead. But the danger from the logs that sometimes go over the dam with one end many feet in the air, or the liability of having the structure carried away by some bridge that may be swept down from above as they were in the great freshet, renders this location an impractical one. there are also those who claim that a bridge could be built for many thousand dollars less at the ferry above than at the dam. But the act of the Legislature requiring the commissioners to construct the bridge, designates the latter locality. The commissioners, who were hospitably entertained at the Farren House, completed their surveys, getting the heights, grades, etc. on Friday.
Gazette & Courier - Monday, May 31, 1875
Horrible disaster
Church burned at Holyoke; frightful loss of life; 79 people burned to death - The most terrible disaster in the history of Western Massachusetts, save the Mill River flood of last May, and one of the worst ever known in New England, occurred in Holyoke Thurs. eve. The French Catholic Church at South Holyoke caught fire about 8 o'clock, while a large congregation was attending the evening services, and so rapidly did the flames spread that a number of people were unable to make their escape, and 66 persons, men, women and children, were burned to death, and a no. of others were fatally burned or wounded, so the total loss of life will reach at least 75.
/ The audience in the church was large. Thee were 700 or 800 people at the service, a very large proportion being women, with but few children and not many men. The vesper service was nearly through, and it was as the priest, Father Dufesne [i.e. Father Dufresne], turned to the altar to consecrate the host that the tragedy began, lightly - as such tragedies do, and at the moment no one who looked on thought of danger. The censer of incense [i.e. censor] kept burning in the shrine of the Virgin at the side of the chancel; by some unkindly current of air flamed up and caught the lace or muslin drapings around the arch enclosing the sacred effigy. A young woman, Ellen or Lend Blair [i.e. Lena Blair], rose in her pew close beside the shrine, and with her fan beat the flames, in a vain endeavor to extinguish them.
/ The flimsy draperies were choice food for the fire which rapidly reached upward to the top of the shrine, caught eagerly at the light pine ceiling, and in a mere moment wrapped the roof above in fringing flame jets and gnawed hungrily along the light galleries. Then all was panic. The assault was instantaneous; it gave no time to deliberate, no time to appreciate the fearful scene http://www.holyokemass.com
b_fire/images/insidechurchlast3.jpg . The survivors of the disaster hardly knew what happened. It was all too swift for thought. The flame ran along the tinder roof as quick as a man could run. Hardly one was there who did not obey the blind instinct of self preservation.
/ In the gallery on the western side, many leaped from the windows upon the scaffolding of the new brick church building beside the old one, and most of the people on the floor chose windows or the inside front doors to escape. All those in the western gallery did escape, for the stairway heading thence to the vestibule was direct and easy. The unfortunate men and women in the eastern gallery had a far different task. The windows were a sheer descent, not only of their height above the floor, but of the embankment on which the church stood, and then the way thence to the vestibule, instead of a straight stairway, was around a sharp double angle. And here, in their hot haste, the unfortunate creatures tripped and fell, one upon another, until the hall beneath was choked with a desperate, struggling, writhing mass of humanity http://www.holyokemass.com
b_fire/images
blood_03.jpg . Meanwhile some had passed toward the rear door that led to the priest's house in the rear, but that too, was speedily invaded by the flames.
/ It took but two minutes. The engines were on hand then, and no time was lost in getting streams of water on the flames, which then encompassed all the sanctuary and burst from the front windows and doors. Then the work of extricating from the burning building the dead and dying began. The firemen, while water poured in above, entered the vestibule, and, covered by the descending torrents, rescued the bodies from the horrid sepulchre before the eastern door and at the foot of the stairs, which formed the death trap of that gallery.
/ The heap of human forms was too high to see the top of it from the doorway, and their struggles and their efforts had ceased. to all appearances there was nothing to save of life, yet the faithful firemen drew forth blackened and unrecognizable forms, scarce bearing the semblance of humanity.They came across occasionally a breathing form, and laid upon the earth nearby, who survived but a few seconds, nor revived to consciousness; stiffened and blackened, their spark of life was not strong enough to last. But most of the bodies were lifeless, and disguised by suffocation or by the fire that charred their garments and their flesh out of all resemblance to what they were.
/ The catastrophe was so sudden, so swift, so pauseless, that few were cool enough to observe its minutiae. The ruins of the church lie now a heap of charred timbers and arches over a hidden floor quite untouched by fire. The priest's house adjoining it in the rear, a mere shell, stands to mark more emphatically the spot. The whole no. of persons known to have lost their lives is 79, nearly all of them mill operatives. Nearly all those who were not burned to death before they were reached, were so severely scorched that they died within a few minutes; 20 so died after being taken out from the ruins. http://www.holyokemass.com
b_fire/images/monats-100dpi.jpg Out of the whole no. only 7 men are known to have perished. Most of the victims were young women from 15 to 25 years old, though some were old women. [See the New York Times article entitled "The Holyoke Disaster", From May 29, 1875. Also known as the Precious Blood Church fire http://www.holyokemass.com
Gazette & Courier - Monday, April 19, 1875
Hampshire county items
L. Loomis and Son of Haydenville are building a tenement house in the rear of their hotel on the bank of Mill River...A young lad named Monkler, aged 18, and one of those who escaped at the time of the flood, had his leg amputated above the knee the other day by Dr. Trow; disease in his leg was the cause...H.W. Sampson has the contract for building Hayden Gere & Co's. new shops. Most of the bricks are already on the ground, the foundations are laid, the foundry completed, and the work on the main buildings will be pushed rapidly as soon as the weather permits.
