1889 — May 31-June 2, Flooding, District of Columbia; MD (lives lost) –8-11

— 19 Cumberland Daily Times, MD. “Eight Lives Lost at Harper’s Ferry.” 6-3-1889, p. 2.
–9-11 Blanchard tally.*

Maryland (11)
–12 Johnson, Willis Fletcher. History of The Johnstown Flood. 1889, p. 447.
–11 Cumberland Daily Times, MD. “Eight Lives Lost at Harper’s Ferry.” 6-3-1889, p. 2.
— 8 Blanchard tally based on locality breakouts below.
— 1 Leitersburg area. Drowning; Jos. Creager, 80, fell into creek at Crums mill.
— 1 Monrovia, just east of Frederick. Drowning; man named Lawson.
— 1 Orange Grove, Patapsco River. Drowning when log took out bridge with Wm. H. Hudson.
–>2 Point of Rocks. “…it is fortunate that few lives were lost.”
— 2 Salisbury area. Drownings; sloop capsized during the storm, two men.
— 2 Taneytown area. Drowned crossing flooded stream in carriage; Mrs. McFadden; Miss Maggie Moore.
— 1 “ Drowned crossing flooded Pipe Creek in carriage; John W. McFadden.
— 1 Trevanion Mills, Pipe Creek, Carroll County. Drowning; George Derrick.
— 1 Williamsport. Drowning; fell from skiff, catching drift wood in flood water, Theo Wolf, 18.

West Virginia ( 8)
–8 Cumberland Daily Times, MD. “Eight Lives Lost at Harper’s Ferry.” 6-3-1889, p. 2.

* Though we have seen sources noting 11, 12 and even 19 fatalities (including WV), we have only been able to identify eight of those with some level of confidence. Johnson, for example, notes the drowning death of a Mr. Lawson in Monrovia, as did early press reporting. However the Frederick Daily News of June 3, which had earlier reported his death as well, ran a note that this report was inaccurate and that no one drowned in Monrovia. Similarly Johnson reports two drowning deaths in the Taneytown area, as did the early press, but it appears from later reporting that there was but one. If one subtracts these two reported deaths, his total would be ten. However, since the Cumberland, MD, Daily Times reports eleven deaths we use that number as the high-end of our tally though we think the actual number was 8-10.

Narrative Information

Johnson on DC & MD: “The opening of the month of June will long be remembered with sadness and dismay by thousands of people in New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland and the two Virginias. In the District of Columbia, too, it was a time of losses and of terror. The northwestern and more fashionable part of Washington, D.C., never looked more lovely than it did on Sunday, but along a good part of the principal business thoroughfare, Pennsylvania avenue, and in the adjacent streets to the southward, there was a dreary waste of turbid, muddy water, that washed five and six feet deep the sides of the houses, filling cellars and basements and causing great inconvenience and considerable loss of property. Boats plied along the avenue near the Pennsylvania Railroad station and through the streets of South Washington. A carp two feet long was caught in the ladies’ waiting-room at the Baltimore and Potomac station, and several others were caught in the streets by boys. These fish came from the Government Fish Pond, the waters of the Potomac having covered the pond and allowed them to escape.

“Along the river front the usually calm Potomac was a wide, roaring, turbulent stream of dirty water, rushing madly onward, and bearing on its swift-moving surface logs, telegraph poles, portions of houses and all kinds of rubbish. The stream was nearly twice its normal width, and flowed six feet and more deep through the streets along the river front, submerging wharves, small manufacturing establishments, and lapping the second stories of mills, boat-houses and fertilizing works in Georgetown. It completely flooded the Potomac Flats, which the Government had raised at great expense to a height in most part of four and five feet, and inundated the abodes of poor negro squatters, who had built their frame shanties along the river’s edge. The rising of the waters has eclipsed the high-water mark of 1877. The loss was enormous.

“The river began rising early on Saturday morning [June 1], and from that time continued to rise steadily until five o’clock Sunday afternoon, when the flood began to abate, having reached a higher mark than ever before known. The flood grew worse and worse on Saturday, and before noon the river had become so high and strong that it overflowed the banks just above the Washington Monument, and backing the water into the sewer which empties itself at this point, began to flow along the streets on the lower levels.

