FLOODS IN THE OHIO VALLEY. 



339 



deliveries looked less favorable for the bulls, 

 some of whom sold out. McGeoch, Evering- 

 ham & Co., the largest provision-dealers in 

 Chicago, bought up immense quantities of lard, 

 at increasing prices, which stimulated the sup- 

 ply, until they were unable to carry the opera- 

 tion farther. They refused to accept a large 

 lot on the pretext that it was adulterated ; but 

 it soon transpired that their credit was ex- 

 hausted, and the artificially sustained market 

 suddenly turned. The losses were several mill- 

 ions, and their suspension followed. In Jane 

 and the following month occurred the serious 

 disturbance to all mercantile and financial af- 

 fairs, produced by the strike of telegraph oper- 

 ators. In the beginning of August occurred 

 the failure of Shaw & Co., the largest leather 

 manufacturers in the country, who operated 

 numerous tanneries in New England, and were 

 for some time able to control the entire trade. 

 The week after two banks failed in St. Albans, 

 Vermont, being involved with a railroad con- 

 structor who was unable to complete and carry 

 his enterprise, that of an outlet for the Cana- 

 dian railroads through Vermont. Bank fail- 

 ures occurred later in Chicago, where two in- 

 stitutions with $4,250,000 deposits suspended. 



In the beginning of November occurred the 

 failure of Morris Ranger in Liverpool, the 

 largest dealer in the English cotton trade, who 

 had sold futures all through the summer in the 

 expectation of another large cotton-crop. When 

 the drought disappointed this calculation it was 

 still believed that the state of the industry in 

 England, and the extent to which the Continent 

 was already supplied, would lead to lower rates. 

 The shipments to the Continent were, however, 

 heavier than the year before. The price ad- 

 vanced from 5^d. for middling uplands to 6^., 

 but Ranger continued to sell until forced to sus- 

 pend, with a loss of $5,000,000. 



The speculations which interrupt the normal 

 current of grain exportation, and disorder the 

 transportation and mercantile business con- 

 nected with it, aggravated the situation toward 

 the close of the calendar year, when every dol- 

 lar that could be obtained from the sale of the 

 crop surplus at this time, while concurrent sup- 

 plies were streaming into European markets 

 from other sources, was needed to revive the 

 flagging economic activities. From the com- 

 mencement of the crop year to the 1st of De- 

 cember, five months, the exports of wheat and 

 flonr amounted to less than 51,000,000 bushels, 

 against 83,250,000 bushels the season before, 

 and 62,500,000 bushels in the short-crop season 

 of 1881. At the same date the quantity in sight 



twas 35,000,000 bushels, against 20,000,000 bush- 

 els in 1882, and less than 19,000,000 in 1881. . 

 FISH COMMISSION. See UNITED STATES FISH 

 COMMISSION. 

 FLOODS IN THE OHIO VALLEY. The valley of 

 the Ohio river was visited in February, 1883, by 

 higher and more destructive floods than had 

 been known since the country was settled. The 

 ground had been frozen and covered with snow. 



The heavy rains of the 2d and 3d of the month 

 had caused high freshets in Western Pennsyl- 

 vania and Northern Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, 

 by which much property had been destroyed 

 and considerable damage done, particularly 

 along the Allegheny river from Oil City to 

 Pittsburg, near Akron, and at Cleveland, where 

 loss by fire was one of the indirect conse- 

 quences of the flood. With continued rains, 

 the Ohio river rose during the next two weeks 

 to an extraordinary height, from Cincinnati to. 

 its mouth. The culmination of the flood at 

 Cincinnati occurred on the 15th, when the 

 water reached tbe height of sixty-six feet four 

 inches, covering all the houses fronting on the 

 shore, and extending up into the densely built 

 part of the city for a distance of more than 

 three squares. The approaches to the bridges 

 across the river were inundated. The trains 

 on most of the railroads entering the city were 

 prevented from reaching the principal stations. 

 Two days before the waters attained their ex- 

 treme height, the damage inflicted had been 

 estimated at $1,500,0.00, and 220 wholesale 

 grocery and commission houses in the lower- 

 lying districts had been covered by the flood. 

 Thirty thousand persons were for some time 

 deprived of employment. The furnaces at the 

 gas-houses were extinguished, and the city was 

 consequently deprived of all light from that 

 source, while the engines of the water-works 

 were so far disabled that an exhaustion of the 

 supply of water for domestic purposes became 

 imminent. The United States military bar- 

 racks at Newport, Ky., were flooded; nearly 

 two square miles of that city were overflowed ; 

 and the sister city of Covington, Ky., suffered 

 in a corresponding degree. The freight depot 

 of the Cincinnati Southern railroad in Cincin- 

 nati was undermined and fell into between 

 thirty and fifty feet of water, carrying with it 

 a number of persons of the crowd that had 

 collected in it, a few of whom were drowned. 

 At Lawrenceburg, Ind., every house in the 

 " Old town " was filled with water for two 

 stories ; many buildings were wholly destroyed ; 

 800 families 'were deprived of their means of 

 support, and 5,000 persons were fed by relief 

 committees. At Louisville, Ky., the " cut-off" 

 dam a structure 2,000 feet long, 200 feet 

 thick at the base, and 40 feet thick at the top, 

 which had been built expressly for protection 

 against high water was broken during the 

 night of the 12th. More than 250 houses were 

 immediately covered with water, and many of 

 them were washed from their foundations. 

 Those of the inmates of these houses who had 

 not already removed in anticipation of the 

 danger, were rescued, with but little loss of 

 life. Four fifths of the city 'of Jeffersonville, 

 Ind., opposite to Louisville, was laid under 

 from three to twenty feet of water ; about 

 6,000 people suffered in person and property, 

 and more than half the business men of the 

 town were financially ruined or seriously em- 

 barrassed. At New Albany, Ind., the water 



