CINCINNATI: A NEW CENTER OF PERIL
A GREAT MANUFACTURING CITY--THE TUESDAY CLOUDBURST--ANXIOUS
WAITING--HOMES SUBMERGED--FACTORIES FORCED TO CLOSE--THE SITUATION
EVER GRAVER--EXPLOSIONS IN THE CITY--THE CRISIS--FLOOD DAMAGE.
Scarcely had Dayton, Columbus and Zanesville begun their real battle for
restoration when Cincinnati became a new peril center. Situated on the
Ohio River at the point where the Muskingum, Scioto, the two Miamis, and
the Licking were pouring their millions of gallons of flood water into
the river, the city was bound to suffer. It seemed as if the Buckeye
State would never be able to escape from the clutches of the great demon
of flood.
A GREAT MANUFACTURING CITY
Cincinnati is the county seat of Hamilton County, in the extreme
southwest of the state, one of the great commercial and manufacturing
centers of the Union, tenth in nominal rank, and seventh or eighth in
fact. It is situated on the north bank of the Ohio River, almost exactly
half way from its origin at Pittsburgh to its mouth at Cairo, Illinois.
On the western side of the city from west to south runs Mill Creek, the
remains of a once glacial stream, whose gently sloping valley, half a
mile or more wide, forms an easy path into the heart of the city, and
was an indispensable factor in determining its position. Highways,
canals and railroads come through it, and the city's growth has pushed
much farther up this valley than in other directions. The railroad
stockyards are on its eastern slope. Cincinnati extends for about
fourteen miles along the river front, to a width of about five in an
irregular block north from it, but attains a width of six or seven miles
at the extreme point along the creek valley.
The bottom level below the bluffs along the riverside is the seat of the
river shipping business, and has as well the usual fringe of low
quarters; it is paved, and there is a broad public landing fronted by
floating docks, wharf-boats, etc. Above are the wholesale and then the
retail business streets, with great extent and variety of fine business
architecture, and gridironed with electric roads. The principal lines
converge at or near Fountain Square, and connect with a ring of
beautiful suburbs, within and without the city limits, unsurpassed in
America.
Among the sights of interest is the busy public landing or levee. The
Grand Central Depot, a terminal of several of the largest roads, is
centrally situated near the river. Among the most prominent buildings
are that of the United States Government Custom House, the City Hall,
the City Hospital, the Springer Music Hall, the Odd Fellows and Masonic
Temples, the Public Library, with 431,875 volumes, and the Museum of
Natural History. St. Peter's Cathedral, St. Paul's Protestant Episcopal
Cathedral, St. Paul's Methodist Episcopal Church, the First and Second
Presbyterian Churches, and the Jewish Synagogue are handsome edifices.
Fine hotels and theaters are numerous. The biennial musical festivals
are famous.
THE TUESDAY CLOUDBURST
The troubles of Cincinnati began on Tuesday, March 25th, when the city
experienced a cloudburst that started the gauge rising in the Ohio
River, temporarily flooded the streets of the city and carried away two
bridges over the White Water River, at Valley Junction a short distance
to the south.
PREPARING FOR THE WORST
By Thursday Cincinnati was facing one of the worst floods in her
history. It had rained steadily for twenty-four hours. The flood had
entered several business houses in the lower section during the night
and early morning found the entire "bottoms" a sea of moving vans,
working up to their capacity. At eight o'clock in the evening the gauge
showed 60, a rise of more than three feet since the same hour that
morning.
East and west of the city on the Ohio side of the river the lowlands
were inundated and much damage done. In the low sections of the city
many houses were flooded and the inhabitants of these sections fled to
higher ground.
Across the river at Newport and Covington, Kentucky suburbs of
Cincinnati, similar conditions prevailed and the police early warned
dwellers of the danger that threatened. Dayton and Ludlow, other
Kentucky suburbs, were also sufferers from the rising flood and many
houses were already completely under water.
[Illustration: TOPOGRAPHY OF STRICKEN SECTION OF TWO STATES
Practically every town and city shown in this illustration suffered from
the floods, most of them from loss of life and all of them from property
damage.]
A seventy-foot stage for Cincinnati was predicted. The Central Union
Station was abandoned and all trains leaving or entering the city were
detoured.
ANXIOUS WAITING
Slowly the treacherous waters rose while tired watchers waited
anxiously. Conditions were not acute but distressing. The people knew
that they must face conditions worse than the present. All the lowland
to the west and east of the city had been submerged and also along the
water front of the business section the commercial houses were gradually
disappearing under the yellow river. Hundreds of families along the
river front in Cincinnati had been forced to move by the encroaching
river and many merchants had removed their goods from cellars and
basements to higher ground.
Chief of Police Copeland, however, had the flood work well in hand. The
police were put on twelve-hour duty and worked in the flooded territory
in rowboats.
The city armory sheltered many persons and preparations were made to
distribute food at the city jail. Nearly every landing place along the
river front was piled high with furniture, bedding and other household
effects.
HOMES SUBMERGED
Along the Kentucky shore conditions rapidly became worse. At Covington
more than five hundred houses were submerged and their occupants given
shelter and protection in public buildings.
Plans were formulated to care for flood sufferers, and a meeting was
held at Covington at which arrangements were made to raise a sufficient
fund for the poor. At the same time arrangements also were made for
policing the flood zone and preventing looting.
