Greene River Flooding 1880

Below is a clipping from Keowee Courier, Feb. 19, 1880 that started me on the journey of discovering more about this flooding. My question was, why was it Flooding in Feb.? Here's the article:

On further research I answered my question with this information: "the warm Chinook Wind from the north" would come during the winter months and melt the heavy snowfall in the mountains and also cause heavy rains.

The loss of business makes for interesting writing material. I also found a business who built above the highest flood water for their building to avoid the nearly constant river floods.

1858 & 1859 Illinois Crop Failure

Well I couldn't walk away from the passage in yesterday's post regarding the crop failing in 1858 in Illinois. I believe I've mentioned here that one of my ancestors was born on the prairie, her mother died there and she and her father returned to New England a few years later. With the loss of his wife and the failure of his crops, I can see my ancestor returning home. But enough about my ancestors.

There was a huge crop failure in Illinois in 1858 that caused some issues with bank failures. As one report put it, "business was completely paralyzed owing to the economic crisis." The crop failure in Illinois in 1858 was so profound that even though 1859 was good it wasn't good enough and the economics of the state of Illinois didn't turn around until the second half of 1860.

Sinking John L. Avery

Disasters add conflict to a story and conflict is necessary to keep your reader turning the pages. Below is a real life account of the Sinking of the John L. Avery. The account gives the basics about the situation but there are gems in this account for me to learn from with regard to 'writing" and 'creating" a disaster for my characters. Such as, how many people were affected, the actual physical descriptions of the boat and the process of sinking. How the captain reacted, the passengers, etc. Enjoy.

The J. L. Avery, J. L. Robertson commander, was a new boat, built in the most substantial manner, and furnished with every necessary equipment for a first class passenger boat, being designed as a regular packet between New Orleans and Natchex. She left New Orleans, on her customary trip up the river, on March 7th, 1854. She stopped at Point Coupee and took in a large quantity of sugar and molasses; and on the 9th of the same month she passed the steamer Sultana, off Black Hawk point, forty miles below Natchez; and having left the Sultana, (with which she appears to have been racing,) about a mile astern, she struck what was supposed to be a tree washed from the shore by a recent freshet. A very large leak in the bottom of the boat was the consequence of this accident, and although the pilot immediately steered for the shore, the steamer sunk before she could get near enough to land the passengers. Mr. J. Y. Guthrie, an engineer, and the carpenter, were standing just forward of the boilers when they heard the crash—the boat at the same time making a sudden surge to one side. The carpenter immediately lifted the scuttle-hatch and leaped into the hold, but finding the water pouring in too fast to admit of any attempt at repairing the damage, he made haste to get out again, at the same time giving notice to the engineer that the boat had nagged. Mr. Guthrie, perceiving that the boat was going down, hastened to the engine, but before he got there, he was up to his knees in water. The cabin passengers were hurried up to the hurricane-deck. Soon after, the boat righted, and the hull separated from the cabin and sunk in sixty feet of water.

As the hull parted from the upper works, the surging of the waters caused the cabin floor to rise up against the hurricane roof, and six persons who remained in the cabin were dragged out through the skylights by Capt. Robertson and his two clerks. Mrs. Parmin, one of the six passengers rescued from that perilous situation, had her eldest child in her arms at the time, and was with difficulty prevented from plunging in again, as her babe was left asleep on the bed. But the situation of the deck passengers was the most calamitous; there was a large number of them crowded in their allotted place, where they were walled in by hogsheads of sugar, which would have prevented their escape, if escape had been otherwise possible. These unfortunate people were nearly all drowned.

There were many Irish emigrants on board, whose names were unregistered, and there is a great deal of uncertainty respecting the number of those who perished. Eye-witnesses testify that a large number of men, women and children could be seen drowning at one time. Of the twenty firemen on board, twelve were drowned. The second mate and another person launched the life-boat, but it was almost itnmedidiately upset, probably by the eager and ill-directed efforts of tho drowning people to get into it. The steamer Sultana, with which the Avery had been racing, promptly camo to the rescuo of the drowning crew and passengers, and was the means of saving some of them; but the number lost is believed to be at least eighty or ninety.

