Smithville Flats is Flooded

In 1935 the small town of Smithville Flats, New York was hit by a massive flood after two nearby dams gave out. Residents of the the town were filled with trepidation when the Broome County Transient Bureau sent in transients to work on the extensive clean up efforts. However, the transients worked hard in unpleasant conditions and residents were soon pleased with the results.

Now, if you happen to be heading over to Smithville, I would like to alert you to a good deal. Since Leon Tyler's General Merchandise has entered into an agreement with a leading photo studio in nearby Binghamton, if you buy $5.00 of merchandise you get a portrait almost absolutely free (if you don't count the 10 cents you pay to Leon Tyler for the card and the 5 cents to the studio.) Unfortunately, as with most other coupons, I have let the expiration date pass. It expired in 1925, but I find that some merchants will still honor expired coupons if you ask nicely.

And, it is signed, as required, on the back by Leon Tyler himself!

Oh, and here's the back of that postcard, for people who like that sort of thing.

High Water - Pittsburgh, PA

This card, showing high water in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania is probably from the March 1907 flood.
The report below from the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette is courtesy of  the GenDisasters website:


PITTSBURG, March 15.—Flood losses in Allegheny county are summarized as follows:

Loss in output of steel mills, $3,000,000; loss in output of other industries, $2,000,000; loss in wages of employees, $1,837,000, estimated damage to industrial plants, $2,500,000; total, $9,337,000.


With the rapid receding of the Monongahela, Allegheny and Ohio rivers which is taking place tonight conditions are fast assuming normal proportions and the most destructive flood in the history of the city is at an end. At nightfall the approaches to the bridges were clear of water and several hours later street car service was resumed.


Thousands of suburbanites who have been stranded in this city since yesterday were able to reach their homes while the downtown section, which has been crowded with sightseers, is almost deserted. The only indications of the flood in the downtown section tonight are the many pipes across the sidewalks through which water is being pumped from submerged basements. In several districts power plants have been repaired and candles, used for thirty-six hours, have been replaced with electric lights.


At 9 o’clock to-night the rivers had fallen almost eight feet. At that hour the stage was twenty-nine feet, and dropping a half foot an hour.


Immediately following the subsiding of the water the task of repairing the damage was begun. A majority of the employees of the large manufacturing establishments who were temporarily thrown out of employment are endeavoring to put the plants in working order and by Monday most of these will have resumed operations.


Railway service is being restored but local train schedules have been revised, allowing each train more time. This action was taken owing to the fear that the roadbeds may have been weakened by the water. In some instances sections of tracks have been washed away and a number of railroad bridges outside of Pittsburg were damaged.


Excitement was caused to-day by several fires. One which swept the Mt. Washington district had to be dynamited on account of a shortage of water in the mains. The loss is about $225,000.


The Fort Wayne Journal Gazette, Fort Wayne, IN 16 Mar 1907

Flood in Middletown, Ohio

1913 was not a good year for Middletown, Ohio. This picture doesn't show the half of it; it was really much worse than this. All of the water, sewer and gas mains were washed away to a depth of 8-10 feet. People and livestock perished, and buildings were destroyed.

There were people who actually traveled to Middletown to gawk at the destruction after the flood as a form of amusement. They got amusement all right; they were arrested and put to work at street cleaning. I think we couldn't do that today, which is a shame.

The Middletown Public Library has lots of pictures of this terrible flood, including gawkers being put to work (see picture #148), on their website.

American Rolling Mills was a steel company, founded in 1900 in Middletown.  Today it is known as Armco.  Tom T. Hall wrote a song entitled The Rolling Mills of Middletown. Click here to see the lyrics.

The Flood in Grafton, Illinois

Grafton is located at the confluence of the Mississippi and Illinois rivers. I wanted to get an idea of the year these postcards were printed. Good luck! When I searched Google for "flood in Grafton", I got all sorts of information on the Great Flood of 1993, and the one in 1995. I also found information on the big flood in 2008. A little more delving and I found there was also a great flood of 1844, after which many people left for good. I guess the waters recede and then we forget it ever happened and rebuild. In fact, it looks like flood levels exceeding 27 feet occur about every three years in Grafton. You'd think it would be hard to forget...and hard to rebuild.

After the flood of 1993, the federal government (with a 25% match by the State of Illinois) offered a buyout program for residents in the flood area as part of the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program. The offer was accepted by 120 residents and the project cost $110 million.
Here's another card from whichever flood this was (1930?) it's a grainy picture, but I think I see a couple of chickens.