The river is now (April 11th) open against us, and nearly clear of running ice, and this too, with comparatively a small rise of water. Indeed, I never knew the breaking up to occur with so little of a flood. This is the more remarkable considering the extraordinary thickness of the ice and the great depth of snow upon the ground the past season. But the sun, coming back to us, has silently dissolved the snow and gradually thinned the ice and both have disappeared...
Gazette & Courier - Monday, April 5, 1875
Sunderland
E.A. Munsell has moved into Mrs. Richards' house. J.M. Marshall has moved into Mrs. C. Rowe's house. Standing water was never more troublesome in Sunderland Street than for a few days back.
Gazette & Courier - Monday, March 8, 1875
News of the week
The greatest flood that has ever visited the Tennessee Valley, with one exception, is now sweeping down that section. All the low ground about Chattanooga is submerged, and there is great loss of property. Every railroad leading into that city is badly washed, and whole sections are submerged. The East Tennessee road is out in 20 places; the Atlantic road has lost many bridges; the Memphis and Charleston road is under water for miles and has lost heavily in bridges, and the Nashville road is also a great sufferer. The great bridge across the Tennessee at Bridgeport, Mississippi is in danger, but as it is heavily weighed down with loaded cars it is thought it may be saved. The river is still rising, however, The destruction in fences, stock and houses for 300 miles up and down the valley is very great.
Gazette & Courier - Monday, March 8, 1875
News of the week
At Manayunk http://www.manayunk.com/content/view/7/18/ on the Schuylkill River near Philadelphia, huge pyramids of ice, loosened by the recent thaw, have forced the water far above the usual hight [i.e. height] so that it has flooded many mills, and given six thousand operatives a vacation, which, in these pinching times, they by no means desired.It drove hundreds of families from their tenements, undermined and swept away houses, and clogged and disarranged machinery.
Gazette & Courier - Monday, February 8, 1875
John M. Smith of Sunderland read a very practical paper on the winter management of stock at the Hampshire Farmer's Institute Sat. He believes stall fed animals do better than those that run in the
John M. Smith of Sunderland read a very practical paper on the winter management of stock at the Hampshire Farmer’s Institute Sat. He believes stall fed animals do better than those that run in the yard, and recommended feeding grain, carrots and beets, but thought poorly of turnips and cabbage. He thought there was more money in raising lambs or in making butter and cheese than in fattening beef. The next meeting at north Amherst on the 13th will be devoted to the discussion of manure.
Gazette & Courier - Monday, February 8, 1875
The Mill River Relief Fund
The Mill River Relief Fund - The financial agent of the relief contributions for the benefit of the sufferers of the Mill River disaster in the town of Northampton has made a detailed report, showing that he has received $12,440 and distributed $9,411, leaving a cash balance of $228.39 and a special appropriation of $2800 for the widows and orphans of Leeds. Of this latter sum $500 is appropriated for each widow and $100 additional for each orphan under 12 years of age. Only $200 of this fund has been paid out, as this class of sufferers has been liberally aided by funds not under the control of the relief committee than any other. The amount is to be paid out at the rate of $450 per year for the benefit of the widows and orphans. The number of persons who have received aid in the district is 270, though quite a number received food and clothing but no pecuniary assistance. The money was mainly paid out in sums as follows: $300 for the head of each family that had lost all its furniture and clothing, $100 and $4 additional for a trunk to each unmarried woman who lost her trunk and clothing, and $50 to all unmarried men in like circumstances.
Gazette & Courier - Monday, February 1, 1875
(Shelburne Falls) A channel has had to be cut through the ice on the village brook to let off the water, which has set back far enough to endanger the dryness of some cellars on Mechanic Street.
(Shelburne Falls) A channel has had to be cut through the ice on the village brook to let off the water, which has set back far enough to endanger the dryness of some cellars on Mechanic Street.
Gazette & Courier - Monday, January 25, 1875
From the report of the Special commission appointed to investigate the condition of the reservoirs in this State, it appears that not less than 27 are in an unsafe condition.
From the report of the Special commission appointed to investigate the condition of the reservoirs in this State, it appears that not less than 27 are in an unsafe condition.
