Water levels along the Raquette River reaching near historic levels this week prompted Potsdam Village Historian Mimi Van Deusen to look back at news coverage and photos of other major floods in Potsdam’s past. Her account follows:

By MIMI VAN DEUSEN, Potsdam Village Historian

The April 3, 1918 headlines in the Courier and Freeman read:

“FLOOD IS EXPECTED TO REACH HERE TONIGHT”

“POWER AND MILL OWNERS TAKING PRECAUTIONS TO MEET MENACE”

Here are excerpts taken from that issue of the Courier and Freeman:

“News of the breaking of the dam, (100 feet of the right wing of the International Paper Company dam), came when river drivers at work below what is now the site of Piercefield, saw beams floating by which they recognized as portions of the dam. They hurried to South Colton, where the late John Snell, lumber operator and an uncle of Congressmen B. H. Snell, started his team of blacks for Potsdam, running his horses all the way.

“Snell reached Potsdam just before dusk and the village was soon in a turmoil...The townspeople turned out and worked with a will strengthening the booms at the head of Oak Island and it was not until Saturday noon (three days later) that the river began to feel the effects of the freshet.

“The wreckage of a saw mill upstream near Hannawa was the first concrete evidence of the flood which reached the village. The water steadily climbed until it flowed over Water Street and the lower end of Raymond Street was completely submerged. Occupants of houses on the river banks began moving Saturday and factories on the Island were cleared. Batchelder & Sons took out their wood working machinery and every movable thing from their factory.

“All night Saturday the rattling of wagons and the cries or men and women could be heard on every street bordering the river. The roar of the water could be plainly heard. Many people made no attempt to sleep. At daylight on Sunday the bridges and other vantage points were crowded with spectators. The river began to wear a threatening look. It had risen sixteen inches in eight hours.

“The current was lapping viciously at the timbers of the railroad bridge. Trains were forbidden to attempt passage.

“It was agreed that should danger threaten, the fire bell should be rung. At about 12 o’clock a bulkhead that guarded the water wall on the east side of Fall Island gave way. A wide breach was formed through which the waters rushed. Behind the wall stood Watkins, Leete & Co’s foundry, Batchelder’s mill, Sparrow and Swans machine shops, G.B. Raymonds plaster mill and other buildings.”

“The wing of Batchelder’s Shop was torn from its foundation where it brought up against the Leete foundry, resting there. The machine shop of Sparrow & Swan began to move. It was too heavy to float and was crushed like an eggshell.

“Railroad hands, meanwhile, were trying to save the bridge. Under the direction of superintendent Leach the men worked hard and courageously. The wreckage of the buildings piled high against the second and third spans. It trembled and seemed ready to slide from its piers at any moment.

“While at work on the bridge, a section foreman, Patrick Murphy, slipped and fell into the torrent. He was rescued by a boat crew which set out after him.

“The booms of the Sisson and Green mill at Sissonville were carried out with a large stock of logs. Two spans of the bridge, the middle section of the dam and all the logs at Hewittville went downstream. They were caught, however, at the Loveless and Fonda booms in Norwood.

In closing its account, the Courier of that date says that the most exaggerated reports reached neighboring villages. Utica papers told of water flowing up to the Normal School (Old Snell Hall on Park Street across from the Civic Center.) Potsdam people downstate alarmed by the stories, caught the first train home, expecting to find their families at least homeless, if by any chance they had survived the flood.

For more information about the museum visit the website at www.PotsdamPublicMuseum.org or call 265-6910.