February 11, 1959
(Wednesday) Logansport Pharos Tribune, page 1
Worst Flood Since
1943
RIVER NEARS 19-FT.
CREST
The worst Logansport
flood disaster since 1943 appeared to be nearing an end Wednesday noon as the
Wabash River remained virtually stationary for a period of several hours just
below the 19-foot mark. Local authorities were hopeful that the river had
reached its crest after climbing less than two-tenths of a foot since 7 a.m.
Thirty-two
Logansport homes had been evacuated with the help of Logansport National
Guardsmen Tuesday night and Wednesday morning. Both the National Guard armory
and the vehicle storage building were half full of appliances and furniture of
all kinds removed from flooded homes in the south and west parts of the city. Working
cooperatively with the Cass county sheriff's department, city and state police,
the twenty National Guardsmen and two officers headed by Lt. John Fillmore
spent the entire night on flood duty and were still hard at work Wednesday.
The first call authorizing ten Guardsmen and one officer for
flood duty was received at the local armory at 5 p.m. Tuesday as the result of
a telegram from the Cass county commissioners to Gov. Harold Handley. At 10:45
p.m. Tuesday, Wayne Schaefer, Cass county director of Civil Defense, called
Governor Handley for more help, and ten additional Guardsmen and another
officer were called out. Law enforcement officers, civil defense officials, and
Red Cross workers also were working virtually around the clock to aid flood
victims.
Scores of homes in Logansport were without heat Wednesday as
their basements began filling with water from overflowing sewers. The
Washington grade school, closed Tuesday when water backed up beside the
building, remained closed Wednesday. The Eighteenth Street Bridge remained the
only link connecting the Southside with the main part of the city Wednesday
after high water closed both the Cicott street and Third street bridges to
automobile traffic. This created a traffic jam on Eighteenth Street and at one
time cars were lined up a half mile on U.S. highway 35 and all of the way to
Seventeenth Street in the other direction. Many people were late for work
Wednesday morning due to the traffic tie-up.
Fears were expressed
for the safety of the Eighteenth street bridge because of the heavy load of
traffic, and orders finally were given to limit the traffic to one way. Six
cars were permitted to travel over the bridge at one time, with the last car
handing a flag to the officers on duty so traffic could move in the opposite
direction. By Wednesday morning most of the streets on the south side were
closed to traffic, along with West Wabash avenue, Front, West Melbourne,
Wilkinson, West Broadway, First street off Market, Third street at the
underpass, all of Biddle's j island, and Market street west of Cicott. As a
result it was necessary to reroute traffic on U. S. 24, U. S. 35, and State Rt.
29 and 25 through the city.
Despite the fact
that Goose Creek overflowed, sending the water across Cicott at the turn of
State Rt. 25 into Logansport, some motorists were foolhardy enough to try
getting through the icy water. As a result National Guardsmen had to push some
cars and even trucks which stalled there. Guardsmen also rescued a carload of
young people in a car which stalled in front of Berkshire's. Three trucks were
being used by the Guard on a round-robin basis, plowing through water four and
a half feet deep to reach some of the flooded homes. Each truck was manned by a
driver and four men. While two of the trucks were out evacuating homes in the
flood zone, the third was having its brakes thawed out at the armory. This was
necessary to keep the brakes on the 2% ton trucks from going out completely.
Some people in the flood area waited too long to call for help. At 613 Bartlett
Street for example, Guardsmen found the water too deep even for their big
trucks to get through. They were driving through the icy water up to the floor
boards of the trucks and many of the Guardsmen were wet from head to foot by
the time they had finished loading appliances and furniture on the trucks.
Above - a car tries to go through the flood waters - Washington Elementary School in background.
Although they had a mobile unit with a two-day radio in use,
the radio went out of commission during the morning, hampering the
communications between the men and the armory. Approximately 300 Logansport
telephones also were put out of order at midnight in the Melbourne and Helm
street area when water seeped into a cracked phone cable under Front street.
Linemen had the necessary repairs made by 6 a.m. The business district began to
feel the effects of the flood Wednesday as the water spread across Broadway and
Second Street in front of the W-S-E Motor Sales, and it also spread across
Market Street at First street. The dripping vehicles which went through the
water spread a layer of ice for a distance of several blocks in both
directions, adding to the hazards of motorists. At Georgetown, the situation
remained unchanged, with all of the 100 residents of the village evacuated
except for the six men left behind to guard against possible looting of the
flooded area. Water also was around cottages at Miami Bend, Guardsmen having
moved two families out there with the help of the local Radar unit. Ice was
reported gorged again below Georgetown as more kept coming down the river with
the flood waters. The water at Georgetown was reported six feet deep.
February 12, 1959
The Wabash River has passed the “nuisance” stage and moved
toward disaster level. Water is creeping near to the business district. An
additional 20 families have been evacuated. This makes 55 families, total,
moved out of their homes. Emergency housing and feeding stations have been set
up by the Red Cross including one at St. James Lutheran Church.
There is deep water on Broadway and traffic is being
detoured. Water surrounds the Pennsylvania Depot on Fourth Street. Wheatland
Avenue, Cicott Street and W. Market are all flooded.
National Guardsmen and Civil Defense were called out and
moved people and furniture. Eighteenth Street Bridge is the only means of
travel between the south side and the downtown – and there is a limit of 6 cars
at any one time on that bridge due to concern over the strain of the flood. No
trucks are allowed; they must continue on to the Cass Station Bridge to cross.
February 12, 1949 Logansport Pharos Tribune (above)
February 14, 1959
(Saturday) Logansport Press page 1
Clarence Quillen, city electric line foreman who took part
in rescue work at Georgetown, wonders what became of a light truck that he saw
swept away by the ice Tuesday morning. Quillen said he was on the north bank of
the river above Georgetown when the ice broke and jammed again and sent water
and, ice over the banks.
Across the river a light truck was on a low spot in the
road. As the surge came, the truck driver jumped out and ran for high ground
nearby. The ice overwhelmed the truck, which Quillen believes was pulled into
the river. In any event, he knows the driver got out but he never saw the truck
again. The incident being across the river, he is curious as to who the man was
who had the narrow escape, and if the truck has been seen since.
A small catfish that got washed back into a sewer pipe came
to an untimely end in a down town basement. Water which backed into the
basement under the Chas. Young & Son appliance store at 315 Fourth street,
was pumped out yesterday to reveal the misplaced catfish.
Eel river, it turns out, is not clear of ice by any means.
Above Adamsboro the ice is still jammed and gorged. Several islands there
impede free flow of the ice and it has forced water onto farms of Charles
Bennett on the south bank, and land on the north. At one time, a mile of the
river road was under water, Bennett said, and his home was marooned for three
days. The ice that came down and forced out the mass above Tenth street dam was
from the river below the present jam, which could be moved by ice from above
there. However, no damage is likely from this ice.
By the time it gets moving, it should go out
freely.
Sightseers will be kept out of Georgetown today and Sunday.
Sheriff
L.0.Hall said last night that
spectators have been interfering with residents moving back. Some inquisitive
strangers have even walked through homes. The north approach to the town will
be blocked off at the Crooked Creek Bridge, just north of the town. The
Georgetown Bridge will be blocked off at the south end. The north river road
will be blocked at the second overhead west of Logansport, where the road meets
US 24. No one not living in the area, or having business there, will be allowed
in. Cass Co. Civil Defense police will man the blockades, the sheriff said.
Wabash Under 13 Ft. Late Last Evening
The Wabash River reading at 10 o'clock last night was 12.40,
a drop from 14.22 at 7 a.m. The river hit 19.75 late Wednesday night.
