BYBEE-MALOTT : THE FLOOD OF 1913 



153 



ably deflected to this side by tlie current coming from the big 

 break in the levee considered just above. No water passed across 

 the road north of the bridge. A new road had been made and rocked 

 on a twelve foot grade south of the bridge. This grade was liter- 

 ally destroyed, only remnants remaining. The river channel was 

 widened by one-third on the south side of the bridge, thus leaving 

 the bridge ending some sixty feet out in the river. A new span 

 will be needed to complete the bridge. The current that did the 

 damage came from the broken levee above. Where the road grade 

 was so badly torn away, a great pond from four to twenty feet deep 

 and an acre in area, was washed out. Below this hole some twenty 

 acres of land Avas covered with sand and gravel one to four feet 

 in depth. Land in this condition is worse than useless. The 

 damage here was several thousand dollars and was due to the con- 

 striction of the passageway under the bridge. 



The next grade that suffered was the interurban line that 

 connects Martinsville to Indianapolis. A mile or more from the 

 mouth of White Lick Creek, the current left the creek and flowed 

 across the valley. This current damaged the pike road and passing 

 on a short distance washed out about a half mile of the interurban 

 track between Centerton and the river. South of the river the cur- 

 rent left the channel, making a direct course across the bend, and 

 washed out about an eighth of a mile more of the interurban track. 

 The telephone and electric line wires were torn down. Little or 

 no damage was done to the soil as the grade was rather low. 



The Vandalia Railroad bed was also much injured on both 

 sides of the river. About three-quarters of a mile of track was 

 washed out between Centerton and the river, while south of the river 

 about one-eighth mile was washed out. Here again the grade was 

 rather low and not much damage was done to the farm land. There 

 was some denudation, but it was not due to the grades but to the 

 current taking a more direct course across the neck of the meander. 



The public road leading northwest out of ^lartinsville across 

 the valley served as a slight obstruction to the waters and as a 

 result was practically destroyed. The road metal was carried 

 several hundred feet out in the field below and the road bed was 

 washed down to the old corduroy bed. West of the bridge the grade 

 was completely carried away. One pier of the bridge was damaged. 

 Again below the grade there were as usual great holes cut. with the 

 usual sand and gravel bars below. 



On the west side of the river about three miles southwest 

 of ^Martinsville is a high levee about one and one-half miles long, 



