Grabbed this from a local historian I know who posted it on Facebook. Sounds like maybe there was some sort of tropical connection based on the rainfall? Anyone know of anything in 1903 or if it was a wet year overall? @uncle W
The great flood of October 15th, 1903
TOWN OF CORNWALL
SWEPT BY FLOOD!
___________________________
_____
Damages Sustained by the Firth
Carpet Mills,
the Feed Mills, Railroads and Brick
Yards.
_____________________________
The Orrs Mills Bridge Gone!
State Road badly damaged and
Moodna
Paper Mills are Heavy Losers.
Above and on the following pages are
the headline story for the for the
Cornwall Local on October 15, 1903
The town of Cornwall and vicinity last week
suffered the worst devastation by flood that it
has perhaps, ever experienced. The rain of
Wednesday night was followed Thursday
morning by showers which settled into a steady
downpour before noon. It continued through the
night with increasing power and by Friday
morning every brook was a raging torrent. Still
the storm did not abate and not until Friday
afternoon was there a cessation of the rainfall.
The water continued to rise for several hours
afterward, and the showers of Saturday, Sunday
did not admit of the streams getting back into
their proper channels entirely, even by that time.
In the meantime, Moodna Creek had been
converted into a raging river, and it was this
stream that caused the greatest damage in
different parts of the town. The Firth Caret
Mills, the town’s largest employer, is damaged
to the extent of $15,000 to $20,000 dollars. The
large iron bridge at Orrs Mills, a part of the state
road, was entirely demolished, and a gaping
waste of angry waters with a broken dam above
tells the story. The new State road, along the
route known as the creek road to Mountainville,
is so badly damaged that travel over it was
hazardous for the fore part of the week. Most of
the travel to and from Mountainville was by way
of the hill road or Angola. Hedges brick yards
are heavily damaged. All traffic on the O&W
was suspended until Monday. The West Shore
trestle was curved into the shape of a letter S and
trains have been run only with the utmost care
and very slowly.
The Erie Railroad, even on most of its main
lines, was running no trains until the fore part of
the week, and the Short Cut is not in shape yet
for use. The Garvin Paper Mills at Moodna are
heavily damaged, and their dam is broken.
With its breakage, came a rush of waters that
ploughed through the road at the entrance to
Forge Hill bridge, changed the course of the
creek, and left one end of the bridge in a surging
mass of waters over one hundred feet from land.
Such is a brief synopsis of the work of this flood
in this immediate vicinity, particulars of which
are given so far as they can be ascertained, as
follows:
The Firth Carpet Mill
A large new wagon shed lately erected at a
cost of $1000 was completely demolished. A
fortunate incident in connection was when the
roof fell in it held the wagons firmly and thus
prevented further loss while other equipment
was washed away. Every barrel and cask in the
color shop, of which there were three to four
hundred, was washed out against the machinery
and piled in heaps of every description.
The roads in the mill were washed out in
places to the depth of five or six feet. The bed of
the creek is changed so that the water runs over
the bank at the lower portion of the yards,
instead of against the retaining wall, which is
one satisfactory change in connection with the
general wreck.
One hundred and fifty men were put to work
cleaning up as soon as the waters subsided.
Scores of tons of gravel, mud, have been
removed from the buildings. The spinning
equipment started up for the first time Monday
morning, also a few of the setters and weavers,
and at each day thereafter, has seen more
department men at work so that Superintendent
Booth expects that by next Monday morning the
entire plant will be in full operation again. The
mills are so well built that they have withstood
the flood without damage.
Wm. Orr and Sons Mills
Two broken dams are the principal damage
sustained by the feed mills of Wm Orr & Sons.
The large dam above the bridge is out on one
end, and this can not be replaced until the new
bridge abutment is built. The lower race dam
was entire-ly washed away. That is being rebuilt
now, and is thought it will be in shape to
commence running the mill in about ten days.
Wm. Orr & Sons estimate their loss at about
$1,500. The firm will establish a temporary
station at Firthcliffe, serving their customers on
this side with coal and feed from there.
Ontario and Western Railroad
The track over a sluice near Moodna washed
away and has been replaced by a bridge. Trains
were run over it again the fore part of the week.
The long trestle at Ors Mills remains firm.
The washout was for a distance of 150 feet and
was caused by a clogging of a catch basin, the
outlet of which was a two foot tile pipe. The
waters backed up until the embankment could
hold them no longer.
An engine which was stationed on the track to
help hold it firm was run off just in the nick of
time. The roadbed moved as a single body about
four feet down before it broke away. When part
way down the grade, the mass seem to divide,
part going one way and part the other, which
probably accounts for the houses directly in its
path not being swept into the stream.
WEST SHORE RAILROAD-TWO
MEN KILLED
The West Shore road sustained quite heavy
damages at different points along its route. The
long trestle just above Cornwall was moved
about nine inches on its foundation and all the
work and grading which has been done this past
summer has been undone.
A landslide occurred at Yellow Point, between
Highland and Milton, which buried two men
beneath tons of earth. The bodies were not yet
recovered on Tuesday.
J.W. Cooper, of Milton, a section Foreman,
and one of his men, were the unfortunate
victims. Several others escaped only by jumping
into the river and swimming to the shore. The
tracks were covered for quite a distance.
At Haverstraw, the bridge was washed out,
but was replaced in a day or two. The Erie and
Susquehanna roads have been running trains
over this route this past week, coming by way of
Middletown, and using the West Shore tracks as
far as New Durham. At the entrance to the
Weehawken tunnel, a great amount of mud was
washed down so that only one track was used
the fore part of this week
THE HEDGES BRICK YARDS
Here again, was widespread damage done. The
water of the Moodna, rushing down with flood
debris, accumulated against the West Shore
trestle and backed up over Hedges Brick Yards,
ruining about a half a million bricks in the kilns,
and many others in the yards themselves. It is
impossible to yet for Mr. Hedges to estimate
closely the loss, but it will reach several
thousand dollars.
Garvin Paper Mills in Cornwall received an
estimated $20.000 in damages, the dam being
broke in two places and the Carpenter and
machine shops washed away. Arlington Paper
Mill in Salisbury Mills received equal damage
and several houses along the Moodna were
either moved from their foundations or washed
away completely. Several families barely
escaped with their lives while the West Shore
Railroad lost two men.
