100 Years ago the ice flood of 1918
Huge ice chunks block the streets of Lock Haven
By LOU BERNARD
For The Express
Let’s be honest here, most people don’t think too much about ice unless there’s too much of it in their drink. Then we throw a fit. But ice isn’t all that big a part of our everyday lives, not that we notice.
A century ago, however, ice was something to seriously consider here in Lock Haven. Right about now, it’s the 100 year anniversary.
It was the Ice Flood, and it happened in February of 1918.
It was far from expected, initially. On the ninth of February, the Express speculated about the flood on the front page. The headline was “No Signs Yet Of A Flood In The River.” The article said there was very little indication of a flood. The Clinton County Times agreed with that, declaring “No damage anticipated.”
And then the flood happened.
On Wednesday afternoon, Feb. 13, the water rose. Beginning at about 2 p.m., rising water and a cold snap began to drive huge chunks of ice up into the streets. Almost immediately, Water Street flooded, but nobody panicked yet — if you lived on Water Street in Lock Haven, you were used to floods. Water Street residents had gills in those days. At 5 p.m. when the ice began to back up onto Grove Street, however, people began to get concerned, and started moving their horses, cows, merchandise, and possessions to higher ground.
Initially, this meant West Church Street or Bellefonte Avenue. A few hours later, shocked that the water was still rising, there was a mad scramble to get everything to the second floors in those homes, or to get out entirely. People lit oil lamps and huddled around them for warmth — remember, nobody is exactly getting a tan during an ice flood.
Communication was quickly cut off going to and from the east, the lower sections of Lock Haven. The ice damaged all the lines for phone and telegraph going that way, and also blocked the roads and railroad tracks, causing huge traffic jams. The western lines and roads, however, were still undamaged, and word was sent west of the disaster. Though other areas were affected, Lock Haven was getting it the worst, and Renovo pitched in to help.
The water went down overnight, nearly as fast as it had risen, and Renovo sent a relief train down. Among other things, it contained volunteers to help, oil and oil stoves, and 3,000 loaves of bread. These were distributed through the First Ward, which had been hit hardest. The residents got food, they got warmth, and the Renovo volunteers took to the pump trucks supplied by fire departments from as far away as Bellefonte to pump out basements. People started cleaning out the first floors of their homes, at least the people who weren’t too exhausted from moving furniture up the stairs.
Paper mill supervisor A. Gibson Paine gave orders to his men to abandon the mill and go help. They got to work out in the community, delivering coal and shoveling ice from porches. A little while later, an army of 150 railroad employees arrived to help get rid of the huge chunks of ice that were still blocking the streets — some were as big as seven feet wide. They began removing the ice chunks, clearing the streets.
The National Guard arrived for duty, guarding homes from looters and guarding the inroads to Lock Haven from sightseers and thrill-seekers — cars were turned away at the city limits.
“But everywhere, order prevailed,” said the Clinton County Times. “Nobody seemed to think of anything but work, work, work. They were working to save property and put things in order to prevent sickness and possibly save a life.”
Mayor John Cupper met with city council, who immediately voted to provide $5,000 for flood relief. The damage was so bad that the biggest question on everyone’s mind was: Is this the end of Lock Haven?
Cupper said otherwise. He issued a statement in The Express that we would recover from this — and you’ll notice, as I’m writing this a century in the future, we did.
“The city of Lock Haven, my friends, has not been wiped out,” he said. “The city of Lock Haven is coming back fast, and it will be back stronger, grander, and better for every one of us.”
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Lou Bernard is a Lock Haven resident with a keen interest in the history of this area. He is adult services coordinator at Ross Library and may be reached at ross13@rosslibrary.org or 570-748-3321.
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