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HARPER'S WEEKLY
JOURNAL OF CIVILIZATION
VoL.. XVIII- No. 910. |
NEW YORK, SATURDAY, JUNE 6, 1874.
| [WITH A SUPPLEMENT
PRICE TEN CENTS.] |
Entered according to Act
of Congress in the Year 1874, by Harper & Brothers, in the Office
of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. |
GEORGE CHENEY. |
THE RACE WITH THE FLOOD. |
COLLINS GRAVES. |
THE BROKEN DAM- FROM THE
BED OF THE RESERVOIR.
THE MILL RIVER CALAMITY- FROM SKETCHES BY THEO. R. DAVIS.- [SEE
PAGE 473.] |
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(c) Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association, Deerfield MA. All rights reserved.
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The Mill River flood of 1874 captured the imagination and sympathy of a nation preoccupied with disasters. Three weeks after the flood (in which a reservoir dam failed in western Massachusetts and killed 139, making it the most deadly dam failure in the U.S. at the time), the national magazine "Harper's Weekly" (circulation 160,000) featured the flood's heroes on its cover. When the dam's gatekeeper, George Cheney, saw the dam begin to crumble, he raced downstream on his bareback horse to warn residents of the coming disaster. Collins Graves, a milkman on his morning route, picked up Cheney's alarm and sped ahead of the flood to warn residents in the villages downstream. Cheney and Graves saved the lives of hundreds and achieved national celebrity. Harper's correctly asserted that one of the affects of the flood would be the permanent distrust among people living downstream from man-made reservoirs.
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"Harper's Weekly Journal of Civilization" illustrations of Mill River Disaster Flood
illustrator Theodore R. Davis |
publisher Harper & Brothers |
date Jun 6, 1874 |
location New York, New York |
width 11.0" |
height 16.75" |
process/materials printed paper, ink |
item type Periodicals/Illustration |
accession # #L05.011 |
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