Centennial history of Cincinnati and representative citizens, Vol. I, Pt. 2, Part 84

Author: Greve, Charles Theodore, b. 1863. cn
Publication date: 1904
Publisher: Chicago : Biographical Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1048

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THE CONVENTION OF 1880.

Cincinnati was once more honored by a na- tional convention in the year 1880, when the Democratic party selected its candidates in this city. The principal question prior to the meet- ing of the convention was the probability of the candidacy of Governor Tilden. Tammany op- posed him bitterly aml besides it was thought that his patriotic acquiescence in the results of the canvass of 1876 might injure his candidacy. Ilis name was therefore withdrawn before the convention met and the contest narrowed down to Gen. Winfield S. Hancock and Samuel J. Randall of Pennsylvania, supposed to be Tilden's choice. There was hesitation at the start how- ever and Randall's name was not presented nutil the second ballot, when it was too late to stop the movement towards Hancock. This convention was treated to a fine display of oratory and the speech of Daniel Dougherty presenting the name

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of Hancock to the convention was recognized as one of the finest of its class. It is said that he did not prepare it until within a few moments before he was selected to present the name. On the first ballot the candidates who received votes were .: Winfield S. Hancock of Pennsylvania (171), Thomas F. Bayard of Delaware ( 15312), Henry B. Payne of Ohio (SI), Allen G. Thur- man of Ohio (68'2), Stephen J. Field of Cali- fornia (65), William R. Morrison of Illinois (62), Thomas A. Hendricks of Indiana (5012), Samuel J. Tilden of New York (38), Horatio Seymour of New York (8) and three scattering. When Randall's name was presented on the see- ond ballot. he received 12812 votes but Han- cock had already advanced to 320 and it was apparent that the contest was over. Delegations began to change their votes and as a result Han- cock received 705, Hendricks 30, Bayard 2 and Tilden 1. William H. English of Indiana was nominated for the vice-presidency against Mayor Richard M. Bishop of Cincinnati.

Among the distinguished visitors of this year were Charles Stewart Parnell the Irish agitator, Gen. Benjamin F. Butler and Roscoe Conkling. The deaths of the year included those of ex- Mavor Robert M. Moore, John Short the mil- lionaire, George M. Herancourt the oldest brewer in the city, William M. Corry, Thomas LeBoutillier, Dr. P. B. Aydelott, Philip Hinkle, E. D. Mansfield, Peter . Zinn and Oliver Perin.

Early in the year 1881 a company of Cincin- nati capitalists was formed to introduce the elec- tric light, and nightly a specimen of this light flashed from the front of the Commercial office. Other important events of the year were the meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the preliminary steps for the building of the Central Union Depot. The new Little Miami depot was com- pleted during this year. Mrs. Trollope's Bazaar on the site of the southwest blockhouse of Fort Washington was torn down in February to make way for the Lorraine flat building. An opera festival at Music Hall held in February of this year presented a number of operas on a magnifi- cent scale. The Metropolitan National Bank, the Security Insurance Company, the Union Na- tional Bank and the Exchange National Bank were added to the financial institutions of the city at this time. The Queen City National Bank came the next year. This latter year was also remarkable for a notable religious revival. The Reverend "Boy Preacher" Harrison held daily meetings for three months and succeeded it is said in making nearly 3,000 converts,

The death of Dr. J. L .. Vattier, which occurred January 13, 1881, renewed the interest in the Last Man Club, of which he was the last sur- vivor. Dr. Vattier for many years was a most prominent and useful citizen.

In 1882 there was a renewal of the Sunday closing agitation, as a result of which a well known citizen was convicted and sentenced to the Work Ilouse. The sentence was suspended upon the promise to obey the law. One or two Sun- days in the early part of May were noteworthy for the fact that the saloons were practically closed throughout the city. The agitation, how- ever, soon passed by and matters once more took their usual course.

As a result of the passage of the Pond bill which was afterwards declared unconstitutional the Democrats carried the spring election.

During this year were held the National For- estry Congress and the meeting of the American Library Association, which were attended by many prominent men from 'all parts of the coun- try.

A noteworthy event was the dinner held on April 26th of this year in honor of Col. George Ward Nichols. There was also a farewell dinner in May to Judge Alphonso Taft, who had been appointed U. S. Minister to Austria. Rufus King presided at both of these dinners.

