The Brisbane Courier (Qld. : 1864 - 1933)(about) |
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Wednesday 25 April 1894
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THE'FLOODS AT INGHAM.
HIGHEST EVER KNOWN,
LOSS OF LIFE AND DAMAGE TO CROPS.
.FEOSI OOB OWN COWSESrOSDENr.
INDIUM, April 13.
Di L L Smith Melbiuine havmi intro duced into his practice tin new therapeutic treatment of diseu s bv the hvpodirmic in jeotions of liquid m^unu r\t ict ns d13 covered by tho late Dr Hi own S -uiiril is now supplying tho medical faeult) in the dilToront Australian colonii i with thu sime l)r Smith has just imported tho I iti t machine designed by protebsoi dArsonval, eollaborateui of the lato Di Brown Wquaid bv moana of which these special liquids aio inntlorcd pcrfictly puro and innocuous, a ditlleiilt) huhoito mtur raountablo Dr bmith had tho advantage «>f personal interviews with the lato Dr Brown Scquard last j car when in l'ut is, and is conse
quontly in possession of valuablo infouiiatioii with regard to tho subjoot
Tho ohimnov which is said to have the greatoot oapaoity of any in thowoild is that belonging to tho Biooklyn Citj Railroad Com nany, at Wilhamsburg, Now i oik State Rtcontly 108 mon onjoyod a dinner given in consideration of tho completion of tho work Thoy soated themselves lound tables m tanged in the baso of the chimney, whioh IB -OUR high, the highest in New iori. It has a groator cubic capacity than anj olhoi and 11 intended to suppl) tho dum {lit for boilers aggregating l8 DOO home powti The chimney pionei has an in«i(U) diamotoi of 17ft, and has walla averaging J;ft in tuioknefl».
Wo have just expenenced the highest and
most disastious flood ever known in Ingham , Since the 1st January wo have had Ulm of ram, ind there is no appeaianco of a cessation yet Toi about fivo da) s we had veiy high
winds, which on Tri lay night increased lo a < regular hurucai e, and continued uutil caily on i Sunday morning On Saturday last news | was received by wue from Herberton I that very heavy lain had fallen and
that we migh expect 1 flood during I the next twenty four hours The nvei wis then below the level of the bndge but v-p3
rising rapicll) Mipia it had ii en 32ft oi |
13ft above the summei lovel and was over i flowing its banL v ith giea* loree It con tinucd to do so and iem»med at the one level for about foi tv hour-, The fact of it 1 eeping
up so long ciusel tue watei-, to pccuraulate ,
higher up and find cnothci exit through | Ingham fiom th1 junction oi the Stone and j Herbert, through th»1 I un ford paddocks be ¡ longing to the Colonial Sugar Refining Com
pan) cairying hundí eda of cattle and hornes | with it so ne of winch perished, while others effected a landing on higher ground On Saturday, as soon as the new s from Herberton was made public wold was sent to all the Ingham inhabitants and those residing in low l)ing places were stronglv advised to remove and make their belongings safe On the firot warning several people made airangements at once, and moie did so the second time, and went and staved with their friends or at the hotel Tho=o who could do neither, took up their quarters in the Divisional Board Hall Unfoitunately A M Buchanan (coiner and farmer) with his wife and five children, and Albert Cummins (caipeuter and builder) re mained obdurate, and refused even a third request to leive their home» on Saturday night, sa)ing the Hood would not rise high enough to do them any matcual damage They little thought the water would rise a whole foot above the flood of 1881, which was the highest ever known duung the last thirty jean On Sunda) morning as tho volumo of water was increasing and the current getting stronger than ever four men-J Rodgers, J T Sulby, George Wickham, and H Anderson took theonl) available boat, which was really a small punt, and succeeded in reaching Buchanan and Cummins who were up on the roofs of their houses Thoy were all safely on board, when the punt ran into a pandanus tree and loosened one of the planks The little craft filled with wator and sank but vva3 soon turned bottom up ind floated The four rescuers did then best to save the others and made seveial gallant attempt-, after the accident but without success and the whole Buchanan familv and \Ibert Cummin-, were drowned Tho other four men clung to the punt until it drifted to Mr T O Macdonald s faim on the other side of the racecourse, when he swam out with a rope and tied it on to the punt and had them pulled up into his house, where there was a depth of Sf t of wator R S Alston and family were rescued by boat from Lotteiv Creek where they had 2ft Oin of water in their hou i which is some distanoe from the ground Hie only ground above water in Inghin was that occupied by the people hviug immediately rjn the bank of Palm Creek Lower down towaids the coast, where Palm and Trebonne oreeks empty them selves into the sea the flood w13 about tbe same as usual, and no damage or loss of stock 13 reported
The Colonial Sugar Refining Company appear to be the heaviest losers, as in addition to having a lot of their cattle swept away thoy lost their bridga over Palm Cicek a structure that must have cost -£000, ind over which n great quantity of their cane is brought by tramway They aie bus) now making prepara tions for a new bridge, and as the oruslnng season will soon be on they will have to bo content with a temporary one for this season The water ran tluough tho mill to a depth of 2ft in placos, but nothing was seriously damaged The cine crops have boen destroyed only in a very few places, ind to no great ex tent There are no uulhentic reports to hand from Dungeness, Halifax, Maonade, or Ripple Creek, but the river overflowed them all in places The nvei, though falling, is still ovor the Gairloch Bridge, and it is quite probable the bridge will require a largo amount of money spent on it to make it crossable owing to the great wash away of the northe.n bank of the river ft the approach, whero fully three acres havo fallon in but it is to be hoped the bank has been only levelled with the bridge The nvei has now found another outlet through the lagoon at the back of Parr's Store, and has washed an opening about three chains wide Tau and his family had to abandon the house on Saturdav nit,ht and seek refuge lower down, as the watei ro e right up to the wallplates Ho must havo Buff ti ed severe loss and has hld to pull down the houso to keop it from falling into the river The water ran with great force thiough tho Gairloch gardens, and was about 7in ni the lower stor) of the house Several of tho Gairloch farmors had it about the same height m their houses, but scarcel) any damage wn done to tho cane crops Tho corn (mai/e) crops all suffered
more or less
In the Stone Rivei, whioh is about nine miles from Ingham and junctions with the Heiboit, the water was verv high and 1 man named Williams, who was left in ehaige at Lannercost, is supposed to be di owned as the house was submerged and Williams was unable to BWim Lp to )esterday it wa impossible to get to Lanneicost and no further 1 poits are to hand Telegraphic communie ion was restored late )0steiday evening and the mail has just ai rived from the South and leaves again to night lim vvoathci is wet at present and no sign of clearing up Since the flood on bundov we have had nearly lOin of lain ind tho nvii has been steadily fallm-,, so it is vet) cctain the local ruin does not affeet tho flood i lOimv^ieat oxtint
A nui jer of people insisted tho police m hunting for tho bodies of thosn who wore drowned in In[li->m ind have founlthcm all ex"eptin" tho baby I Iii) were dul) buried in the cenieteiv and much s)inpiihy 13 expies ed Mis Cummin mid family wen staving up at the Stone Livci at the time of tho
Hood
It 13 a gteit vondii that theio wero not moio easualtic iosullin" fiom the lunrioani
as tho wind was very btiong Intimately it
blew from tho one direction tho whole time