THE TIDAL WAVE IN AMERICA.

Grey River Argus, Volume IX, Issue 619, 6 January 1870, Page 3

THE TIDAL WAVE IN AMERICA.

A fearful storm occurred in America on 4th October. In Albany, and some distance westward on the Central Railroad, trains were delayed and culverts were washed away. The Mohawk River was 10ft above low water mark, and several breaks in the Erie Canal occurred. On the Hudson River Railroad the water on the track lay a foot deep. In Connecticut, a dam and machine shop at Pemberwicke were carried away, and one man crushed to death, and nine or ten others seriously injured. The loss entailed is about 100,000dols. The Harlem Railroad track, ( Far continuation ofncios see Fourth Page.)

north of Millerton, was washed away, and the bridge of Copake wa3 rapidly wearing away. The Delaware was 20ft higher than usual. A portion of the Erie Railroad track, between Port Jervis and Deposit, was washed away. The greatest damage seems to have been done at and near Philadelphia, where the wharves were submerged by the swollen Schuylkill, and lumber, coal, and even railroad cars were carried away, and stores flooded as high as the second storey. The retorts in the gasworks were submerged, and a short supply of gas for the city was threatened. In and about Washington considerable loss was sustained, and railroad trains were delayed several hours. Portions of the city were flooded, and the inhabitants were rescued with considerable difficulty and not a little danger. Several Americans say that they had Lieutenant Saxby's storm. Two residents of Newcastle, New Hampshire, report that they were on the beach at 10 p.m., when the tidal wave, 18ft high, rolled in. As they saw it coming they fled, but one fell among the rocks, and clung to them, the wave going over him. It ran 125 ft above high water mark. In three minutes afterwards there was no trace of it. The tide in the Bay of Fundy, and at and near St. John, Now Brunswick, rose to a height never befonfknown. Thousands of sheep and cattle were drowned, bridges were swept away, and miles of railroad track destroyed. United States' papers have given lamentable accounts of the disastrous effects of the floodsIn Eastport, Maine, the storm assumed the force of a hurricane, and half a million dollars worth of property was destroyed. Twenty-seven vessels were driven ashore in Rumney's Bay. The tide in the Bay of Fundy was enormous. Many important lumber dams in the Kennebec were carried away. In Connecticut the great cotton mills of Higganum were destroyed, and several houses in Glastonbury. In New York, the Mohawk river rose ten feet above low-water mark, and the valley of the Hudpon Buffered severely. At Hossick Falls the flood swept away a railway train in motion, and three lives were lost. Many millions of money have been lost, and a large, but at present unascertained, number of lives. One effect of the storm has been to bury under sands a large number of the most important oyster beds. The phenomenon, as well as the fact that the storms were generally most destructive where the tides were highest, and that their fury reached its maximum on the sth October (the conjunction of sun and moon), seem to warrant the general belief in Amerioa that they suffered from the tidal wave which some had apprehended in England. New Brunswick suffered terribly by the storm, It is stated by some that damage to the amount of a million of dollars was done. At St, John the wind from the south-east blew a hurricane, and the rain fell in torrents. By 9 o'clock at night the water in the harbor had risen to the height of ordinary spring tides, although it then wanted one hour and a half to high tide. The waves rolled in from the bay to a tremendous height, dashing over every wharf, and flinging the vessels against theirmoorings with great violence. Accord^ ing to one account, no such tide has visited St, John within the memory of man. The tide began to recede about 10.30, and as it fell the wind lulled.