called home. All along the railroad track was piled the few household
effects, furniture, bedding, tables and clothes which the poor owners
had saved before they were forced out on the high ground. These same
people had gone to bed last evening thinking themselves safe from the
high water, only to be wakened about midnight by the noise of the
rushing floods and the huge saw logs bumping against their homes. The
very narrow escapes that some of them made while getting their families
into places of safety would fill many pages of this book.

Floating to Safety on Saw Logs.

One man had to mount the different members of his family on logs. The
mother and children alike sat astride of them, and then, with the father
on the other end, were poled across to the high ground.

Another man, whose house was in a worse place, swam ashore and, throwing
a rope back to the mother, who was surrounded on the porch of the house
by the children, yelled for her to tie one end to the little ones so he
could pull them over the fast running water. This operation was
continued until the entire family was rescued.

Willing workers from the neighborhood were not long in getting huge
bonfires started, and with the aid of these and dry clothing brought in
haste by people whose homes stood on higher ground the family were soon
warmed.

The same willing hands hastily constructed sheds, and with immense
bonfires the people were kept warm till daylight. Others, more
fortunate, were able to save enough from their houses to make
themselves comfortable for a short season of camping. One poor family I
noticed had saved enough carpet to make a tent out of, and under this
temporary shelter the mother was doing her best to prepare a meal and
attend to her other household duties.

Sheltered by Friendly Neighbors.

In Brookville a great many houses were submerged, but no lives were
lost. While the people were driven from their homes, they were more
fortunate than the people of Bryants, because they could at once find
shelter under the roofs of the neighbors' houses.

All of the saw mills, the chief industry of the town, were closed down.
Some because the water was over the first floor, and others because
their entire working force were on the creek trying to construct
temporary booms, by which they expected to save at least a portion of
the property from being swept away. One man rigged a boom with the aid
of a cable 1,600 feet long and thick enou