The year 1883 was a great flood year and the river in February passed the high water mark and made a record which surpassed all previous ones and was itself surpassed a year later.

THE FLOODS OF 1883 AND 1884.

The Ohio River from the day of its carliest recorded history has been subject to rapid rises which cover at times large parts of its valley. The very character of its formation contributes to this result. Its sources and feeders, the Alle- gheny and Monongahela with their tributaries the Cheat River, the Youghiogheny and numer- outs other streams of less importance, are said to drain a territory of 20,000 square miles. A large part of this territory is a mountainous country, which during a great part of the winter is cov- ered by snow. When the spring thaws come, the melting snows and the early spring rains sweep an immense volume of water into the channel of the Ohio with most disastrous results. The improvement of the river within historic times has had a tendency to narrow its channel so that one writer calls it simply a canal bed. This nar- rowing of the channel has made the river more than ever. of insufficient capacity to respond to the sudden demands made upon it in the spring.

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From this cause it has come to pass that each year in the late winter and early spring the mat- ter of floods in the Ohio is one of anxious in- quiry.

Cincinnati is so located as to feel very serious- ly the effects of any sudden rising of the waters. The front of the city along the river has in the course of time been smoothed down so as to form a gradual descent but towards the west and about the mouth of Mill creek the land lies so low as to permit the back water from the Ohio to extend miles up into the inhabited ter- ritory, at times cutting the city in two and fre- quently stopping railroad traffic which comes down this valley.

The great floods have been referred to from time to time in the course of this book but - the floods of 1883 and 1884 so far surpassed in their magnitude and consequence all those that had preceded them as to make them the occasion of special consideration and of comparison with their predecessors.

The Indians had many traditions with regard to the Ohio waters. It will be remembered that in June, 1773, the McAfec brothers in their jour- neyings down the Ohio in search of a settlement opposite the mouth of the Licking found the river at that point full from bluff to bluff. Ig- norant of the unusual character of this rise they abandoned the projected site of their settlement and finally went to Kentucky where they became very distinguished pioneers. Tradition has it that the flood at this time was 12 feet highier than the floods of 1832 and 1847 which would have made it three feet higher than the great one of 1884 but this is not generally accepted as truc. . The Indians measured this. flood by a mark on a tree which stood below the subse- quent site of Fort Washington.

The winter of the settlement of the Miami country was remarkable for its great floods. Judge Symmes, it will be remembered, spoke of the high waters, higher than at any date since 1773, "being several feet higher than had been known since the white people introduced them- selves into Kentucky." At Columbia he found the place under water with but one house pro- jecting above the floods. The soldiers had been driven into the lofts of their blockhouse from which they had to be taken in boats.

In 1792 came another flood which flooded the entire bottom to the average depth of five feet and drove many of the inhabitants from their houses. In March of the following year the plain below the Hill was again inundated and in the

same month 12 years later a freshet in the Ohio swept away houses, stock and property of all kinds on the lower levels of the city.

The flood of 1832, however, was the one which established the first authentic record. This year was also a year of flood, fire and disease. The flood itself has been described in an earlier part of this work. The river this year reached the height of 64 feet 3 inches on February 18tl1. The next flood of consequence was that of De- cember 17, 1847, when the water was 63 feet 7 inches high. "The river stage did not pass 60 feet again until February 5, 1883, when it went as high as 66 feet 4 inches, at that time the highest record of which any authoritative account had been preserved. As the annual high stage of water had declined from year to year since 1832, it was thought that the day for the serious disasters for floods had passed by, but the ex- perience of 1883 completely shattered this belief.

In 1883 long continued rains had swollen the streams above and this caused the waters of the Ohio to rise slowly from day to day until, a lit- tle after noon on February 12th, the high water mark of 1847 was reached and at II o'clock that same night that of 1832 was passed and there was no evidence of any cessation of flood. Many citi- zens had rested secure in the belief that the record could not be broken but this sense of security soon gave way to serious alarm. Upon the sug- gestion of Melville E. Ingalls, the Chamber of Commerce organized a Relief Committee of 15 which was subsequently increased to 20 and ar- rangements were made to assist the sufferers and divert as far as possible serious results. The rise of the waters stopped the pumping engines of the water works, but fortunately sufficient water remained in the reservoirs to supply the im- mediate needs of the city. The gas works, too, were submerged and the city was without its cus- tomary light. Lamps and candles could not be obtained at once as the demand was unprece- dented. More than 1,500 business houses and many homes were under water in Cincinnati, which caused 2,400 people to be thrown entirely upon the charitable aid of the citizens for sup- port. In Covington 350 houses and in Newport about 2,100 and in Dayton and Bellevue ( Ken- tucky) 400 houses were under water. The rise continued through the day of February 14th and until between four and five o'clock of the moru- ing of the 15th when the water stopped at the height of 66 feet 4 inches. Two hours later it began to recede and fell over a foot during the day. By noon of the 24th the waters had re-

