56 



out for about half a mile and water a foot deep poured over the whole 

 length of the Wabash-avenue grade, forming a waterfall about two feet 

 high upon the interurban track on the south side. A bayou which cuts 

 into the terrace on the northwestern edge of Terre Haute was flooded and 

 about sixty houses were covered or floated away. The flood still lacked 

 thirteen feet of reaching the lowest levels of the Terre Haute terrace, 

 but threatened or reached the basements of several public utility stations 

 along its river edge. The water-works pumping station did not suspend 

 operation, although the filtering plant was unusable. The station which 

 furnishes city light and power for car lines was protected by a temporary 

 levee and out of business but a few liours. The gas works shut down four- 

 teen hours. 



Terre Haute was without railroad coiiniiuuicatiou for about a week, 

 I)Ut mail and passengers were transferred two mih^s by boat. One of the 

 peculiar and interesting marks left by the flood was the spreading out of 

 the gravel from tlie Iiroken Vandalia grade into a great fan, whicli buried 

 many houses in West Terre Haute up to the second story in gravel. The 

 railroad and street grades acted as so many dams to comi)el the flood 

 water to pass through the normal channel 700 feet wide. If they had been 

 provided with adeipiate openings high water wcmld have been several feet 

 lower, the grades would have been left intact and West Terre Haute un- 

 covered by water or gravel. Uuriiig luidsuiiimer low water the discovery 

 was made that the piers of the Wabash-avenue I)ridge had been seriously 

 undermined and they had to be strengthened with concrete. The dis- 

 charge of flood water under tlie bridges has l)een estimated at 300 times 

 as great as the normal, a contingency foi- wliich the bridge engineers had 

 not provided. 