Mrs. Seymour, one of the cabin passengers who escaped, relates the following incidents of the wreck: party accounted for by stating that some unusual means had been used to get up extra steam, as the officers of the Avery were resolved to outrun the rival steamer, Sultana. Mrs. Seymour had retired to her state room for an afternoon nap, from which she was aroused by the concussion when the boat struck; and soon after, she found herself in the water. She was drawn up into the floating cabin by one of the waiters, named John Anderson, who, as Mrs. Seymour testifies, was instrumental in saving the lives of several other passengers. She states that her pocket-book, containing nine hundred dollars, which had been placed under her pillow, was lost. She also lost a manuscript which she was preparing for the press, and which she valued still more highly than her pocket-book.

Mrs. Seymour continues :—I cast my eyes upon the water, which was covered with fragments of the cabin. To these frail supports human hands were clinging, while many human voices were crying, "Save me ! oh, save me!" The water at first was dotted with human heads, sinking and rising, and then sinking to rise no more. A sudden splash drew my attention to the side of the boat, and I saw that a young lady, who had been drawn from the inundated cabin through the sky-light and placed in safety on the floating deck, in the delirium of the moment had plunged again into the water, from which she never again emerged. Several others followed her example, but appearing again on the surface, they were rescued by the waiter Anderson and two or three others of the boat's crew, who never slackened in their efforts to save human life. Two or three gentlemen leaped into the water and swam to land. A fine Texan poney, belonging to Mrs. Emerson, escaped from the deck, and endeavored to save himself by swimming. He reached the shore, but not being able to climb the bank, he fell back into the water and was drowned. In a faint but earnest tone, I heard a female voice say, " Oh, William, do save her!" On directing my gaze to the place from whence the voice came, I saw a woman sinking in the river. At the same time a child's voice exclaimed, "Oh, mother, he cannot save me!" I saw her fair hair, all wet, fall back from her young face as her little arms loosened their grasp on the neck of her brother, and the mother and her two children sank together.
Source: Fifty Years on the Mississippi ©1889

The Camp Hill Disaster or The Great Train Wreck of 1856

Trains are increasingly popular in 1856 and tracks have expanded all over the United States. The tragic event happened on July 17, 1856 between Camp Hill & Fort Washington, Pennsylvania. Records of fatalities are unclear the number is between 39 to 67 and another 100 were injured. In the end the excursion train filled with families & children from a church left behind schedule and were on the track they shouldn't have been when they were hit by a train coming in the opposite direction.

What makes this event worth mentioning on this blog? It was the deadliest railroad catastrophe in the world up to this time.

A copy of the Philadelphia Daily News articles compiled by Stu Beitier has the most information on this disaster.
Additional sources:
The NY Times article
And Wikipedia article

Steamboat Disasters

Below are a couple of excerpts from Steamboat Disasters and Railroad Accidents ©1840. The first one I'm sharing with you regards the Steam packet HOME and it's sinking off of Cape Hatteras, NC. Hatteras is one of the locations where a tremendous amount of ships have sank over the years. Near Hatteras just south of it is another Island called Ocracoke. Not only was it the setting for one of my stories but it was also the location of where my husband's great grandfather's ship went down. Capt. Coleman was the last captain to run a four-masted schooner on the East Coast. Capt. Coleman survived his shipwreck, along with all hands. He died 5 days later in a car accident.

Ocracoke, N. C. Oct. 10, 1837. Mr. James P. Allaire, New York,
Dear Sir : I have now the painful duty of informing you of the total loss of the steam packet Home, and the lives of most of the passengers and crew : The following passengers are saved : H. Vanderzee, New York. Capt. John Salter, Portsmouth, N. H. Capt. Alfred Hill, do. do,
I. S. Cohen, of Columbia, S. C.
Andrew A. Lovegreen, Charleston.
Charles Drayton, do.

