THE FLOOD OF 1 843. 



41 



another place. A stone house, the property of E. Churchman, 

 standing near the four above mentioned, was very much dam- 

 aged. The county bridge at Pennsgrove, except the piers, was 

 carried away. Shortly before the flood, the county had expended 

 about four hundred dollars in repairs upon this bridge. 



Below this, at Rockdale, Richard S. Smith had two dams 

 carried away, and also a block of four stone dwellings, which 

 at the time were unoccupied. 



At Knowlton, the flood attained its greatest height, and 

 exhibited its most destructive powers. The Knowlton mill, a 

 beautiful three story stone factory, 76 feet by 36, and filled 

 with power looms, all new, and of the best construction, 

 together with all the apparatus and arrangements of a com- 

 plete weaving establishment, was swept to its foundation, 

 and carried away, and with it a large amount of stock in 

 yarns and goods. A frame mill at the same place, also 

 owned by Mr. Crozer, and occupied by James Dixon (the 

 machinery being owned by him) was carried down the 

 stream : not a vestige of it remaining. The loss to James 

 Dixon was total and ruinous, stripping him of all he possessed. 



The water at Knowlton attained a height of about thirty- 

 three feet. This most extraordinary rise was in part attribut- 

 able to local causes. The county bridge at this place is 

 located just above the site of the factory, on a curve of the 

 stream, as in the 

 annexed diagram, 

 and although it has 

 three archeg of the 

 usual span, it does 

 not afford a suffi- 

 cient vent for the 

 water in time of a 

 heavy freshet ; and 

 at the present one, the passages became early obstructed with 

 drift wood, and the arches quite choked up, so that the bridge 

 which is more than twenty feet high, formed a dam across 