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sumed their normal position. This it was thought would be the record year for many years to come so far as floods were concerned but unfortunately it but gave the city a taste of the disasters to be repeated on almost exactly the same days of the following year.

The flood of 1884 was made the occasion of special investigations and R. B. Stevenson in his report to the Chamber of Commerce con- sidered it from all points of view. The causes which produced it he divided into geographical, topographical and meteorological. The geo- graphical and topographical have already been referred to. The meteorological causes began on December 14, 1883, with the first fall of snow in the Ohio Valley. This was less than one inch at Cincinnati where the stage of water was 10 feet 7 inches, a point to which it did not again decline for more than six months. Rainfalls and light snows on the 15th, 16th, 18th and 19th, followed by a heavier one on the 20th and one of 12 hours in length on the 22nd, measuring 63/4 inches in depth, and sleet and rain on the 23rd, equaling a rainfall of 2.57 inches, fol- lowed by a sharp cold snap with ice on the 24th and light rain on the 27th and again on the 30th and 31st, produced an aggregate of snow, sleet and rain during that month which reduced to rainfall amounted to 5.61 inches. The high- est stage of the river during the month was 491/2 feet on the 28th, when it began to de- cline. This in itself as compared with other years was high water. The first two weeks of January were cold, with frequent light snows. On the 14th a heavy snowfall set in in the even- ing and continued throughout the following day. On the 19th there was another fall of snow. This alternated with sleet and rain and with a tempera- ture varying for the last five days from zero to 60° above. The river had fallen from 4912 feet to 15 feet 5 inches on January 13th, had then risen to 24 feet I inch on the 19th, falling to 15 feet 9 inches on the 29th and again rising to 31 feet 3 inches on the 31st, when the flood of 1884 may be said to have begun. Much of the previ- ous fall, varying from 18 inches to four feet, of solidified snow, was packed on the hills, mount- ains and valleys of the Ohio. Ten inches of snow had fallen at Cincinnati during the month of. January and the rainfall had been 2.31 inches and the total snow reduced to rainfall was 2.2 inches. During the closing days of January the temperature along the river rose a little but this was not the case in the mountains, extending for 100 miles on each side of the river. On the

29th there was a general rainfall over the southern half of the watershed but this did not affect the Allegheny drainage. The Mononga- hela continued to rise and all the tributaries of the Ohio below poured out floods of water from such parts of their courses as had been affected by the warmer temperature. The tem- perature at Cincinnati on January 31st was 59°. The ice of the Youghiogheny was on that day broken up and piled up in its own bed, passing into the Monongahela below on the 5th. About the same time rises took place in the other tribu- taries of the Ohio and at Cincinnati the river rose 1212 feet from local causes, that is the waters of the Little Miami and the smaller streams on its south side. The weather turned cold on the last day of January and fell 30° during the night but the rivers above continued to rise very rapidly and more slowly at Cin- cinnati. The rise at Cincinnati during 24 hours ending at six P. M., February Ist, was 7 feet Io inches, at which time the stage of the river was 40 feet 51/2 inches. The river rose steadily and rapidly at Cincinnati and entered the build- ings at the foot of Main and Walnut streets on the morning of the 2nd and those at the foot of Broadway during the day. At seven A. M. on the 4th the stage was 49 feet 111/2 inches. There was a drop of about an inch, but in the afternoon a heavy fall of rain brought in much of the solidified snow and a rise set in which did not cease until noon of the 14th, "when it culminated in the highest stage of water at the mouth of the Licking River that had ever been seen at that point by an enlightened people." There was a rainfall on the 4th of 1.35 inches, when the temperature had crept up to 62°, which produced a dense fog, so dense that at three o'clock in the afternoon artificial light was needed in all the buildings south of Third street. Stars appeared at midnight but the river continued to rise nearly two inches an hour and at daylight all the buildings fronting the river between the Suspension Bridge and Main street and from Broadway to Ludlow had been reached by the water. By February 5th the conditions were such that those who had been observers of the river began to suspect the oncoming danger, but the public at large were but little excited by the matter. All the bottoms were covered with water and Lawrenceburg and Aurora, Indiana, were partly submerged. Alarm began to be felt for the levees in front of those towns. The rain fell all day on the 5th so that more rain fell on the 4th and up to 2:30 in the afternoon of the