“By nightfall the water in the streets had increased to such an extent as to make them impassable by foot passengers, and boats were ferrying people from the business part of the town to the high grounds in South Washington. The street cars also continued running and did a thriving business conveying pleasure-seekers, who sat in the windows and bantered one another as the deepening waters hid the floor. On Louisiana avenue the produce and commission houses are located, and the proprietors bustled eagerly about securing their more perishable property, and wading knee-deep outside after floating chicken coops. The grocery merchants, hotel men and others hastily cleared out their cellars and worked until the water was waist-deep removing their effects to higher floors.

“Meanwhile the Potomac, at the Point of Rocks, had overflowed into the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, and the two became one. It broke open the canal in a great many places, and lifting the barges up, shot them down stream at a rapid rate. Trunks of trees and small houses were town from their places and swept onward.

“The water continued rising throughout the night, and about noon of Sunday reached its maximum, three feet six inches above high-water mark of 1877, which was the highest on record. At that time the city presented a strange spectacle. Pennsylvania avenue, from the Peace monument, at the foot of the Capital, to Ninth street, was flooded with water, and in some places it was up to the thighs of horses. The cellars of stores along the avenue were flooded, and so were some of the main floors. In the side streets south of the avenue there was six to eight feet of water, and yawls, skiffs and canoes were everywhere to be seen. Communication except by boat was totally interrupted between North and South Washington. At the Pennsylvania Railroad station the water was up to the waiting-room.

“Through the Smithsonian and Agricultural Department grounds a deep stream was running, and the Washington Monument was surrounded on all sides by water.

“A dozen lives lost, a hundred poor families homeless, and over $2,000,000 worth of property destroyed, is the brief but terrible record of the havoc caused by the floods in Maryland. Every river and mountain stream in the western half of the State has overflowed its banks, inundating villages and manufactories and laying waste thousands of acres of farm lands. The losses by wrecked bridges, washed-out roadbeds and land-slides along the western division of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, from Baltimore to Johnstown, reach half a million dollars or more. The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, the political bone of contention and burden to Maryland, which has cost the State many millions, is a total wreck. The Potomac river, by the side of which the canal runs, from Williamsport, Md., to Georgetown, D.C., has swept away the locks, towpaths, bridges, and, in fact, everything connected with the canal. The probability is that the canal will not be restored, but that the canal bed will be sold to one of the railroad that have been trying to secure if for several years. The concern has never paid, and annually has increased its enormous debt to the State.

“The Western Maryland Railroad Company and their connecting lines, the Baltimore and Harrisburg, and the Cumberland Valley roads, lose heavily. On the mountain grades of the Blue Ridge there are tremendous washouts, and in some sections the tracks are town up and the road-bed destroyed. Several bridges were washed away. Dispatches from Shippensburg, Hagerstown and points in the Cumberland Valley state that the damage to that fertile farming region is incalculable. Miles of farm lands were submerged by the torrents that rushed down from the mountains. Several lives were lost and many head of cattle drowned. At the mountain town of Frederick, Md., the Monocacy ricer, Carroll creek and other streams combined in the work of destruction.

“Friday night was one of terror to the people of that section. The Monocacy river rose rapidly from the time the rain ceased until last night, when the waters began to fall. The back-water of the river extended to the eastern limit of the city, flooding everything in its path and riding over the fields with a fierce current that meant destruction to crops, fences and everything in its path. At the Pennsylvania Railroad bridge the river rose thirty feet above low-water mark. It submerged the floor of the bridge and at one time threatened it with destruction, but the breaking away of 300 feet of embankment on the north side of the bridge saved the structure. With the 300 feet of embankment went 300 feet of track. The heavy steel rails were twisted gy the waters as if they had been wrenched in the jaws of a mammoth vise. The river at this point and for many miles along its course overflowed its banks to the width of a thousand feet, submerging the corn and wheat fields on either side and carrying everything before it. Just below the railroad bridge a large wooden turnpike bridge was snapped in two and carried down the tide. In this way a half-dozen turnpike bridges at various points along the river were carried away. The loss to the counties through the destruction of these bridges will foot up many thousand dollars.

