| Show flood in southern utah VIRGIN CITY jan 19 1862 EDITOR or DESERET NEWS after affer about twenty days of claudy rainy weather and a shower this morning the sun at this time 9 A M x is shining brightly oa 0 the and alth ith it rained bere here tolerably heavy and the water in the river rose to an unusual height washing away a very large por POE portion tion of our bottom farmin farming g lands i which thich were wire not extensive in the first fi place old cottonwood cotton trees were uprooted and the old irrigating canal has been ertl elti ely destroyed the houes hou es of old grafto grafton i came floating d wn with the furniture clothing and other property of the inhabitants some of which was hauled out of the river at this place including three barrels of molasses the indians say their fathers told them there was a similar flood in this country many years ago the new ditch that has recently been made for the purpose of taking the water out of north creek has not been injured by the flood it is not quite finished but when hen completed ac ayar lagge iange ge amount of bench land can be watered from it as it is on higher ground than the old one ash creek rose twelve fet fert and much of the toe bottom land alon aion along the stream has been washed trashed away north north creek is so that we vve cannot pass up to get any news from f rom above charman CHAPMAN DUNCAN ST GEORGE IV washington aShington co U T january 1862 1 entrom EDITOR or NEWS As AB it la Is ing new in this evla day ot of rainbows to have floods but I 1 will give you an account of one that ha hab has 9 just justvig vi itei this part ot of the territory day before yester ilyas the morn ing ine dawned and the waters of the santa clara ad and rio virgin became visible from our encampment camp ment men were seen climbing on the highest objects about camp tu get a view of the adf it il angry flood the like 0 of which the present inhabitants nver ilver n ii ver saw it has rained nere here here halt the time for more than four weeks and the thi stream streams have been high but not dangerously so till the night of the when the virgin and the santa clara became mighty rivers and boehman and beast fled from them terrified some horses mul muis s and cattle are reported drowned but the extent of the dam a aein adein e in this and other respects is not yet fully as we have not heard from the upper per virgin county but believe it has buffered suffered greatly fora foai clara and one half the adja cen houses are entirely washed away with the fine 0 chadds nurseries and vineyards at that place the angry waters are now roaring n wildly over the same spot ot where three days I 1 a s ago stood a com comfortable comforte forta brie schoolhouse school house filled with children and man many other houses bouses occupied by families three days since bince Jave lave l ave entirely disappeared i tona tori quint a little town a mile or two from us is deserted and much valuable land on the clara has been ruined and all thia tills by a little stream that in common stages is about like cit city y ere k 1 the indians assert th it about forty years ago a similar flod fiod fl od occurred this ibis wilt will learn us an important lesson and all will now be willing to take president youngs advice an and a get et oi 0 i high ground the larz largest test trees hav hava be been g uprooted ad and the I 1 r ar of the maddened waters could be heard ft f r miles the oldest catiz ns assert that t ie e has bas been more rain since we came to this tats country last fall than before for the last aze fi e years altogether the roads are ispass j a able abie ble bie vegetation tation is putting f orth forth no f rost frost has been seen been for weeks and we expect soon tj put out our cur fruit trees and commence our oar f firming operations provid providing inz the floods shall cease and we can get about without miring j 7 in this once one dry and parched country but now th toughly irrigated the people here are genera ly enjoying good health and spirits notwithstanding they live in tents and wagons and have been exposed to at al this rain our oun c cump imp extends a qt quarter tarter of a mile or more wone in two lines there are ninety tents several hundred hund ret ref wagons and about echt hundred souls we expect to break c ip imp within two or three days and move on c ar city lots this is by far the largest camp of the present erdl eldi gration to the cotton country we are se sc interred itt erred for fifty mi ess est ea rockville on the upper vi gin the P preb pres re 51 edt e it location of brother 0 pratt ty the pia pla place c vh h re fort clara wis w is on the santa clara six i liea lieb nearly w et at of this place washington Wash bigton 13 six miles east of us st george has the g eanest amount of farming land in ts ta vi ini im 1 v and ans is destined to be the principal city of te ane cotton count country an utah elder erastus snow has been urt inc inz inarik in la lia exer ions in selee ing the best beat locations f r the people and opening up the resources of the country three saw mills are in in pro gresi of erect erection iori lorl in pine valley and all kinds kind of necessary machinery are in contemplation tie the people are zealous to carry out the pres hoenl wishes with regard to cotton rai ral ing an aal I 1 the n cessare machinery to mike it into cloth cioth J W cansby E der george A linth m th to whom it was spas w itten has furnis ed us with the following from M jacob ham sania santa clara ja uary letb ith i i S koeln knowing the interest which you take in this southern country and the mission lately sent hither bither as well as he the welfare of the 0 d settlers I 1 presume that an account of the present resen a state ate of this p ace will be read with i interest by you but briefly mentioning that the new city is surveyed and the saints are im improving p roving on their lots I 1 hasten to describe the tha great flood that is now rolling through the narrow valey vailey valay f the clara for several weeks pat pa t an almost rainfall snowstorms snow storms on the mountains kept the clara running swiftly and full with occasional cas ional overflow ings this ahls though unprecedented ce at this season of the year was but a trifle to the present flood on friday morning last very early ing ieng before daybreak the river overflowed bo h banks and submerged the greatest part of the bottoms bringing down large logs and trees from above and uprooting them here with astounding rapidity afterwards the flood seemed to subside somewhat and retreated to the rivers channel which in the meantime washed deeper and broader both banks continually fal ing in yes erday morning the water began to tear down the southwest south west corner of 0 the fort and the gardens above by three this morning the last vestige of the fort the schoolhouse school house bouse and seven other houses bouses above the fort were gone no lives were lost as f fa a as we have ie arned t lough seve at al persons were for some hours in imminent danger having had to climb trees and others sought refuse on a small island near the mill all hands bands are saving what can be saved or of grain lumber ac the rest of our chattels bating already been moved to places more secure the rains raina continue on the mountains ains the floods roar roan on the banks are still falling falline all along the rivers cours coura with an earthquake like thumping brother dodges orchard and nursery are entirely gone rone boneso so are many others the tle rivers rivera bed is now ai as broad as that of the hudson at albany new york yolk perhaps bishop crosby would woud be interested to learn that his as aa wei well wel as aa mother dodly old oa houses are yet safe but the new one is sone cone we vye have not yet heard from the upper clara settlement but suppose the damage must be great there also |