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5th than during the entire four days preceding the same stage of water the year before. The water was 20 feet 1/2 inch higher than at the same time the year before and its height had been exceeded but nine times before in the history of the river.

News from all directions showed a rapid rise of the tributaries. The Licking was going up 12 inches an hour at Cynthiana, the Ohio was rising at Portsmouth and the same news came from the Big Sandy, the New, the Kanawha, the Muskingum, Youghiogheny, Monongahela and Allegheny. All were rising and rain was still falling. The Kentucky River, too, was an im- portant factor, because by pouring its great volume into the Ohio it arrests the passing off of the waters from above. On February 6th the levee gave way at Lawrenceburg and the citizens of that town called upon Cincinnati for relief.

A meeting of the Chamber of Commerce was called and a relief committee of 15 men- bers, subsequently increased by 13 more names, was appointed by Chairman Henry C. Urner. Subscriptions were called for and the Chamber by a unanimous vote appropriated $5,000 to a fund. S. F. Dana was chosen treasurer and Sidney D. Maxwell, secretary, and an executive committee of six members was appointed to cooperate. Buildings were secured for the storage of provisions and measures adopted for the relief of sufferers. At a meeting of the Common Council, a reso- lution was passed requesting the Legislature to authorize the city comptroller "to borrow a sum not to exceed one hundred thousand dollars to be placed at the disposal of the Relief Committee of the Common Council to be used for the purpose of relieving the dis- tressed and protecting life and property dur- ing the continuance of the great flood." As a result of this a committee of 15 consisting of the mayor as chairman and seven members from each of the representative bodies was appointed, who reported to the Relief Com- mittee of the Chamber of Commerce on Feb- ruary 7th and was thereupon incorporated with that committee, thenceforth known as "The Relief Committee of the Chamber of Commerce and Common Council of Cincin- nati."

Strangely enough there was a time on the 7th when by reason of a little fall in the tem- perature and the fact that the river came to a

stand for a little while at 61 feet 992 inches the impression prevailed that the measures for relief so promptly adopted would not be needed. Water had covered Second street at Vine, Walnut and Main streets. It was two feet deep at Third and Wood streets and ex- tended above Second on Sycamore and Broadway. Communication with the Suspen- sion Bridge was cut off except by boats. At noon on the 8th the water reached 62 feet 6'2 inches and submerged the Cincinnati gas works cutting off the supply. The superin- tendent of the Chamber of Commerce began posting half-hour bulletins of the stage of the river at Cincinnati and organized a system of reports by telegraph from all points on the Ohio and the doors of the Chamber were thrown open throughout the 24 hours so that all could be informed as to the situation. At nine o'clock on the oth the high water mark of 1847 was passed and by midnight that of 1832 was reached. The Covington gas works were cut off, 8,000 people were homeless and in all the villages along the river the people were suffering for food. Up the river at point after point the record of the previous year was passed on the moth. This event happened in Cincinnati at 12:45 on the evening of Feb- ruary 11th. On the night of the 12th a wind- storm from the south overthrew many houses whose foundations had been undermined by the current.

By the 13th a decided cold wave set in throughout the Ohio Valley, which seemed to indicate the approach of the climax. The tributaries above began to fall and with the temperature at Cincinnati rapidly falling to 12º below freezing point, the end of the rise came on February 14th at 12 o'clock at which time the water stood at 71 feet and 34 of an inch. At the end of go minutes a fall of a quarter of an inch was reported, to the en- thusiastic joy of the citizens and the whole nation. For five hours the water stood and then the gradual decline at the rate of a quar- ter of an inch per hour set in and continued steadily until by the end of February the stage of the water was 25 feet 6 inches. .