“Mrs. Charles McFadden and Miss Maggie Moore, of Taneytown, were drowned in their carriage while attempting to cross a swollen stream. The horse and vehicle were swept down the stream, and when found were lodged against a tree. Miss Moore was lying half-way out of the carriage, as though she had died in trying to extricate herself. Mrs. McFadden’s body was found near the carriage.

“At Knoxville considerable damage was done, and at Point of Rocks people were compelled to seek the roofs of their houses and other places of safety. A family living on an island in the middle of the river, opposite the Point, fired off a gun as a signal of distress. They were with difficulty rescued. In Frederick county, Md., the losses aggregate $300,000.

“The heaviest damage in Maryland was in the vicinity of Williamsport, Washington county. The railroads at Hagerstown and Williamsport were washed out. The greatest loser in the Cumberland Valley Railroad. Its new iron bridge across the Potomac river went down, nothing being left of the structure except the span across the canal. The original cost of the bridge was $70,000. All along the Potomac the destruction was great. At and near Williamsport, where the Conococheague [creek] empties into the Potomac the destruction was very heavy.

“At Falling Waters, where only a few days before a cyclone caused death and destruction, two houses went down in the angry water, and the little town was almost entirely submerged. In Carroll County, Md., the losses reached several hundred thousand dollars. George Derrick was drowned at Trevanion Mills on Pipe creek. Along the Patapsco river in Howard county great damage was done to mills and private property. Near Sykesville the water undermined the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad track and a freight train was turned over an embankment. William Hudson was standing on the Suspension Bridge, at Orange Gove, when the structure was swept away, and he was never seen again.

“Fort Deposit, near the mouth of the Susquehanna river, went under water. Residents along the river front left their homes and took refuge on the hills back of the town. The river was filled with thousands of logs from the broken booms up in the timber regions. From the eastern and southern sections of the State came reports of entire fruit farms swept away. Two men were drowned in the storm by the capsizing of a sloop near Salisbury.

“A number of houses on the Shenandoah and Potomac rivers near Harper’s Ferry were destroyed by the raging waters which came thundering down from the mountains, thirty to forty feet higher than low-water mark. John Brown’s fort was nearly swept away. The old building has withstood a number of floods. There is only a rickety portion of it standing, anyhow, and that is now covered with mud and rubbish. While the crowds on the heights near Harper’s Ferry were watching the terrible work of destruction, a house was seen coming down the Potomac. Upon its roof were three men wildly shouting to the people on the hills to save them. Just as the structure struck the railroad bridge, the men tried to catch hold of the flooring and iron work, but the swift torrent swept them all under, and they were seen no more. What appeared to be a babe in a cradle came floating down behind them, and a few moments later the body of a woman, supposed to be the mother of the child, swept by. Robert Connell, a farmer living upon a large island in the Potomac, known as Herter Island, lost all his wheat crop and his cattle. His family was rescued by Clarence Stedman and E. A. Keyser, an artist from Washington, at the risk of their lives. The fine railroad bridge across the Shenandoah, near Harper’s Ferry, was destroyed. The Ferry Mill Company sustained heavy losses.

“Along the South Mountains, in Washington and Alleghany counties, Md., the destruction was terrible. Whole farms, including the houses and barns, were swept away and hundreds of live stock killed. Between Williamsport, Md., and Dam No. 6 on the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal twenty-sis houses were destroyed, and it is reported that several persons were drowned. The homeless families are camping out on the hills, being supplied with food and clothing by the citizens of Williamsport.

“Joseph Shifter and family made a narrow escape. They were driven to the roof of their house by the rising waters, and just a minute before the structure collapsed the father caught a rowboat passing by, and saved his wife and little ones.

“The town of Point of Rocks, on the Potomac river, twelve miles eastward of Harper’s Ferry, was half-submerged. Nearly $100,000 worth of property in the town and vicinity was swept away. The Catholic Church there is 500 feet from the river. The extent of the flood here may be imagined when it is stated that the water was up to the eaves of the church.