B. B. Hussey, do.
Thomas J. Smith, do.
Mrs. Lacoste, Charleston.
Mrs. Schroeder, do.
Mr. C. C. Cady, Montgomery, Ala.
J. D. Rowland, New York.
James Johnson, Jr., Boston.
John Bishop, New York,
Darnis Clock, Athens, Geo.
William S. Read, New Haven, Conn.
Jabez Holmes, New York.
John Mather, do.
Conrad Quinn, Jersey City.
Hiram Anderson, New York.
Twenty passengers saved, is all we can find.
The following persons of the crew :

Firemen.
Levi Miller, Stamford, Conn.
William Bloom, New York.
Thomas Smith, do.
Timothy Stone, do.

Deck Hands.
Michael Burns, James DufTee, John Trust, James
Jackson, Samuel , Calvin Marvin, (boy) New
York, David Milne, steward.
And six waiters, (names not given,) making 19 belonging to the boat.

20 passengers, 19 hands, 1 captain,—40 souls saved. There can be very little saved from the wreck. We had a heavy gale of wind after leaving New York, from N. E. The boat sprung a leak a little to the Northward of Hatteras ; at first we were able to pump the water out as fast as it came in, but the leak soon increased, so that it gained very fast on us. We scuttled the cabin floor, and all hands, passengers, gentlemen and ladies, commenced bailing with buckets, kettles, &c but the water soon came up to the furnaces, and put the fires out, and we were obliged to run under sails only. By the time we came to the shore, the water was over the cabin floors ; we run her head on, but owing to her having so much water in, she stopped in the outward breakers. The first sea that came after she struck, stove the weather quarter boat, and all the houses on the deck were stove in, and 25 minutes after she struck, she was all to pieces, and I suppose about 80 souls were drowned. Both mates, all three of the engineers, and James B. Allaire are lost. Most of the passengers saved have lost nearlyall their baggage. I have lost every thing; having nothing but one pair of pantaloons, and a shirt that I had on when I washed ashore.
In haste, yours respectfully.
(Signed) CARLETON WHITE.

And below is part of the account from one of the survivors, Mr. John D. Roland.

At 6 P. M. the water reached the engine, to the alarm of all, and extinguished the fires, when of course the machinery stopped. The boat was still out of sight of land, but was running with sails, the gale severe, and she laboring dreadfully. The greatest efforts were all the time made, by bailing, &c, and all were actively engaged, until 10 P. M., when the boat struck about a quarter of a mile from, but in sight of the outer breakers.

In an instant alter the strike all was utter confusion and alarm; men, women, and children screaming in the most agonizing manner. The scene was most heart-rending; women clinging to their husbands, children to their mothers, and death, almost certain death before them. It was apparent that the boat could hold together but a very few moments, and that few, very few could under any circumstances be saved. The wind blew a gale—the sea was high, and there were only three boats, and one of them had been staved.

All were engaged in efforts to save their lives,— some lashing themselves to spars on board, and others making what struggle they could. Our informant made his calculations, that his only chance was in swimming ashore, and he accordingly threw off all his clothes but his shirt and pantaloons ; and before any had left the wreck, threw himself into the water. He found the sea so- high that he could with difficulty encounter it, and on reaching the surf, he came near perishing. He, however, landed in safety, though the current took him about a mile and a half to the southward of the wreck.

On reaching the shore, Mr. Rowland found all mariner of pieces thrown up, from which it was evident that the boat had broken up. One man he pulled out of the surf. Only two persons on board had life preservers, both of whom were saved ; one of them however, had no use for his, as he went ashore on the forecastle ; the other person (although he could not swim,) was saved by means of his life preserver.

The boat fortunately had a high forecastle, on which a number of the crew and passengers had collected. This parted entire, and all or nearly all on it, some eight or ten persons at least, went ashore and were saved—Capt. White among the number.
The boat, almost immediately on striking, Went to pieces. Her keel and kelson both drifted ashore about a mile from the wreck. About twenty bodies were found men, and women—among them an infant and the chief mate. The shore, for some miles to the southward, was covered with fragments. The boilers of the boat were to be seen, but every vestige of the vessel had parted from them.

