[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.”]
Below Leeds the slope of the valley eased as the Mill River prepared to meet the Connecticut River near the village of Florence. Spared total devastation, Florence was fated to become the dumping ground for most of the corpses and material swept away by the horrible flood. Some of the finest river-bottom agricultural land in Massachusetts was washed away and covered with debris that (if gathered together) would have covered five acres to a depth of 10 feet.
The final toll was 139 human lives lost and 146 families left destitute. As town halls and churches became impromptu morgues, help arrived from all across New England. The search for bodies lasted for days as volunteers and self-sufficient survivors attacked the maze of debris with axes, crowbars, teams of horses, and rope.
Source:
Pletcher, Larry. “Failure of the Williamsburg Dam.” Massachusetts Disasters: True Stories of Tragedy and Survival. Insiders Guide, 2006. 53. Print.
Further Reading:
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