“The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal has been utterly lost, and what formerly was the bed of the canal is now part of the Potomac river. There were but few houses in Point of Rocks that were not under water. The Methodist Church had water in its second story. The two hotels of which the place boasts, the American and the St. Charles, were full of water, and any stranger in town had to hunt for something to eat.

“Every bridge in Frederick county, Md., was washed away. Some of these bridges were built as long ago as 1834, and were burned by thee Confederate and Union forces at various times in 1864, afterward being rebuilt. At Martinsburg, W. Va., a number of houses were destroyed. Little Georgetown, a village on the Upper Potomac, near Williamsport, Md., was entirely swept away….” (Johnson, Willis Fletcher. History of The Johnstown Flood. Chapter XL, pp. 444-454, 1889.)

District of Columbia

Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media: On June 2, 1889, heavy rains caused massive flooding in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, and overwhelmed the South Fork Dam. The storm also hit the Washington, DC, area. As a result, the Potomac River flooded and areas around Pennsylvania Avenue were under several feet of water. The flooding was made worse by sewers that became clogged with dirt from unpaved roads and began overflowing, causing the water to rise. The only access between the east and west of the city was by boat.” (Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media. Histories of the National Mall. “Flood of 1889.”)

Weather Bureau: “Potomac River Floods. Four floods have been selected for discussion. Besides those mentioned here notable floods took place in October 1896, April 1937, and March 1924.

“The flood of May 31-June 1, 1889. – The following note about this flood and the weather accompanying it are copied from the Daily Journal:

May 30, 1889: Cloudy, dense fog in morning. Fresh and brisk southeast winds. Thunderstorm 3:20 to 6:45 p.m. moving from southeast to northwest….Rain excessive (1.42 inches) from 3:20 to 6:45 p.m.

May 31, 1889: Cloudy. Excessive rain from midnight to midnight amounting to 2.98 inches; cool. Great damage to the farming interests from heavy rains during the month in the vicinity of Washington.

June 1, 1889: Heavy rain during the night. Potomac River rising rapidly; great danger of high water. People preparing for it. Cleared away in the morning. Fresh northwest wind.

June 3, 1889: Cloudless. The river reached its highest point about the middle of the day. The water was about as high as ever before. Great damage along the river front and lower part of the city. A span out of the Long Bridge.”

(Weather Bureau. The Climatic Handbook for Washington, D.C. 1949, p. 21.)

Maryland

USGS: “Table 1. Chronology of major and other memorable floods and droughts in Maryland and the District of Columbia, 1889-1988.

“Flood…June 1889. Potomac River basin…50 to >100 [Recurrence interval, years]. Largest flood on record prior to the flood of 1936.” (USGS. National Water Summary 1988-89 – Hydrologic Events and Floods and Droughts. 1991, p. 321.)

Weather.gov: “Date of Flood: 6/2/1889 [No. 3]. Crest (ft): 40.2. A mesoscale convective complex caused 9 inches of rain to fall in 36 hours with 4 inches of rain occurring in 8 hours. Most of Williamsport, Lock Haven, Muncy, Jersey Shore and Montgomery were submerged.” (Weather.gov. Top 10 Highest Historical Crests: Potomac River at Point of Rocks, MD. 1-14-2020.)

Newspapers:

May 31: “The complete inundation of Cumberland and its surrounding county today, has, so far, been accompanied by no loss of life but the event is none the less a serious and terrible catastrophe.” (Daily Times, Cumberland, MD. “After the Flood…” 5-31-1880, p. 2.)

June 1, Cumberland: “The flood noted in yesterday’s Times [Cumberland, MD] as raging when this paper went to press became more and more serious as the day wore on. At five p.m. the entire city between Centre street and Will’s creek on the one hand, between Bedford and Will’s creek on another, and in South Cumberland as far down as the canal wharves, was under water to a depth varying from 6 inches to 8 feet. The water rose steadily until about 9 p.m. when it began to fall rapidly subsiding, until by morning the city, which had last night been a veritable Venice, resumed its almost wonted aspect and the avocations of its citizens were resumed.