While the water was at its highest stage, permanent high water marks were established at various points about the Public Landing and elsewhere and from these it was subse- quently ascertained that the height of the flood above that of the previous year was 4 feet 834

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inches and above that of February, 1832, 6 feet 934 inches and above that of 1847, 7 feet 534 inches. The total rainfall was 7.03 inches, of which 6,82 inches fell in the first 14 days of February. As the mercury had been below freezing for some time, the waters as they re- ceded left marks of ice recalling the canopies on the trees seen by Symmes at North Bend almost 100 years before. Every street in Pen- dleton had been reached by the water and the frozen line of the flood extended up Deer creek to the foot of the Highland House In- cline. Up Mill creek valley it extended cast- wardly until it covered all of Lincoln Park. and reached Baymiller street at Clark. On Colerain pike at Hamilton the water was four feet deep. On Race, Vine, Walnut, Main and Sycamore the ice was north of Pearl street and on the north side of Lower Market as far as Broadway the first floors of the build- ings were covered with water. At the south- west corner of Fourth and Mill the waters of Mill creek and the Ohio met and extended above Longworth on Hoadly, and on Sixth covered part of the railroad tracks running out of the Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton station. At Eighth street the water came cast as far as Harriet. . The Mill creek bot- tom was so covered that the largest steam- boats could have passed over Eighth street and advanced up the valley to Cumminsville. One-half the city of Newport was covered with water which stood several feet deep over the bridge connecting that town with Cov- ington.

Railroad communication with the outside world, as well as water and gas, was practi- cally cut off from the city. There was not a railroad track entering the city of Cincinnati that was not submerged at some point except that of the Northern Railway coming to the depot on Court street. The Ohio & Missis- sippi Railroad carried its passengers to places between Cincinnati and Aurora by boat and railroad traffic and steamboat business and in fact commerce and business of all sorts was practically suspended.

On the morning of February 15th, after the waters had begun to recede, the buildings at Nos. 123 and 125 East Pearl street collapsed and to persons were killed and a number in- jured. These were occupants who had been driven to the upper floors. Some were crushed to death and others drowned.

Almost as impressive as the flood itself was the nprising of the citizens both of the city and of the nation in behalf of the sufferers. Relief measures by the committee included a careful patrolling of the flooded district. Soon a fleet of innumerable boats under the com- mand of Capt. W. P. Walker, Jr., as admiral of the fleet, were floating through the streets of the city rescuing people from the upper stories of houses projecting from the waters and carrying supplies of food and clothing to others. The president of the Board of Edu- cation, Howard Douglass, ordered the vaca- tion of the school houses to provide shelter to those driven from their homes. The First Regiment, Ohio National Guard, under the command of Col. C. B. Hunt, the Veteran Guards under Col. M. L. Hawkins and Cap- tain Joyce's Second Battery aided the police in the preservation of the public peace and patrolled the streets of the city which were without light. A soup house was opened and maintained during the entire period of the high water. Many buildings had to be torn down because of the danger. This action was opposed by a great many but fortunately with the exception of the one instance mentioned above no accident happened of serious con- sequence. One of the most striking of the measures of relief was the concert given in Music Hall by the prominent singers of the Opera Festival. On this occasion Madame Sembrich endeared herself to Cincinnati for- ever by her conduct in leaving the stage and passing through the aisles of the auditors and soliciting contributions. This concert given by candle-light realized the sum of $6, 170.14.

The entire amount contributed by Cincin- nati was $96,680.12, while persons not citizens of Cincinnati contributed the sum of $97 .- 751.22. This was all expended under the di- rection of the Relief Committee with the ex- ception of a little over $5,000, which was turned over to the Trustees of the Sinking Fund of the city. None of the funds received from outsiders was applied to the relief of the Cincinnati people but they were distrib- uted throughout the Ohio Valley outside of the city. The large steamer "Granite State" was chartered and loaded with supplies; it carried assistance to such people as could be reached along the shores of the river. $15,000 of the cargo was defrayed by the Ohio State Relief Commission while the goverment through Gen. A. Beckwith placed on board

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Centennial history of Cincinnati and representative citizens, Vol. I, Pt. 2, Part 84

Author: Greve, Charles Theodore, b. 1863. cn Publication date: 1904 Publisher: Chicago : Biographical Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 1048

Author: Greve, Charles Theodore, b. 1863. cn
Publication date: 1904
Publisher: Chicago : Biographical Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1048