ARBORICULTURE 



a monthly magazine. 



Published in the Interest of the 

 International Society of Arboriculture. 



Subscription, $L00 per annum. .Iohn 1'. Bhown, Editor, Connersville, Indiana* 



Volume II. CHICAGO, MARCH, 1903. Number :?. 



Disastrous River Floods Effects of Forest Destruction — Remarka- 

 ble Rise and Fall of the Ohio. 



The western rivers are again over- steamboat captains and pilots many un- 



flowing their banks, and causing desola- recorded facts. 



tion, loss of life and great destruction of The depth of the Ohio at Cincinnati, 



property. was, in— 



So long back as we have any history p^gj. jj-,(.i^gg 



of the Ohio and Mississippi valleys, there February iS^S "=; ^' 



have been floods and they will always To,,,,-.^ ^or^ ^^ 



, 1^. 1 J anuary, 1862 S7 4 



occur when melting snows and down- March 186c: c6 -? 



pours of rain unite their volumes and \/[^r-ru' jOfX ^r Q 



seek an exit to the lowest levels, the t ' / - - 



ocean. 4u "usT 187^° 6 



The first recorded flood in the Ohio U !^"^ ' ^ \Pq ^g 



river was in February, 1832. An ex- t-. , ^' qq" 5^ ' 



tremely heavy snowfall had occurred in f^°™^^-^' ^^^^ ^o ^-z/ 



the Cumberland and Allegheny moun- ''^^ebruary 14, 1884 71 3/4 



tains and covered the western part of ^P ' 00 ^r ^ 



New York. Pennsylvania, all of Ohio ^^^^^^^^^''^^^'^ 5<^ ^ 



and throughout the Ohio valley. Sud- ^ ^Z"!^"' ^^^o 59 2 



denly the temperature rose and rains oc- |^ebruary, 1891 57 4 



curred simultaneously over a very large i^ebruary, 1893 54 11 



area of country drained by this river. As i^™^^^'. ^^^ ^ 



a result, the Ohio rose to the then un.pre- ^he highest water ever known, 



cedented height of 64 feet 3 inches. These being only the stages of 55 feet 



The next record of extremely high and over. August, 1875, the usually dry 



water was in December, 1847, when a season, and February, 1884, being the 



similar combination of snowfall and con- highest water ever known at Cincinnati, 



tinuous rains with high winter tempera- When it is considered that the width 



ture brought the Ohio up to 63 feet 7 of the waterway or riverbed of the Ohio 



inches. river has been increasing with every over- 



Oflicial records of high and low waters flow of the water, by the caving in of 



were not begun until i860, but the editor farms all along its course, and that to- 



of Arboriculture has had abundant op- day the width between the banks is one- 



portunities during early life as a steam- fourth greater than it was in 1832 and 



boat official to gather from the earliest 1847, and therefore capable of carrying 



163 