“The scene presented by Cumberland from the mountains near and on the housetops was a strange and never to be forgotten one. A city lighted by electric lamps and gas lay half under water and upon one side surged a raging torrent ordinarily the pacific Potomac river, while separating much of its residence portion from the business centers a maddened stream swollen by mountain brooks had burst its confines and rushed forth over its banks as the ocean over the Dykes of Holland….” (Daily Times, Cumberland, MD. “The Flood!” 6-1-1889, p. 3.)

June 1, Frederick: “Once more in the annals of history has Frederick been threatened with a disastrous flood. The heavy rains of this week have caused old Monocacy to get out of bank and at present writing it is higher than ever before. Yesterday’s storm is reported severe from all parts of the county. At noon heavy showers were accompanied by distant thunder and vivid flashes of lightning. A slight cessation of rain made one hope for a final clearing up. But at four o’clock the clouds discharged again and the downpour was steady for eight consecutive hours. The wind blew with a cyclonic force, uprooting trees, leveling fences to the ground and washing out the early vegetables. Wind and rain seemed to leap from peak to peak of the Blue Ridge, sweeping down into the valleys, leaving dark clouds piled up in the West. Market street as usual was a raging canal and all the low lying fields along Carroll Creek were submerged. An eyewitness shortly after eleven o’clock last night saw coming down from the mountain inky clouds, looking as if they would fall right on the ground. The sound was like that of great army wagons rumbling along the road, in a few moments the clouds burst, and such a shower has not been known here for many years. The vapor against the window panes was so thick that it seemed as if all the street was a river. Looking west the rain came in sheets and soon the sewers overflowed, the creek roared with all the force of ocean. The rain beat against the front doors, under the sills, and many persons had to take up their carpets. Water dripped down the chimneys, through the ceilings, and completely filled many cellars.

“At 11:30 o’clock the United fire bell rang out the alarm, the water in that locality backing up until it ran into the front doors. Also through C. E. Mealey’s stable, threatening the washing away of vehicles and horses. Soon the other fire bells responded, the whistles of the locomotives and our manufactories took up the alarm, and the sleeping inhabitants sprang from their beds knowing that danger was nigh….

“This morning dawned showing great devastation, bridges down, fields submerged and gardens completely drenched. It is impossible to tell the amount of damage done, as communication has been shut off, wires being knocked down by the storm. The Monocacy is backing up in Burger’s field East Patrick street, fences were washed away and for a time only the tops of the trees were visible. About 5 feet of water was in Attick’s basin this morning…

“The dam at Riehl’s Mils…was washed away. The water reached the second story of Gambrill’s Mill at Araby, and this morning the bridge on the Georgetown pike went down. It was one of the oldest bridges in the County, built about 1834, burned during the battle of Monocacy in 1864, and afterwards rebuilt. Other bridges that have gone down are Miller’s above Creagerstown, Delaplaine’s near that town, Devilbiss’ at Carzendafner’s mill, one on Frederick and Liberty turnpike, and many others not yet recorded…

“Mr. McClintock Young, who keeps an account of the rainfall in this city, states that from 8 p.m. Thursday to 8 p.m. Friday three inches of rain fell, and from 8 o’clock last night to midnight 2¼ inches, making a total of 5¼ inches in 23 hours. This record surpasses that of 1885, when on the night of Sunday, August 3d, this town was visited by a flood.

(The Daily News, Frederick, MD. “Disastrous Floods.” 6-1-1889, p. 3.)

June 1: “Washington, June 1. – The Chesapeake and Ohio, Norfolk and Western and the roads between Washington and Richmond have serious washouts. No trains can go south. The Baltimore and Ohio is said to have lost seven miles of track by a washout near Martinsburg, W. Va.” (Evening Capital, Annapolis, MD. “B. & O.’s Big Washout.” 6-1-1889, p. 1.)

June 3: “Baltimore, June 3. – Eight lives are reported lost at Harper’s Ferry [WV]. Many bridges in that valley are gone. Port Deposit is flooded. The Chesapeake and Ohio canal is so badly damaged that it will never be used again. Eleven lives are known to have been lost in Maryland.” (Cumberland Daily Times, MD. “Eight Lives Lost at Harper’s Ferry.” 6-3-1889, p. 2.)

