Back in 2006 I was privileged to attend a meeting of the Miami County Genealogical Society where Ron Withers gave a presentation on the great flood of 1913.
The images of the devastation in Louisiana in the wake of Hurricane Katrina brought these images to mind and what just happened with Hurricane Sandy in New York and New Jersey brought it all back.
I kept notes during the meeting and sent this summary to interested people. I would like to share them with you today.
President Obama just declared the area a major disaster area, enabling states to have access to relief otherwise not available. 28 dead so far, 5 million without power, millions of dollars of damage,... This event will change a lot of lives for a long time... The snapped crane is still dangling from the top of the luxury building under construction. People displaced all over the East... What a night!
Not trying to diminish the situation in the East, just pondering on how much things would have been had the devastated cities of Indiana received the kind of help that is available today... I suppose some people will say it's the law of nature to weed out the weak... mmm... I beg to differ.
Again, meaning no disrespect, this disaster reminds me of the economy changing flood that struck Peru in 1913. I wrote this on March 24, 2006.
"Between March 24, 1913 and March 27, 1913, 6" of rain fell on Peru, and
send the river water rushing down its streets at speeds of 20mph,
tearing everything on its path and drowning Peru's hopes for a bright
future.
It can be said that Peru never really recovered from it.
Before the flood of 1913, Peru was a busy town, full of activity, jobs,
with its 15,000 inhabitants, 100 factories, a trolley service,
railroads, a new hospital (Duke's), circus (which employed 1000 people
on the road), a new concrete bridge (largest of its kind in the world at
the time).
Peru's boon benefited the surrounding communities as well.
There had been other flooding episodes in Peru.
The East side was particularly prone to this problem. After the floods
of 1904 and 1907, people had found ways to raise their homes but that
would not matter in 1913 as the high water mark would reach between 6-7
feet, leaving debris in high tree branches as a witness.
(while Ron
was taking 'now and then' pictures of a house, the owner told them he
had wondered how he could have found 3 in of dried mud on the ceiling of
his newly bought house)
It had been a wet winter. The
ground was already soaked. Easter rains caused enough concern that
churches cancelled Sunday services.
Ebert Shirk owned a furniture
factory right on the Wabash and he was quite concerned about its
safety. He put his workers to building a temporary dam to keep the
river from invading the manufacture and it worked for a short while.
Normally the Wabash flow is between 8,000 to 10,000 cubic feet per minute. In 1913,
the water flowed at the rate of 118,000 cubic feet per minute!
It
not only carried off the planks from Ebert Shirk's factory, it was
strong enough to knock houses off their foundation and carry them
downstream.
As planks floated down river, they got caught on the
new bridge and soon stacked into a barrage that diverted the water onto
the city streets.
By Monday afternoon, storm sewers were
spewing river water. Some people evacuated to higher ground but many
decided to ride out the storm.
Within an hour the water was knee high and soon after that evacuation stopped altogether due to the rush of water.
By evening the utilities stopped services.
People were already without heat, as basements and first floors were flooded. Now there was no drinking water.
People were trapped. SO were the animals.
Ben Wallace's circus animals were in grave danger.
Situated
at the confluent of the Mississinewa and the Wabash, the Circus Winter Quarters were submerged as the two river became one.
The caged cats drowned. So did the one Bengal tiger that escaped. He
jumped in the water and drowned too. 8 horses drowned too.
The
shackled elephants had to be freed but even after being freed they would
not leave, too panicked by the cold wind. Nellie saved one of the
trainers and got him to safety but returned to where the other elephants
were. They made it to the house but would not go to higher ground. 5
elephants died. 3 floated away down river. One got tangled up by the
bridge too.
(As a side note, Ron tells of this businessman who
bought the elephant carcasses after hearing of their deaths, and had
them disinterred 3 weeks later, to have them skinned...!!! and their
feet cut off to use as sun-umbrella(?) stand!!!)
