Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 35, Number 80, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 June 1903 — MANY DIE IN FLOOD. [ARTICLE]

MANY DIE IN FLOOD.

Hundred Perish nnd Big Cotton Mills Crumble in South Carolina. By a tremendous cloudburst from 75 to 100 persons lest their lives nt Spartanburg, S. C., and nt I’acolet and Clifton. The great cotton mills which have built up the neighborhood to a high state of prosperity, were wiped out by the tame flood. The Pacolet mills, at Spartanburg, thus destroyed, were the property of Victor N. Montgomery, who owned the mills at New Holland, Ga., which were crippled by the tornado near Gainesville a few days before. - The storm settled over Spartanburg Friday night, gathered force until it brought a giant cloudburst, the downpour from the clouds sweeping away the dams, which in turn settled into a’vasts willing stream, which rushed through the valley where the mills were situated. Saturday afternoon the waters were roaring above the homes in a settlement wjiere on Friday a thousand laborers were busy. The property loss, it is believed, will reach $2,000,000. Many cottages were swept away in the terrific flood with their inmates, who were asleep when the storm burst upon them and cut off their chance of escape. Pacolet and Clifton are situated in the defiles of two valleys and most of the homes of the workmen are located iu the" valley near the mills in which they labored. -Their situation was trap-like, and the bursting cloud filled the valley with its flood of water. The Pacolet River rises in the mountains forty miles above, nqd ordinarily it is just large enough to furnish power for the cotton factories. It is now a giant mill race.' The greatest disaster was at the village of Pacolet. There were three cotton mills, known as Pacolet Mills Nos. 1, 2 and 3. Nos. 1 and 2 have been washed away, together with a number of warehouses filled with cotton goods and raw cotton. Besides the mills at Pacolet the Presbyterian Church, a hotel, a livery stable and a number of dwellings were washed away by the flood. The water is running through the windows of the Southern Railway station there. Box ears standing on the tracks were washed away. All the water power dams on the river are gone. The flood carried away at least three bridges on the main line of the Southern Railway. President Twitchell, of the Clifton mill, located nt Clifton. S. C.. telegraphed to F. J. Pelser. one of the largest stockholders, that No. 3 mill there is wrecked, No. 1 and No. 2 partially destroyed nnd several warehouses swept away. The drtpateh said: “There has been heavy loss of life. Glendale mill (No. 1 Converse) is intact, but the dam and several warehouses have been swept away.”