June 3: “The great flood of 1889 will go down to history as one unprecedented in its terrible devastation. It will leave its imprint upon many places, upon large cities and even upon this beautiful county. It will long be remembered by the people of Frederick who while they were spared the loss of life cannot help but feel distressed over the calamities that befell the neighboring counties. No pen can adequately describe the might force of water, and no tongue can convey the feelings of those who were eye witnesses to the effects of the terrible calamity….

“Catoctin creek overflowed at 2 p.m. Friday and continued to rise until Saturday morning when it was one foot higher than in 1868, water running across the pike to the depth of five feet. Buildings and bridges were washed away and crops utterly ruined. Many farmers will have to replant their entire crops. Six iron bridges were reported swept away but afterwards found to be incorrect. The iron bridge at Remsburg is completely washed away, and the one at Captain Bolus’s badly damaged….Phleger’s mill dam and the dam at Mentzer’s saw mill were destroyed….The old covered bridge near Wolfsville was washed away, and the iron bridge near the Dunker church was badly twisted. Josiah Harp’s mill dam was carried off….

“Pt. of Rocks. The Potomac river rose higher than ever in the memory of the oldest inhabitants, passing the highest water marks of 1852, 1870 and 1877 by from 6 to 8 feet, though it is fortunate that few lives were lost. The village however was completely under water, men rowed around in boats as high as the second stories. The scene from the hills was sublime but distressing. The water completely hid the tow path, and the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal is a total ruin, and near the tunnels were several landslides. The railroad tracks were completely lost to sight under water above ten feet, while an engine with a snow plow moved up and down all day Saturday and Sunday. Church spires could be seen peeping out above the wat43r, while small houses were floating down in the current. The homeless gathered together in the school house only too thankful that their lives were saved….Many people have lost their all and for a time suffered for the necessaries of life. But a carload of provisions was sent from here and individuals carried with them on the trains yesterday baskets of bread and meat….

“The new iron bridge at the Point to connect Loudoun [VA] with Frederick county seems doomed. On Saturday night four more spans were carried away and the loss will probably be from $10,000 to $15,000. The first span moved away at 6 p.m., second at 10, and the other two at 11 o’clock….

“Washington County. The Antietam, the Conococheague and Beaver creek were converted into rivers. Many of the milldams upon them have been washed out, and a number of bridges crossing them have been swept away or injured to such an extent as to be unsafe. Three iron bridges recently erected by the county commissioners, one at Kemp’s Mills, near Williamsport, one between Smithsburg and Leitersburg, and one at Fairview have been carried away. The bridge at Broad Fording and the one across Licking creek, near Clear Spring, are destroyed, and the loss to the county from the damage done to bridges alone is estimated at from thirty to fifty thousand dollars, to say nothing of damage done to the public roads by washouts….

“So far only two lives are reported lost. Theo Wolf, of Williamsport, aged about 18, while out on the river catching drift wood, fell from his skiff and was drowned….and Jos Creager, of Leitersburg district, an old man, aged 80, accidentally fell into the creek at Crums mill, and was drowned.
Damage in Carroll.

“Carroll county has suffered greatly; the water is still high but gradually subsiding. The large covered bridge, one hundred feet long, between Beckleysville and Middletown is washed away. At Meadow branch, a few miles from Westminster, at Roop’s Mill, a new iron bridge was lifted from the abutments and is lying down in the water. One bridge near New Windsor, another over the Patapsco, near Finksburg, and several others in other parts of the county have been rendered unsafe for travel. All the streams overflowed and much fencing has been washed away….

“Between New Windsor and Union Bridge about 1,900 feet of road-bed and tracks were washed away, and two culvert bridges also went….Only one loss of life is reported so far, that of George Derrick, a middle-aged man, keeper of horses belonging to John W. McFadden, proprietor and owner of Trevanion Mills, on Pipe creek, a few miles from Taneytown. Mr. Derrick was drowned in attempting to cross the creek in a carriage. When near the creek he was seen by Mrs. Samuel Fink, who motioned to him to turn back, as the bridge was gone. Owing to the noise of the water and the blinding rain he did not see her, and in a moment more had pitched over the horse’s hear and both were plunging rapidly down-stream. Search was made as soon as possible, but up to the present Derrick’s body has not been found. The buggy was found yesterday near Bollinger’s Mill, and the dead horse the Hambletonian stallion Roller, at the foot of Otterdale dam, near Bruceville, between six and seven miles distant. The drowning of Mr. McFadden’s horse and driver gave rise to the report of the drowning of Mrs. McFadden and a friend, Miss Moore, and caused considerable excitement in the upper part of the county until the report was contradicted. Mr. McFadden valued the horse at $10,000….

