[The following is in regards to the failure of the Williamsburg Dam. Context, courtesy of Wikipedia: “On the morning of May 16, 1874, a flood along Williamsburg's Mill River claimed 139 lives and left nearly 800 victims homeless throughout Hampshire County. The deluge occurred when the Williamsburg Reservoir Dam unexpectedly burst, sending a twenty-foot wall of water surging into the valley below.”]
Witnesses described the giant wave as anywhere from 20 to 40 feet high, a wave that took fifteen to twenty minutes to pass. Like an ocean surge that strikes a shallow shore and creates a wave, the front wall of reservoir water was slightly slowed by trees, rocks, and buildings. Like a looming wave, this front wall of water grew in height and mass. Most terrifying of all, witnesses told of seeing the dark, murky form but not being able to see water. Propelled through the valley was a gigantic wall of trees, roof beams, livestock, silt, rocks, mill equipment, furniture, manufactured goods, and human beings that continued to scour much of the landscape down to bare rock.
Harper’s Weekly reported the effects of the flood tide:
Trees and drift-wood obscured the waters. Spelman’s button factory did not stand a moment. It rose up on the crest of the wave, and collapsed as though made of card-board. [In Williamsburg] a dozen houses lined the valley, and the inmates were forgotten in the general alarm. The waters lapped them up. Entire families were destroyed in a moment… fifty-three persons lost their lives in three minutes after Cheney’s alarm was given.
Source:
Pletcher, Larry. “Failure of the Williamsburg Dam.” Massachusetts Disasters: True Stories of Tragedy and Survival. Insiders Guide, 2006. 49. Print.
Further Reading:
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