A major weather system occurred in the south around February 24th, 1875

A major weather system occurred in the south around February 24^th, 1875 with severe flooding and tornadoes. Flooding washed out many roads and railroad tracks as can be seen by the transcribed article below.

(Transcribed from the March 4, 1875 edition of the Birmingham Iron Age, Alabama)

TELEGRAPHIC ITEMS

(From the Associated Press Dispatches)

KNOXVILLE – Feb. 25

The water is five feet below the great flood of ’67. Many houses and buildings are destroyed and weather is still threatening. The gas works are inundated. Mills in all directions are swept away.

COLUMBUS, Feb. 25

There was a fearful tornado about 14 miles east of Columbus in Pickens county, Ala., about 8 o’clock last night, destroying a number of residences, killing an entire family of four persons named Cohen, and several miraculous escapes are reported. The total loss of life and property is not yet known. A tornado visited the same section four year ago. The severe rain here for the last two days causes the river to overflow.

Map of Pickens County, Alabama

CHATTANOOGA, March 1

The river has been at a stand (still) since morning, covering Market street from the river to Ninth street, submerging the Union deport, the Commercial, Van Horn and Read hotels, and nearly all the business houses on Market and Ninth streets. South Chattanooga is completely under water and a great many houses are in the main part of the city which are not so fortunate as to be situated on high ground. – One man, who was intoxicated, was drowned on Saturday, and two last night, one of whom was a negro.– The other was named Jones, the chief engineer of the iron car works. This comprises all the fatalities known.

The steam ferry boat was among the submerged houses in South Chattanooga Saturday and Sunday, relieving and taking off all who were in need. Many duckings have been received, but everybody, including those whose loss is heaviest, are in good humor and disposed to take it cheerfully. We have to go to and from the telegraph office and from one side of town to the other in boats, the railroads being cut off in all directions. No mails have been received for several days past, until now a steamer has gone with mails and passengers to Bridgeport, where it will meet a train for Nashville. Only one telegraphic wire remains up, its loss is momentarily expected.

KNOXVILLE, TENN. Feb. 27

The damage from the flood throughout East Tennessee is great. No mails yesterday. It will probably be a week before trains run over the Tennessee, Georgia and Virginia Railroad.

NASHVILLE, March 2

The freshet in East Tennessee is over, and trains will be running as usual in a few days.

ALABAMA FOOTPRINTS Pioneers: Lost & Forgotten Stories

Read about:

The Yazoo land fraud
Daily life as an Alabama pioneer
The capture and arrest of Vice-president Aaron Burr
The early life of William Barrett Travis, hero of the Alamo
Description of Native Americans of early Alabama including the visit by Tecumseh
Treaties and building the first roads in Alabama.

About Donna R Causey

Donna R. Causey, resident of Alabama, was a teacher in the public school system for twenty years. When she retired, Donna found time to focus on her lifetime passion for historical writing. She developed the websites www.alabamapioneers and www.daysgoneby.me All her books can be purchased at Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble. She has authored numerous genealogy books. RIBBON OF LOVE: A Novel Of Colonial America (TAPESTRY OF LOVE) is her first novel in the Tapestry of Love about her family where she uses actual characters, facts, dates and places to create a story about life as it might have happened in colonial Virginia. Faith and Courage: Tapestry of Love (Volume 2) is the second book and the third FreeHearts: A Novel of Colonial America (Book 3 in the Tapestry of Love Series) Discordance: The Cottinghams (Volume 1) is the continuation of the story. . For a complete list of books, visit Donna R Causey