The river-front section of Ludlow was deep under water and the residents
had moved. Bromley was entirely cut off from other neighboring towns.
Dayton, Kentucky, and other nearby small towns were in the same isolated
condition, and there was much suffering in consequence.
FACTORIES FORCED TO CLOSE
Many of the large manufacturing plants closed because operatives were
unable to reach their places of employment.
Newport, which, with Covington, is directly opposite Cincinnati, forming
the larger of the suburban sections, was in almost as bad a case as its
neighboring city. The flood of water had risen in all parts of the town.
One of the bridges across the Ohio had been closed, and the authorities
were preparing to close others to the public, thus cutting off the south
shore from communication with Cincinnati, and also closing practically
the only railway outlet the latter city had to the South and East.
No food shortage was anticipated, but warnings were issued by the mayor
of this and other nearby cities that merchants must not take advantage
of the situation to charge extortionate prices. All attempts of this
nature in Cincinnati were promptly curbed by the authorities.
THE SITUATION EVER GRAVER
With nearly 15,000 persons in the towns on the Kentucky side of the Ohio
River driven from their homes by the rising flood that was sweeping down
the Ohio Valley and with more than 3,500 homes altogether or partly
submerged, the flood situation in the vicinity of Cincinnati on Saturday
was assuming graver proportions hourly.
The water reached the second floor of a number of business houses along
Front Street and was half way up on the first floor of several blocks of
houses on Second Street. Several lines of the Cincinnati Traction
Company, operating in the lower district were abandoned. Reassuring word
from the packers, commission men and general produce merchants came
early in the day, when it was estimated by experts that Cincinnati had
enough food supplies to last at least ten days without inconveniencing
any one.
Railway service into and out of Cincinnati was virtually at a
standstill. The Louisville and Nashville trains were leaving the city
for the West on time, but arriving trains were much delayed.
So far only one life had been lost as a direct result of the high waters
here. Miss Anna Smith, the first victim, drowned in an attempt to reach
Newport in a skiff that capsized in midstream. Her three men companions
were rescued while swimming to shore.
KENTUCKY SUBURBS IN TROUBLE
Newport and Covington were virtually surrounded by water. Conditions
there were worse than elsewhere and nearly ten thousand people were
driven from their homes. Relief measures, however, were adequate.
Manufacturing plants in the lowlands ceased.
In these two cities the only fear was that health conditions would be
seriously affected because of the clogging of the sewage system and the
stagnation of back water. The water works and gas plants continued in
operation, but the electric light plants had been forced to cease.
In the Kentucky towns of Dayton, Ludlow, Bellevue and Bromley identical
conditions existed, but in their cases all communication with
Cincinnati, Newport and Covington was suspended. These towns remained in
isolation until the water had fallen sufficiently to permit the
operation of street cars on the south side of the river.
In these towns there were 2,000 persons cared for by relief committees.
More than 500 homes disappeared under the flood waters. Property damage
assumed alarming proportions, especially as this was the second time
within three months that the Ohio Valley had suffered from high water.
By Sunday the outlook for Cincinnati was brighter. No trains had gone
out of the city except south to Kentucky by way of Covington, and rail
and telegraph communications were still badly demoralized, but fair,
warm weather which had continued since Thursday had greatly helped the
complex situation. It was predicted that the river would reach its
greatest height at Cincinnati on Monday.
EXPLOSIONS IN THE CITY
Spreading over a vast expanse of territory in Cincinnati, as well as an
almost equal amount in the various towns that lie along the river on the
Kentucky shore, the Ohio continued to rise.
During Saturday night the central part of the city was thrown into a
semi-panic by an explosion that could be heard for miles. The Union
Carbide Company, at Pearl and Elm Streets, had been destroyed in an
explosion caused supposedly by the carbide coming in contact with
water.
The river reached the stage of 69.3 feet at noon, Saturday, and
continued to rise at the rate of two-tenths of a foot every two hours.
Two companies of the Ninth United States Infantry, stationed at Fort
Thomas, Kentucky, were held in readiness to march at an instant's notice
to Covington, where Mayor George S. Phillips feared the city might be in
need of military protection due to high water that virtually surrounded
the town. When the river stage reached more than 68 feet on Friday the
gas plants were put out of commission and the city was in darkness.
Of the few important towns in Kentucky, opposite Cincinnati, only one,
Newport, maintained direct communication with Cincinnati. Through
Newport communication was obtained with Covington by a circuitous route.
In Newport there were already under water nearly one hundred and twenty
square blocks, located in the section along the south bank of the Ohio
River. The other towns, Bromley, Dayton and Ludlow, were still without
outside communication, but reports from there were that there was no
immediate need of assistance.
THE CRISIS
The river continued to mount. It rose two-tenths of a foot during Monday
night and early Tuesday the stage was 69.8 feet. The weather forecaster,
Devereaux, said he expected the river to rise another tenth, after which
it probably would recede. Up-river points reported the river either
stationary or falling slowly.
At midnight Tuesday the river began to fall. The whole city breathed a
sigh of relief. The Government stated that the river would be inside its
banks within a week.
FLOOD DAMAGE
The direct and indirect damage caused in Cincinnati by the flooding of
the river-front and low-lying residential sections was very great. An
estimate of the indirect loss can never be made, while the direct loss
is placed at more than $2,000,000.
Across the river in the Kentucky suburbs conditions were deplorable.
Estimates were that one thousand homes there had been inundated and that
more than four thousand persons were homeless.