Terrific Floods of 1905
Chenango County, New York
(Published June 1945)
Sunday night Sept. 3, 1905 is vividly recalled by many residents of Norwich and nearby communities. This was the date of Chenango County's worst flood in history, and the tragedy of events surrounding it are still fresh in the minds of those who came mighty close to being victims of the disaster.
Conductor Henry Breed of this city is one of those whose thrilling adventure of that night will always remain with him. An extra O.&W. coal train left Norwich that eventful Sunday night at 8:15 northbound. It was a double header. The train had reached a point about a mile and a half north of Norwich, near Woods Corners when it was wrecked and engineer Henry Norton lost his life in the raging waters. Al Borden was the engineer on the head engine and Frank Ferris was the fireman. Norton was the engineer on the second engine and the fireman was Emil Messbauer. C. Dorman was conductor of the train and one of the brakemen was Henry Breed, now an O.&W. conductor. When he felt the engine leave the rails Norton put his engine in reverse, shut off the steam and leaped into the water. He was carried by the powerful current beneath the engine and was drowned. Brakeman Breed was riding in the cab with Norton and Fireman Messbauer and was badly injured in the wreck. Breed was thrown under the cab. He crawled over the boiler and out through the cab windows and was carried by the current to a nearby fence which he grasped and held on until help arrived. Breed was scaled from his knees up. His shoulders were injured and according to newspaper accounts of that time, as taken from the files of the Norwich Sun, slight hopes were held out for his recovery.
Messbauer also was hurt in the wreck. His knees were injured and his face was scratched, but he played somewhat the hero of the hour for it was Messbauer who helped Breed to safety and who took Norton's body from between the engine and the tender. Engineer Borden remained in the cab, sustaining only a cut on his hand. Fireman Ferris suffered injuries in his shoulder and back.
Frank Robbins' circus had arrived at the county fairgrounds the day previous to the flood, ready to stage a performance on Monday, Labor day. The flood broke on the circus grounds about 10 p.m. that night. The grounds were covered with water. Circus employees had been paid off Sunday afternoon and many had left their money in their coat pockets. Unable to rescue their clothing they lost all. The circus estimated its damage at about $5,000 at that time.
Forty horses had been imported for the races at the Chenango county fair which was to open the following Tuesday after the Sunday night flood. These horses had to be removed from their stable to dry land.
Several Chenango county villages suffered from the storm, Smyrna, Sherburne, North Norwich, King Settlement, Oxford and other places sustained heavy losses. At Oxford on the Monday morning after the flood, Stewart Young, 11 year old son of Charles Young, lost his life when he fell into the river while playing in the main street.
No mails were received over the Lackawanna railroad in Norwich from 6 o'clock that Sunday night until last Monday. Postmaster J. J. Ray drove to Oxford Monday to get mail which had reached there from the south. He drove through water to Oxford which ran over the wagon box. To keep the mail dry on his return journey he drove home via Preston.
The county fair was two days late in opening, finally getting under way on Thursday and continued for three days.
Another tragedy of the storm was the loss of a pair of horses by Frank Sullivan of King Settlement. Sullivan started for the Borden plant Monday morning with a load of milk. It was unsafe for him to cross the creek bridge and he attempted to cross farther up the channel. the water proved too deep, however, and his fine span was drowned.
Another whose recollections of the flood are still as fresh as the night it occurred is Henry K. Mandeville of this city [Norwich]. Henry had been spending the Sabbath day in the home of his father-in-law in King Settlement. When the clouds began to darken and the first signs of the storm were seen about 6 p.m. that night Henry with his faithful horse and buckboard started the nine-mile journey home. He had traveled about five miles when he gave up the attempt and spent the night at the home of a friend. His wagon box was filled with water many times during the trip and driven to despair he decided to wait until morning.
No doubt there are many others who will remember the flood and some incident in connection with it, but these are the high spots as recorded in the editions of the newspaper at that time.