“Mr. Wm. H. Hudson, night packer at the flour mills of the C. A. Gambrill Company at Orange Grove, was drowned about 9:15 o’clock Friday night. He went from the mill, on the Baltimore county side, and crossed over the swollen river on the small, picturesque suspension bridge. His intention was to call the employees who live in cottages on the Howard county side. Mr. Hudson had performed his duty and was returning to the mill. When he had nearly reached the mill side spectators say that a large piece of floating timber struck the frail bottom of the bridge and carried it away, taking Mr. Hudson with it. He was not seen or heard from afterwards. The bridge was not finally destroyed by the waters until about 3 a.m. Saturday. Mr. Hudson leaves a wife and four children. He formerly resided at Elkridge Landing…..

(Daily News, Frederick, MD. “The Great Flood. Towns Submerged and People Drowned.” 6-3-1889, p. 3.)

Sources

Daily News, Frederick, MD. “Disastrous Floods.” 6-1-1889, p. 3. Accessed 3-6-2020 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/news-jun-01-1889-p-3/

Daily News, Frederick, MD. “The Great Flood. Towns Submerged and People Drowned.” 6-3-1889, p. 3. Accessed 3-6-2020 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/news-jun-03-1889-p-3/

Daily Times, Cumberland, MD. “After the Flood Comes the Fever.” 5-31-1880, p. 2. Accessed 3-6-2020 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/cumberland-daily-times-may-31-1889-p-2/

Daily Times, Cumberland, MD. “Eight Lives Lost at Harper’s Ferry.” 6-3-1889, p. 2. Accessed 3-5-2020 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/cumberland-daily-times-jun-03-1889-p-2/

Daily Times, Cumberland, MD. “The Flood! A Deluge Worthy of Dore’s Description.” 6-1-1889, p. 3. Accessed 3-6-2020: https://newspaperarchive.com/cumberland-daily-times-jun-01-1889-p-3/

Evening Capital, Annapolis, MD. “B. & O.’s Big Washout.” 6-1-1889, p. 1. Accessed 3-6-2020 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/annapolis-evening-capital-jun-01-1889-p-1/

Johnson, Willis Fletcher. History of The Johnstown Flood. Edgewood Publishing Co., 1889.

National Park Service. Harpers Ferry National Historical Park (webpage). “Memorable Floods at Harpers Ferry.” Accessed 3-6-2020 at: https://www.nps.gov/hafe/learn/historyculture/memorable-floods-at-harpers-ferry.htm

Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media. Histories of the National Mall. “Flood of 1889.” Accessed 3-6-2020 at: http://mallhistory.org/items/show/453

U.S. Geological Survey (Richard W. Paulson, Edith B. Chase, Robert S. Roberts, and David W. Moody). National Water Summary 1988-89 – Hydrologic Events and Floods and Droughts (U.S. Geological Survey Water-Supply Paper 2375). U.S. GPO, 1991. Accessed 3-6-2020 at: https://books.google.com/books?id=CFlz5TNtUpMC&ppis=_c&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=true

Weather Bureau, U.S. Department of Commerce. The Climatic Handbook for Washington, D.C. (Weather Bureau Technical Paper No. 8). Washington: GPO, 1949. Accessed 3-6-2020 at: https://books.google.com/books?id=EaQvAAAAMAAJ&ppis=_c&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=true

Weather.gov. Top 10 Highest Historical Crests: Potomac River at Point of Rocks, MD. 1-14-2020. Accessed 3-6-2020 at: https://www.weather.gov/media/marfc/Top20/POT/PointofRocks.pdf