THE ROARING TORRENT OF THE WABASH
A BITTER TALE OF DESTRUCTION--MANY PEOPLE DRIVEN FROM HOMES--ALARMING
CONDITIONS--THE PLIGHT OF KOKOMO--THE HOMELESS IN WABASH--DISTRESS OF
LOGANSPORT--MILITARY CADETS AID IN RELIEF--NEW DISASTER AT
LAFAYETTE--A SECOND HORROR IN TERRE HAUTE--THE RECEDING WATERS.
Bitter was the tale of destruction in the valley of the Wabash River and
its tributaries. A traveler journeying over the Wabash Railroad on
Easter Sunday would have seen only the usual quiet little towns of the
Middle West; three days later, if he could have looked down over the
same territory he would have seen nothing but a raging torrent sweeping
through the region like some fiendish monster devouring and destroying
as it pursued its mad course. He would have found the entire Wabash
Valley, including Logansport, Wabash, Lafayette and Peru, a desolate
scene, its scores of prosperous cities absolutely paralyzed and cut off
from the outer world. Telephone and telegraph wires were down
everywhere; trains were not running and roads were obliterated.
MANY PEOPLE DRIVEN FROM HOMES
As early as Monday, March 24th, northern Indiana had suffered severe
loss, due to the heavy rains of the previous twenty-four hours, which
had carried away bridges, stopped railroad and interurban traffic,
flooded store basements, driven people from their homes along the river
banks, and washed away houses. At Hartford City there were seven feet of
water in the paper mills and the merchants had lost heavily from flooded
basements.
At Portland water was standing three feet deep in the center of the city
and the loss to merchants from damage to goods reached $100,000.
The wind, which followed heavy rain, cut a path several hundred feet
wide.
At Kokomo the light, heat, power, gas and water plants were out of
commission and the river was still rising. The city was without fire
protection; South Kokomo, with 6,000 inhabitants, was cut off from the
main city.
It was declared to be the worst flood known in Wabash since 1883; and
rain was still falling. Hundreds of residents of the lowlands abandoned
their homes. Interurban traffic was paralyzed.
ALARMING CONDITIONS
Reports on the following day were still more alarming. The worst
conditions prevailed in Kokomo, Wabash, Peru, Logansport, Lafayette and
Terra Haute. Thousands of people all along the Wabash were crying for
food and shelter. Wabash, Kokomo, Peru, Logansport and Lafayette were
entirely cut off from communication with the outside world. A big
snowstorm on the heels of a drop in temperature added to the suffering.
Rescue work was carried on by volunteers, police, firemen and the state
militia, and every place where there was a dry home was thrown open to
the flood refugees.
From many places frantic appeals for aid were received by the state
officials, but lack of all means of transportation and crippled
telephone and telegraph service forced the submerged towns to rely
entirely upon their own resources.
THE PLIGHT OF KOKOMO
At Kokomo the water in some of the streets was eight feet deep and
rushing like a mountain torrent. Schools and business were suspended and
state troops patrolled the town as far as they were able. The homes of a
thousand persons were submerged. No lives were lost, but there were many
narrow escapes. Several persons were rescued from second story windows
by the few boats available. Rafts could not be used because of the
swiftness of the current.
THE HOMELESS IN WABASH
Seven hundred and fifty persons in Wabash were rendered homeless as the
result of the high flood in the river. The city was without gas, water
or lighting facilities.
The mayor on Thursday, March 27th, issued a proclamation ordering that
all saloons and business houses close at six o'clock. He instructed the
police to keep people off the streets.
There was no loss of life, but the property loss was estimated at
$350,000.
There was no communication with the outside world from Monday until
Thursday afternoon.
DISTRESS OF LOGANSPORT
The business district and the south and west sides of Logansport were
under water on Tuesday. The bridge at the country club had been washed
away. Other bridges over the Wabash had been flooded. The moving vans
were unable to handle all the persons trying to move out of the danger
zone and the firemen of the city gave aid. The electric light and water
plants were endangered. There was great suffering among the poorer
people. Logansport was also cut off from telephone and telegraph
communication. Two deaths by drowning were reported (later corrected to
one) and ten houses were washed down stream.
MILITARY CADETS AID IN RELIEF
On Wednesday the flood waters of the Wabash were sixteen feet deep on
the floors of the Pennsylvania Railroad Station, and cadets from the
Culver Military Academy were rushed to the city to aid in the rescue and
relief of scores of people marooned in the business districts.
The Third Street bridge had been swept away. The bridge at Sixth Street
was being washed out. The people were fleeing to the hills, where they
were housed in school houses and churches.
By indirect telephone routes on Thursday, Governor Ralston received an
urgent call from Logansport for troops to aid in rescue work and to
patrol the city. The city had been cut off from reliable communication
with the outside world since Tuesday evening. The continuance of the
high waters added hourly to the heavy property losses, and the snowstorm
and bitter cold caused intense suffering.
NEW DISASTER AT LAFAYETTE
At 2 P. M. on Tuesday, March 25th, two spans of the bridge over the
Wabash River at Lafayette went out, carrying a number of people with it.
Boats below the bridge succeeded in rescuing all but one man.
At 3.15 P. M. West Lafayette, where Purdue University is located, was
cut off from Lafayette by the breaking of one of the levees and the
submerging of the other. The river was two miles wide and business
houses were preparing to move their wares, anticipating a three-foot
rise during the night. No interurban lines were being operated and steam
lines were making little effort to maintain train service.
The business district and the south and west sides of Logansport were
under water. The bridge at the Country Club had been washed away.
A SECOND HORROR IN TERRA HAUTE
All down the length of the Wabash the torrent raged. Hardly recovering
from the daze of the Easter tornado, treated in another chapter, Terra
Haute inside of forty-eight hours faced its second disaster, when the
waters of the Wabash left the banks, flooding part of the residence
section.
The river was then rising at the rate of five inches an hour. Railroad
traffic was suspended and interurban traction service had been
abandoned. Residents of Taylorville, Robertsville and West Terre Haute
deserted their homes, fleeing before the approaching waters. Five
hundred homes were under water and the coal mines near the city were
flooded.
For two days the situation seemed to grow hourly more desperate. On
Thursday the river had reached a stage of thirty-one feet six inches and
was steadily rising. Four thousand persons were homeless, and those
whose homes were on higher ground were without gas or electricity.
Traffic was at a standstill.
THE RECEDING WATERS
But slowly the waters receded and the work of reconstruction was begun.
On down the river the disaster-bringing torrent traveled. Throughout all
southern Indiana the river reached unprecedented stages and hundreds
were driven from their homes. Railroad lines were covered with water
through many counties, and on March 31st the river was reported forty
miles wide between Upton, Indiana, and Carmi, Illinois.