34 



THE FLOOD OF 1 843. 



Riddle's dam at Peniisgrove, a distance of about a mile, and 

 when found it contained several hundred weight of sand and 

 gravel. Power looms, either entire or in parts, were carried 

 many miles, together with por- 

 tions of other machinery, 

 chiefly composed of iron. An 

 iron pot supposetl to weigh 

 from five to si.\ hundred 

 pounds, and of a hemispher- 

 ical shape (a form unfavor- 

 able to its transportation) 

 was carried from some of the 

 factories above, and lodged 

 on the farm of Samuel West.* 



Beaver creek, though a 

 small stream, was very turb- 

 ulent, and rushed into the 

 Brandywine with so much 

 force as to dam that stream 

 more than a mile above their 

 junction, and causing heavy 

 deposits of mud, gravel, &c., 

 along its valley. Immedi- 

 ately below the mouth of the 

 creek, on the meadow of Elihu Talley, this deposit is four 

 feet deep in some places, and covers about two acres. On 

 this small stream, near Smith's mill, a rock nine feet long, 

 seven feet wide, and three and a half feet thick was removed 

 ten feet from its former position. 



The deposit of mud that was made at the junction of the 

 two main branches of Chester creek, sufficiently attests how 



*ExPLANATlON OF THK CUT. — a. n. deposit ol iiiiul. 



h. f). deposit of gravel and sand. 



c. c. c. c. deposit of rocks, stones and gravel. 



(/. d. (I. deposit of sand. 



