JULY 23, 1925.
The Rutland Herald
Deluge, Following Cloudburst, Causes Avalanche Which Hurls Itself Down Mountain.
LEAVES PATH OF RUIN
Trees Are Uprooted, Crops Are Damaged, Bridge Crushed and Highways Torn Up
With a roar that could be heard for miles a section of Mount Tabor 15 rods wide and a mile long slide from its age old moorings at noon today following a cloudburst near the summit.
The avalanche tore up huge trees in its path, flinging them about like straws and cleared a smooth track nearly straight down until its force was spent and choked by a mass of debris of wood and earth near the root of the mountain, leaving in its wake more ruin that was washed down to a lower level by a stream of muddy water constantly augmented by the downpour.
The slide came without warning. It started near the top as a vast volume of water, bursting from the heavens amid peals of heavy thunder and flashes of vivid lightning fell with startling suddenness within a narrow area.
At the point of the slide the mountainside east of Danby is heavily wooded but the soil is thin rock formation coming near the surface.
Sweeps All Before It.
As the slide gathered momentum it took everything in its pathway—small rocks, earth, and trees much larger than an ordinary storm could uproot. All these aided rather than impeded the rush of the avalanche in its ruthless work.
The crest of the flood struck a steel bridge across the main highway which leads to the Griffith lumber camps. It snapped the structure in two like paper and continued down the mountainside, gullying out roads and cutting wide swaths into fields.
Highway Impassable.
The highway for fully a mile is utterly impassable, having been either entirely washed out or so badly cut into that weeks will be required to rebuild it.
Farmers who inspected their meadows and corn fields this afternoon found heavy damage wreaked by the slide. Grain patches, several of which were in the path of the avalanche were inundated and swept away.
Fortunately there were no buildings in line of the slide although a short distance away, not more than a quarter of a mile, was a section of the Griffith lumber camp in which men were working.
In the path of the slide were, also lumber piles and logs which were obliterated. A large part of the debris finally entered the roaring branch of the Otter creek and much of it will be absorbed by the stream. Some, however, is spread upon cultivated land and highways, particularly on the road to Weston which will be repaired as soon as the towns can accomplish it.
The Emporium Lumber company which own the greater section of the mountain affected will at once survey the property to ascertain the extent of the damage.