360 HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY. [1843. 



East, and the clouds were observed to have an appearance which 

 indicated a fall of rain. The sun was barely visible at rising, 

 and a short time afterwards the whole sky became overclouded. 

 At about 7 o'clock, a. m., it commenced raining, and continued 

 to rain moderately, with occasional remissions, but without any 

 very perfect intermission until noon or later. This was a gene- 

 ral rain, which extended much beyond the limits of Delaware 

 County in every direction. This general rain scarcely caused 

 an appreciable rise in the streams; but it had the effect of fully 

 saturating the surface of the ground with water to the depth of 

 some inches, and in this way contributed to increase the flood in 

 some degree beyond what it would have been, had the subsequent 

 heavy rain fallen on the parched earth. 



No general description of this rain, which caused the great 

 inundation, will exactly apply to any two neighborhoods, much 

 less to the whole extent of the County. In the time of its com- 

 mencement and termination — in the quantity of rain which fell — 

 in the violence and direction of the wind, there was a remarkable 

 want of correspondence between different parts of the County. 

 It may be observed, however, that comparatively little rain fell 

 along its southern and southeastern borders. 



Cobb's Creek, on the eastern margin of the County, and 

 Brandy wine on the west, were not flooded in any extraordinary 

 degree. This conclusively shows that the greatest violence of 

 the storm was expended on the district of country which is 

 drained by Chester, Ridley, Crum, Darby, and the Gulf Creeks, 

 and one or two tributaries of the Brandy wine. This district will 

 include a part of Chester County, and a very small part of Mont- 

 gomery ; but including these, the whole extent of country that 

 was inundated did not exceed in area the territory embraced 

 within the County of Delaware. The extent of territory that 

 was inundated was also much greater than that which was sub- 

 jected to any very extraordinary fall of rain. The amount of 

 rain which fell on that part of the County which borders on the 

 river Delaware, and embraces the mouths and lower parts of the 

 inundated creeks, was not sufficient to produce even an ordinary 

 rise in the streams, and to this circumstance may in part be 

 attributed the very unprepared state in which the inhabitants of 

 this district were found for the mighty flood of waters which was 

 approaching to overwhelm them. The very rapid rise in the 

 water in the streams, without apparently any adequate cause, 

 was also well calculated to increase the alarm in this district 

 beyond what it would have been, had the quantity of water that 

 fell there borne a comparison with that which fell in the upper 

 parts of the County. 



As a general rule, the heavy rain occurred later as we proceed 



