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(c) Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association, Deerfield MA. All rights reserved.
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This booklet about the Mill River flood was published within three weeks of the disaster and drew heavily from the Springfield Republican's articles. Accessible and affordable, "instant books" like these were frequently published after disasters and sold widely to a public eager to absorb tales of valor and despair. When the Mill River flood occurred on May 16, 1874, it was the deadliest dam failure in the U.S. A total of 139 persons died when the Williamsburg, Massachusetts, reservoir dam broke, sending a floodwave to devastate a valley lined with factories, farms, and homes.

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