Great Flood, 1877 (The Potomac, Antietam and Conococheague higher than ever before)

Hagerstown Mail

Hagerstown, MD Nov 30, 1877

Great Flood       

The Potomac, Antietam and Conococheague higher than ever before known

Widespread Damage and Long Continued Rain.

Details of Ravages in our County.

The year 1877 will be marked in history as that of the greatest of all floods recorded in this locality. The rain commenced falling on Thursday last, on Friday came down in torrents, and did not cease except temporarily until Monday. Saturday the Potomac, the Antietam and the Conococheague rose rapidly, but little damage being done along the line of the latter in this County. It was on the other two streams that the main ravages occurred which are given below. The chief loss falls upon the Canal and two of the Railroad Companies. The Baltimore & Ohio Road has been washed and injured to such an extent between Martinsburg and Cumberland that trains are not running on that portion of the main stem, though local travel from Hagerstown and other points East is uninterrupted. Passengers for the Valley are conveyed on wagons from Harper’s Ferry to Halltown, and thence by rail to Stanton.

In consequence of the destruction of the Cumberland Valley Railroad Bridge across the Potomac, the trains of that company again make Hagerstown their western terminus instead of Martinsburg. The Officers of the company are now in Philadelphia consulting as to what shall be done with the bridge, the estimate being that from thirty to forty thousand dollars, will be needed to replace damages.

In Cumberland there has been no flood since 1810 to compare with this, and the damage to property was great...

---(The first PDF is the image of the newspaper, the second is the entire four column newspaper article in a searchable form)