Ben Wallace tallied his losses to $150,000 (1913
figures), while Ebert Shirk's losses amounted to $250,000 (1913 figures)
The total loss for Peru is estimated at $3,000,000 (1913 figures)
Some people lost everything they had.
Remember, there was no insurance, and no FEMA to rescue or help you recover...
However communities came together to help each other.
Once word reached them out of the situation in Peru, Rochester and
Warsaw offered their boats to help rescue stranded people. And they did
this in spite of the torrential rains and snow...
A $1,500 donation was made on the spot and a train of relief supplies was prepared.
On Wednesday a big snow storm added to the trouble, but the rescueing went on.
Michigan City also sent rescuers.
The trains could not get right into Peru but delivery continued to come in.
Rescue boats worked non-stop.
Ron name two whose outstanding work was not
unnoticed:
- Sam Bundy, a 32y old Miami Indian, whose boating
skills were welcomed. He worked non-stop for 57 hours and rescued an
estimated number of 162 to 325 people. When he was done, he only asked
to be able to have a cup of coffee and some sleep.
- Red May was
not quite as lucky. His efforts saved the lives of 200 people but he
drowned trying to save the lady who had caused his boat to capsize with
all its passengers.
The unforgiving waters were 15 to 20 feet deep.
Another Ron names by name is Mr Baldwin, who is said to have saved 120
lives. Who is he? Ron would love to find out more about this
individual. If the name sounds familiar, let me know and I will get you
in touch with him right away.
In all, 11 people drowned in the flood. Forgive me for not having taken this down fast enough... )=
The total death toll reached 10 however after
counting those who died of exposure shortly after.
Ron
mentioned Rochester earlier in the presentation. He back-tracked a bit
to show that people knew what was really important. Rochester and Peru
had professional baseball teams and they were arch-enemies on the field,
but they prepared a "Peru Day" after the flood. Rochester's population
swelled to 30,000 that day!
He also explains how South Peru
and Peru had been separate entities before the flood. South Peru being
'nicer' than Peru. With the Broadway Bridge washed out, there was need
to rebuild. They talked it over and finally agreed only to discover they
need the approval of the War department beforehand... They got it BUT
they had one more barrier... it would require an act of Congress to
allow the rebuilding...
Eventually they got it.
In the meantime, two weeks after the flood, they had already built a foot bridge
and 6 weeks after the approval of Congress, they had the new bridge up and running.
In spite of newspaper reports that disease and death was rampant in
Peru, there was no case of typhoid fever as vaccination was made
available immediately.
The Fire Dept pumped out people's basements.
By the end of April, Peru was running business 'as usual', minus the
businesses whose owners decided to leave for fear of another such
disaster.
Sure makes one appreciate the Mississinewa Dam, that's for sure!!!
I took notes as Ron gave the presentation but I could not keep up.
Neither does this summary give you the full spectrum of what he said.
He has hundreds of anecdotes and of course unpublished pictures we got to see.
One of you asked what impact the flood had on the Miami Indian community. Ron is hoping to get more answers from the Miami
Indians soon. Maybe then he can tell us more.
One story he
told was about this horse stranded on the bridge unable to go anywhere
for 2 days, without food. A man took pity on it and figured out a way
to get food to it and it survived.
Another one is of a
family who managed to get themselves to safety in the 2nd story of the
ice cream factory and survived on cone wafers for 4 days, then to their
delight discovered a box of dried meat... only it was not really the
sort they'd have eaten at any other time...
This was a wonderful presentation!!!
Maybe you will have the chance to hear him sometimes.
Otherwise maybe he will publish his study. It sure will be well worth reading!
Hope you got something out of this report!"
To my knowledge, Ron Withers has not published the book.
My thoughts and prayers go to those living this nightmare right now.
I hope things can get back to normal soon for them and that people will continue to rally to President Obama's call for neighbors to help neighbors across the nation.