Of the three small boats belonging to the Home, one was staved by the violence of the gale as she hung in the davits, one other filled alongside, and the other was cast off with a number of passengers in her, but she upset in the surf, and only one person was saved. One of the stewards swam safe ashore naked, but he nearly perished afterward with cold.
The scene the next morning was too horrid to describe, the boiler being the only unbroken relic of what was the beautiful packet Home. The shore was lined with bodies constantly coming up. All hands were engaged in collecting them together. The survivors in groups, were nearly naked, and famished and exhausted. The few inhabitants appeared friendly, but many of the trunks that came on shore were empty.

Mrs. Lacoste, the aged lady that was saved, is about 70. She is very fleshy, and almost helpless. She was found in the surf, but how she got there neither herself nor any other person could give any account. Mr. Hussey, who was saved, lashed his wife to a spar, but she was forced off by a sea and lost.

Mr. H. afterward lashed himself to a spar and reached the shore. It is the opinion of our informant that a large portion of the passengers were lost together, soon after she struck, when the boat separated. All the children on board were lost except one lad about 12 years old.

Ocracoke Island, to which place the survivors were washed or swam, is principally inhabited by pilots. Mr. Littlejohn, a Southern planter who was spending the summer there, Mr. Howard, who resides also on the Island, Capt. Pike, and other gentlemen paid every attention to the survivors, and to the interment of those bodies which were washed on shore. Within two days after the fatal occurrence, which time Messrs. Rowland and Holmes were obliged to wait for a conveyance, about twenty bodies, among which were those of two or three of the ladies, were washed on shore and buried.

After the survivors reached the shore, they separated in various directions—some to Raleigh, N. C. others to Newbern—two as before stated, came to New York, and the remainder made their way towards Charleston, by the best conveyances they could find.

A Boy's Town

I've been reading from A Boy's Town by W. D. Howells ©1890. In this story he's recounting the days of his youth, the games he played, the things he and his friends did to occupy their time and the innocence of youth with the belief that the world totally revolved around themselves. It's a great read and I would encourage you to read over it if you're interested in writing during 1840's, and setting a story by a river.

Below is a brief description of the river the author writes in his story "A Boy's Town" for Harpers Young People

But the spring, short as it was, had its great attractions, and chief of these was the freshnet which it brought to the river. They would hear somehow that the river was rising, and then the boys, who had never connected its rise with the rains they must have been having, would all go down to its banks and watch the swelling waters. These would be yellow and thick and the boiling current would have smooth, oily eddies, where pieces of drift would whirl round and round, and then escape and slip down the stream. There were saw-logs and whole trees with their branching tops, lengths of fence and hen-coops and pig-pens; once there was a stable; and if the flood continued, there began to come swollen bodies of horses and cattle. This must have meant serious loss to the people living on the river-bottoms above, but the boys counted it all gain. They cheered the objects as they floated by, and they were breathless with the excitement of seeing the men who caught fence-rails and cord-wood, and even saw-logs, with iron prongs at the points of long poles, as they stood on some jutting point of the shore and stretched far out over the flood. The boys exulted in the turbid spread of the stream, which filled its low western banks and stole over their tops, and washed into all the hollow places along its shores, and shone among the trunks of the sycamores on Delorac's Island, which was almost of geographical importance of The Island in Old River.

Earthquake in Lexington, KY

"On the morning of December 16, 1811, the citizens of Lexington were startled and alarmed by several successive shocks of an earthquake,* accompanied by a sound like that of distant thunder. Fortunately no other damage was done than the breaking of window glass and the disturbance of a few bricks from chimneys."
Taken from "The History of Lexington, KY." ©1872

Fatal Boiler Explosion

This comes from "The Winfield Courier" Nov. 1885


FATAL BOILER EXPLOSION.

