THE FLOOD OF 1904

What a different a century makes from one December to the next. Up until this week the Maumee River was low, no ice in the river and the temperatures are unseasonably warm. In 1903-1904 it was unusually cold and the lake and bay, plus much of the Maumee River were incased in a thick layer of ice. There was no indication of the disaster that was soon to happen. It started with a sudden January thaw. About the 25th of January the upriver ice began to break up and move down river. The result was a number of ice gorges (piles of huge blocks of ice) to the riverbed blocking the water flow. Water levels would fluctuate for the next three to four weeks, backing up floodwaters then releasing it. The residents were worried about the river flooding.  People were actually talking about moving their furniture to the 2nd story or moving out until the weather or ice broke. It was one of the coldest winters from news reports. Lake Erie was frozen over and there was no place for the river to empty into, so the water and the ice backed up. There were several ice gorges between Waterville and Maumee which kept the water from escaping. Even across the river the Vollmar Club house was surrounded. The Village of Providence was under water but was improving according to the February Toledo and Perrysburg newspapers. At Napoleon the water went down six feet and the river was free of ice.

The Toledo, Waterville and Southern Electric Railroad (Interurban) track ran along the river near Waterville. The tracks near Turkey Foot Rock (Jerome Road) at one point were under water and 25 poles down. Men were out clearing the tracks from ice. The highest gorge was opposite this site. Here the news accounts stated the river was packed to the bottom. This put the electric railroad out of service for several months.

There was an ice gorge a short distance from the old Wagon Bridge. The pressure of the ice battered the 1888 iron Wagon Bridge and its supporting piers but it held. When one of the last upriver ice gorges broke on March 4th, slabs of ice took out two spans of the battered old Wagon Bridge, severing the connections between Waterville and Wood county. This relieved further damage of the flooding. Two spans from the center were gone while the south side was badly damaged. The iron trusses were deposited a half-mile downstream where an enterprising William Witte salvaged the iron to support a second story on his Waterville Hardware store. His store was on 3rd Street but later burned and now the current Waterville Hardware is located in this spot. The cost to repair the bridge was $16,600.

Most of our readers know that ice jams and high water are almost routine for Waterville and the downriver communities but after 120 years the flood of 1904 was by far the worst and most memorable.

Author’s note: The 1904 flood was local along the Maumee caused by ice. The later flood of 1913 was much worse, and was caused by a huge rain event that affected the entire State of Ohio.