Evening Republican, Volume 14, Number 198, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 August 1910 — Tippecanoe River Flood Gates At Monticello Washed Out. [ARTICLE]

Tippecanoe River Flood Gates At Monticello Washed Out.

Monticello Herald. Disaster visited the Tippecanoe Electris & Power company in the giving way of their flood gates at the east end of the dam Sunday night about midnight and the consequent annihilation of their water power. Not many people were aware of the Situation until daylight, and then the report started that the dam had been dynamited. This rumor soon proved to be unfounded, as it was evident that the washout was the result of a gradual undermining of the concrete work which had been going on possibly for months. Both the engineers, Jimmy Van Pelt and Frank Nipple, happened to be at the power house when the wreck occurred. They noticed the power diminishing and soon it was so low that they shut off the generator, realizing the water, power had failed them. When they turned their attention to the steam plant as an alternative, they found that the water supply for the boilers had also vanished, having receded beyond the intake, and light and power were therefore out of the question until the pipe could be extended. This was done in time to furnish lights Monday evening, but it will be months before Monticello is again lighted by water power. The cost of repairing the damage will probably be five or six thousand dollars. One of the flood gates was 1 carried some distance down the river, while the other two still clung to the concrete walls. A coffer dam will have to be built and a foundation put in on a much more expensive scale than the first one. The only fortunate thing about the disaster is that it occurred when the work of repair z will not be delayed on account of high water.