CHAPTER X
The Flood in Western Ohio
DISTRESS IN BELLEFONTAINE—PIQUA DELUGED—TROY A HEAVY SUFFERER—MIAMI ON THE RAMPAGE AT MIDDLETOWN—HAMILTON HARD HIT—BIG RESERVOIRS THREATENING—OLENTANGY RIVER A LAKE AT DELAWARE—FLOOD AT SPRINGFIELD—NEW RICHMOND UNDER WATER.
The rushing torrent of water that swept down the Miami River, surging over Dayton, devastated a score or more of towns in its mad course from the creeks around Bellefontaine to the point southwest of Cincinnati where the waters of the Miami merge with those of the Ohio.
DISTRESS IN BELLEFONTAINE
Cries of distress arose from Bellefontaine on Wednesday, March 26th. At that time millions of gallons of water were pounding against the banks of the Lewiston reservoir, fifteen miles from Bellefontaine, and it was feared that if the increasing flood should burst the banks the lives of every inhabitant of the Lower Miami Valley would be imperiled.
The immense reservoir at Lewiston did burst its banks between Lake View and Russell's Point and swept through the great Miami Valley like a tidal wave. It was this vast quantity of water, added to the already overflowing river, that inundated the cities of Sidney and Piqua.
Photograph by Underwood & Underwood, N. Y. The engraving shows a view of Broadway, Watervliet, New York, the principal business street of that city, covered with eight feet of water