60G 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



[No. 8 



so near the Esk. As nearly as could he jii(],5e(1 

 by the eye, and by ihe calculations made from the 

 inlornialions I received of the distances of the dif- 

 ferent places from one another, there cannot be 

 less than 8()() acres of rich aralile <rround overrun 

 by this melancholy event, on which there were 

 eleven diii'erent steads, containing t\venty-seven 

 fiunilies. and one hundred and ten iidiabitan_ls. 

 Great [lari, ot' the grounds belongincr to seven or 

 eight, other ])laces, is likewise destroyed ; though 

 fiirlunaicly the liouses, being- built on rising 

 grounds, have escajied. Most of the land howe- 

 ver may be recovered, by making [iroper drains in 

 the summer season, and setting fire to the moss 

 when itfjecomes dry. But thouiih they were ac- 

 tually restored to their lormer flourisliing condi- 

 tion, there is almost an absolute certainty, that 

 they would ha again partly overrun by the next 

 winter's flood, unless some care is taken to drain 

 the original moss also ; which could easily he 

 clone, though not at a small expense. As it -is in 

 some places five, in others near lliirty yards deer), 

 it is subfuilted to tlie learned and ingenious, whe- 

 ther by burning the whole of it, it miiibt not be 

 made arable fruiriul land, though the f()URdation 

 be a mixture of gravel and soft spongy malter]" 



To prevent, or to lessen the damage that might 

 be occasioned by any lUture flow, another gentle- 

 man proposes, either that its coui'se should be di- 

 verted to the river Sark, on the west side of the 

 moss, or that a clear passaije should lie made, in 

 its present direction, to the river Esk ; both of 

 which he says are practicable ; adding, that if 

 some such method be not taken, nmch more good 

 land will be covered by theflov/. 



By a list published of the (iirms covered by the 

 moss, with the rent of each, the yearly rent of (he 

 whole is 246/. IGs. sterling, all bclongino; in pro- 

 perty to the Rev. Mr. Graham of Netdierby. 



According to one accoiuit, the figure of the 

 moss retains so much of a natural appearance, 

 that a stranger is at a loss to conceive whence all 

 this prodigious mass has come. But the people 

 who lived near the m.ouih of the gap, tell, that 

 liiey are seirsible how much the moss has subsi- 

 df^d. by objects on the west si;le of it, such as the 

 planting at Graitney, which before were totally 

 intercepted by the moss, being now obvious to 

 their view. According to another account, the 

 greatest part ol' the surfice of the old moss is still 

 vvhol"; but the moss is now so much evacuated, 

 that though formerly level, the middle of it is like 

 a large glen between two hills. 



The immediate cause of this eruption, is thought 

 to have been, the late heavy rains, especially the 

 excessive fall on the day preceding the night in 

 which it happened, which havingovercharged the 

 moss, and filled and distended the cavities within, 

 and the inequaliiies upon the surface, the weight 

 of so great a body of moss and vva!er impending 

 at the head of the gap, had there burst, and 

 broke oflj and forced its way down the gap. The 

 remote cause of it is, hovvfever, thought to be so 

 evident, from the situation of (he moss, and of the 

 adjacent binds on the east side ol it, together 

 with the former management of the persons who 

 had cast their peals in the moss, that its not hav- 

 ing broke out sooner is more to be wondered at, 

 than its having brul;c out at lust. 



Extract from the Scots (Eilinburgli) Magazine, for July 1771. 



THE GREAT FLOOD OF 1771, IN VIRGIKIA AND 

 SOUTH CAROLINA. 



"JVorfcIk, Virginia, June 6. 



"Having the opportunity of Capt. Park calling 

 here, and the inuridi-.tion in James's River only 

 alked of when the last ships lelt this. I thought it 

 might be necessary to give you an exact account 

 ol it, especially as your fr-iends above have not 

 had an opportunity since. We are tcild, that the 

 river began to rise the 25th ult. and rose three 

 days, some part of the time at the rate of five feet 

 in the hour, till it was about twenty feet higher 

 than ever known before. All the tobacco at 

 Westliam, about 400 hogsheads, with the ware- 

 houses, are gone; and all in Shockoes was float- 

 ing about, and a great part ol" it gone down the 

 river. In short, it is said there are about 4000 

 hogsheads lost and destroyed. Considerable dam- 

 age is also done at Warwick. In one store they 

 saved the greatest part of the goods f'lom the roof, 

 by a vessel carried alone: side on purpose. From 

 this circumstance you will be able io judge the 

 height of it. I do not hear of any tobacco being 

 lost at Rocky Ridire, but a fine crop of wheat is. 

 swept off Col. Byrd's low grounds and destroyed, 

 and the rrround covered entirely with a thick bank 

 of sand. Every thing is carried off Elk Ish;nd 

 but the negroes, and seventeen slaves are swept 

 off li-om Mr. King's esta'e. All the houses of 

 Tanau Islancl, with people, cattle, tobacco, &c. 

 &c., on thf^m, were seen passing by at Wesiham. 

 Several ships were forced from their anchors, and 

 droye ashore; but nujst of them were got ofT 

 atrain. As it rained liitle or none proceding this 

 flood about the falls, none suspected such a thing. 

 If seems the rain fell chiefly atiiong the nu^untains. 

 We have no particular account ti-om Rappahan- 

 nock, but that the town of Falmouth has suffered 

 greatly, as well by the tobacco as by quantities ol 

 dry goods." 



''London, July 16. 



''By the last letters from Viro^inia, we have 

 a dreadful account of the overflowing of the Rap- 

 pahannock River in that province, owing to the 

 great and incessant rains which began on the 27th 

 of May last, and continued without intermission 

 till the Sth of June. Ti e water poured down in 

 such torrents from the mountains as to carry all 

 he ore it, which caused the river to swell twenty- 

 five l(?et higher than ever was known by the old- 

 est man living: all the warehouses on both sides 

 the Rappahannock were entirely fidl of water; 

 and at the difierent warehouses in Yarmouth and 

 Norfolk towns, in Virginia, upwards of 4000 hogs- 

 heads of tobacco were carried away by the ra- 

 pidity of the stream, and entirely lost. The same 

 letters add, that the number of inhabitants drown- 

 ed in attemptijig to save their property li'om being 

 carried away by the water is computed at 150." 



"From Richmond we learn, that they have 

 dady accounts of the devastations occasioned by 

 the late floods. From the mountains to the falls?, 

 the low groimds have been swept of almost every 

 thing valuable; and the soil is so much injured, 

 that it is thought not to be of half its former value, 

 and a great part is entirely ruined. One instance 

 may suffice. A tract of land where the river 