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Flood Causes Death and Destruction
Chenango Union, September 7, 1905
Three lives lost, horses and cattle drowned, farm crops destroyed in the value of thousands of dollars, railroad beds on the Ontario and Western main line and New Berlin branch, the Delaware and Lackawanna and Unadilla Valley undermined and washed out and traffic practically suspended on all those roads for 36 hours, were some of the results of the flood in the Chenango and Unadilla valleys which followed the heavy rain and cloud bursts of Sunday evening.
The dead are W.H. Norton, Ontario and Western engineer, jumped form his engine and was drowned at Wood's Corners, Mrs. J.M. Deering drowned at New Berlin and Stuart M. Young, aged eleven years, drowned at Oxford.
The injured are Henry W. Breed, trainman, scaled and in a dangerous condition, Frank Ferris, fireman, collar bone broken, E.G. Borden, engineer, hand cut and body bruised.
The Canasawacta felt the effects of the storms before the river and before eight o'clock Sunday night was raging high above its banks. . Mr. Wood, at the Stone Mill, says that the water was considerably above the high mark of previous years. At the cemetery bridge at the foot of Broad street the creek left its channel and crossed Broad street, the flood reaching to the steps of the Prentiss house and filled cellars as far north as the residence of A.E. Seeley. Several Norwich people who had been spending the day at Oxford and attempted to return in the evening, were stranded at the Amzi Roe place, just below the cemetery. Dr. Dunne was one of those. He left his team at Mr. Roe's and came to Norwich by the way of cemetery bridge, west hill and the West Main street bridge.
The river rose above its banks about ten o'clock and the alarm was gien on the fair grounds. The poultry tent, which was located on low ground was the first to suffer and the poultry was removed to Floral hall, to barns near by and some of it to West Hill barns.
Robbins' circus which pitched tents on the fair grounds Sunday morning in readiness for Monday performances was early flooded. The ponies, performing animals and menagerie animals on foot and loose property was collected and taken to high points. The main tent was in three feet of water, the cooking tent and dining tent were flooded out and the canvassmen driven to high ground for safety. Many of the workmen lost parts of their clothing and in several instances coats were swept down the river contained the wages which had been received on Sunday, which was pay day for the laborers.
The draft horses were taken to the knoll opposite the grand stand, the cooking and dining tents were removed to Mitchell street, near Laupher's coal damn and the grounds abandoned by the circus people./
The water continued to rise until noon on Monday. It then began to fall as rapidly as it had risen and before dark had fallen eighteen inches. West Main street as far west as Adelaide was flooded. A raging torrent flowed through the carriage gate of the fair ground, and on the east side of the grounds there was no land to be seen. The Grand stand, the new barn, Floral hall and the Manson Jersey barn were the only buildings out of water. The flood reached into the cattle shed on the south side of the field and all stock was removed during Sunday night and Monday morning. The exhibitors who had pitched tents on the midway and the poultry and stock men who had their living tents on the ground were drowned out with considerable damage to property. The only man who had any right to be happy was the tin-type artist. His tent stood in four feet of water but above it hung a large banner which read "Don't fail to have your picture taken on a yacht." Some of the other drowned out exhibitors tried to borrow his yacht to ferry their goods to dry land, but the tin-type man couldn't see the joke.
The valley north and south was a sight. A boat piled all day down East Main street from near Grove avenue to the fair grounds and Monday afternoon a boat was launched on East Main street and a boating party cruised all over the fair grounds and then, keeping out of the current, rowed nearly to Wood's corners, passing over the top of wire fences and through corn fields where the top of the corn just showed above the water.
The flood, generally speaking, was the worst ever known in Norwich. At no previous time has the entire valley and the lower part of the village been under as great depth of water. The flood of 1865 was the nearest approach. That came in the spring of the year and was caused by a spring freshet and an ice jam at the old covered bridge.
To be continued
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