Gazette & Courier - Monday, January 25, 1875
The commission of engineers on the Mississippi levee have reported. They recommend government aid for rebuilding the levees, an immediate appropriation of one and one half millions for Louisiana and
The commission of engineers on the Mississippi levee have reported. They recommend government aid for rebuilding the levees, an immediate appropriation of one and one half millions for Louisiana and half a million apiece for Tennessee and Mississippi to close existing breaks. A permanent system will cost 46 millions. The people of these States are very touchy about federal interference...but they take very kindly...(blurry).
Gazette & Courier - Monday, January 25, 1875
A fearful storm occurred Tues. in Sierra Nevada and vicinity. A number of bridges on the Central Pacific Railroad were washed away, among others that at Sacrame
A fearful storm occurred Tues. in Sierra Nevada and vicinity. A number of bridges on the http://cprr.org/Museum/# Central Pacific Railroad were washed away, among others that at Sacramento.
Gazette & Courier - Monday, January 18, 1875
(Wapping) Wapping people have not forgotten how to [?] evening surprise parties [?] took possession of the house of Mr.
(Wapping) Wapping people have not forgotten how to [?] evening surprise parties [?] took possession of the house of Mr. http://archiver.root...L/2002-10/1035258488 Albert Childs , and in spite of the stares of surprise and bewilderment of the poor man, proceeded to make themselves very much at home. The unfortunate head of the family was obliged to "fix up" and endure with as much complacency as was spossible under the circumstances...[after the first protests] the man seemed to enjoy the affair, and before the evening was over [?] he was indeed 60 years of age and his friends had found it out. But oh, the supper: who can describe it? Wapping ladies fairly outdid themselves...
Gazette & Courier - Monday, January 11, 1875
The worth of a man
The worth of a man - In the very heart of the Adirondack wilderness, the lonely trail comes suddenly tip on an open, and a solitary grave. It is miles and miles away from any habitation of the living, this monument to the dead, standing out from the level meadowland of Calamity Pond [named as such because this is where David Henderson accidentally shot and killed himself], a white speck against the green of the encircling forest, and the purple of the overshadowing hills. Tramping on through what was once a wood road, cut to drag this very stone to mark http://www.adirondac...y/mcintyre.mine.html David Henderson's grave , a road now overgrown into a difficult trail; the traveler reaches at nightfall the ghostly and deserted village of the Upper Works [of http://www.adirondac...yre.mine.photos.html McIntyre Mine or the http://www.apa.state.ny.us/Press/OSI_Tahawus.htm Adirondack Iron Works ]. It is one of the few places in America that has seen the ebb as well as the flood of the human wave. A score of houses stand desolate in the dark, the great furnace shops are idle, the doors of the church long since ceased to creak on their rusty hinges, the long street is green with grass and more still than the forest depths. This sad place is the real monument of the man whose grave is at the lonely spot to which his death gave name; he was its soul, and when the life went out from him, it went out also from this once busy village. There was never stronger testimony to the worth of a man, to the frequent importance of one life in the commonplace run of affairs. The Upper Works was a post of the Adirondack Mining Company, and Henderson seems to have been the ruling spirit which gave motive to the work. There were difficulties to contend against, the costs of transportation were high, there was this and that in the way, and a live man was needed to overcome them. This man died, everything went under, the scores or hundreds of dependent people got away as best they could, and there remains only the two people hushed into a shadowy life by the spirit of the place, who are paid to stay there and protect the interests of the company. There was in Dublin some years ago, the great iron and ship-building house of http://www.cil.ie/sh675x4532.html Walpole, Webb & Bewley , on whom nearly a thousand persons were dependent. It was the largest concern of the kind in Ireland, and rested on one man, a young man of about 30, and the junior partner. He had come into the firm and saved the house in a period of embarrassment, and it was wholly his brains and energy that kept it afloat through the hard times. One day he went out in the harbor in his Rob Roy canoe - it was in the days of that fever - his boat turned over, he was entangled in the tackle, and drowned in sight of his friends on shore. Immediately the work in the yards stopped, the firm failed, and the whole thousand were reduced to distress because this one man had died. It is not necessary therefore to seek the life of a Napoleon to illustrate of what vital importance one man may be to his fellowmen. We hear much of how the waters close over the quenched life, leaving but the momentary ripple to mark a grave, but we do not hear so much as we might of this other side of the story. Yet these are tales which it is well to have often told. They should inspirit men to an appreciation of the possible opportunities of life, whether they walk in narrow paths or on the high trails of the world in the world's sight. A great deal should come of the application to human life of the scientist's doctrine, that nothing can be lost. It is the same with human influence as with the forces with which he deals. It is convertible, through other men, into power to move the world, for we are taught also that the earth itself leaps up in its proportion to meet every footfall toward itself, and in like fashion each man in his degree moves the mass of men. A man must live his every day life the better when he feels thus fully its possibility of outcome. For the worth of a man is a value that can be measured by no finite laws (New York Mail).
- Tue, Feb 3, 2009
