IN THE MONTH OF FECRUAKY, 1852. 14<9 



On Saturday night it again commenced raining heavily, 

 and continued until two o'clock on Sunday afternoon. At 

 this time the rain ceased for a couple of hours ; but the 

 streams were swollen to a volume of nearly 3,000 cubic feet 

 per second, while the utmost that could be discharged through 

 the pipes of the lUiodes Wood Reservoir was under 600 feet 

 per second. At four o'clock it again commenced raining with 

 the same intensity as before, with every appearance of its 

 continuing through the night. At this moment the prospect 

 was one of great anxiety. Thousands of persons, alarmed by 

 the dreadful catastrophe at Holmfirth, had passed up the 

 valley in the course of the day, in all the pouring rain, to 

 visit the scene of that calamity ; or had assembled on the 

 banks of the waterworks reservoirs, anxiously watching the 

 progress of the flood, and waiting to see the final burst which 

 the majority anticipated. Towards the evening vehicles of all 

 kinds, and horsemen at full gallop, despatched by anxious 

 parties below to make inquiries, were constantly arriving; 

 and, indeed, to the Engineer confident in the stability of his 

 work, and in the provision which had been made for the safe 

 passage of the waters, it was matter of no light concern or 

 slight responsibility. There remained only six or seven hours 

 safe storage for such rain as was at that moment falling; after 

 the expiration of which time, the valves of the Woodhead 

 Reservoir must have been opened to prevent the further 

 rise of water in that reservoir, and the water allowed to pass 

 over the puddle of the Torside bank, through a mass of rock 

 which had been heaped together in the formation of the bank, 

 with a view to such a contingency, and over the top of the 

 Rhodes Wood bank, through a large timber shoot, which had 

 been hastily but substantially prepared during the progress of 

 the flood, for the purpose of safely passing the water to the 

 river below. 



In all probability, these preparations would have been 

 sufficient to have sustained a flood of one or two days 