EVANSVILLE, IND., November 19. A terrible boiler explosion occurred at Richland City, Spencer City, Indiana, ten miles west of Rockport, at two o'clock yesterday afternoon, by which two persons were killed and five wounded, one probably fatally. The boiler of a grist mill belonging to S. F. McLaughlin, in exploding, was lifted from its bed and passed through the walls of the mill and then through the store of McLaughlin, killing Mrs. McLaughlin, thence through a blacksmith shop, killing Charles Fisher, who was working at the anvil. The anvil and the body of Fisher were carried some distance, and the shop was demolished. The boiler then passed through a barn sixty feet distant, and was stopped by striking a large oak tree over 300 feet from where it started. McKinney, township trustee, was struck on the head by a brick, but not seriously hurt. Hildebrand, Jones, Bennett, and Fortune were scalded, the first named probably fatally.
End quote

I thought it important to post this news tidbit to show some of the dangers that happen when working with steam.

Proper care of farmlands in the event of black rot on Cabbages

These are some interesting tidbits that could cause your characters a bit of frustration and hardship should their cabbage develop this black rot.

SYNOPSIS OF RULES FOR PREVENTION.
The field observations described above, taken in connection with the characters of the disease as previously worked out, lead the writer to believe that this trouble may be successfully combated by means of what he has frequently designated as field hygiene. If he were asked to give in concise terms a few rules for avoiding this disease they would be about as follows:
1. Plant the cabbage seed on land where this disease has never appeared. When the plants are ready to set out inspect the seed bed very carefully, and if any cases of the disease are found reject all the plants and set from some other bed. One can not afford to run any risk of infecting his land by the use of seedlings from suspicious beds. It would be better to plant some other crop than to take this risk. A good practice is to strew the land to be used for seed bed with straw or dry brush and burn it over before plowing. The seed bed should be made in a different place each year.
2. Set the plants on land which has not been in cabbages or other cruciferous plants for some time. If it is impossible to avoid following cabbages by cabbages, at least take the precaution to plant only on land which has never suffered from this disease. To follow any other course is simply to invite the trouble. The practice of planting cabbages after cabbages for a long series of years also invites other parasites, and must as a rule be considered very bad economy.
3. As a matter of precaution avoid the use of stable manures, since these may possibly serve as a means of carrying the disease into uninfected fields, that is, through cabbage refuse fed to animals or thrown into the barnyard or onto manure piles. As far as possible make use of commercial fertilizers in place of barnyard manures, both in the seed bed and in the field, at least until it shall have been shown conclusively that there is no danger in the manure pile. Too much stress can not be laid on the necessity of keeping the germs out of the soil, and consequently on the avoidance of practices which, if not absolutely proved to be dangerous, are at least questionable.
4. Do not turn animals into diseased fields and then allow them to wander over other parts of the farm. Cattle or other stock should not be allowed to roam in cabbage fields where this disease prevails.
5. All farm tools used on infected land should be scoured bright before using on uninfected land. The transfer of soil from infected to healthy fields ought in all cases to be reduced to a minimum.
6. Keep up a constant warfare against insect enemies, especially the cabbage butterfly and the harlequin bug.
7. As a palliative remove badly affected plants from the field as fast as they appear. In early stages of the disease—i. e., while it is still confined to the margins of the leaves and has not yet entered the head or stump—go over the fields systematically about once every ten days and break off and remove all the affected leaves. Do not throw this refuse into cultivated fields, or into ditches from which it can be washed to other fields, or on roadways to be tracked about. It should be burned or put into a deep pit in some fence corner or other out-of-theway place.
8. Weeds which harbor the disease, especially the wild mustards, must be destroyed systematically.
9. Store cabbages from diseased fields only when it is impossible to sell them in the fall, and in such cases take particular care to reject all heads showing any trace of black in the stump and to keep all parts of the houses below 40° F. If any affected heads are stored tliey should be put by themselves in the lowest, coolest part of the house.
Source: The Black Rot of Cabbage ©1898