On Sunday, July 8, 1935 Chaumont experienced a storm unlike any previously known. Rain and severe winds crippled the village (and Depauville and Stone Mills) for five hours. The volume of rain was so huge that crops were washed out and livestock drowned. This was the first of three floods that hit Chaumont in the following eight days.
This first storm started about noon on Sunday. There had been a steady fall of rain, but suddenly the storm increased in violence and the skies seemed to open up. There was a deluge for about 2 hours. Streets in the eastern business section of Chaumont were completely submerged under 2 feet of water. Horse Creek overflowed its banks and flooded the entire business section from Mill Street to Point Salubrious. Needless to say, the streets were closed to vehicular traffic. Store and house cellars were flooded with about 4 feet of water. Town officials decided to attempt to enlarge the culvert under Horse Creek in an attempt to reduce the engorged creek. A town truck was driven into the flooded area and a tackle was hooked in such a way to rip off the concrete walls on both sides of the bridge allowing the water to flow over the road and into Saw Mill Bay beyond. The creek carried muddy debris out into the lake where it gathered in one mass resembling a small island. A group of 11 persons were rescued by state troopers from the residence of Garry Putnam. For a time it was feared that the house would be washed away, so officials, carrying chairs, braved the torrent and carried the Putnams and their 5 children to safety. The house, however, survives and remains standing today. A storehouse owned by L. E. Peck and a small building behind the post office were washed off their foundations and had to be demolished later. Other small buildings along the creek were swept away down into Sawmill Bay, along with sows and the bodies of other livestock. The flood waters from Sunday had run off by Monday morning, leaving in its wake considerable property damage. The railroad bridge on Horse Creek withstood the flood, but the fill along the bridge and tracks was washed out from a depth of 2 to 8 feet. The train service was discontinued Sunday when the bridge was deemed unsafe, thus isolating the village of Chaumont by both train and auto. More than 50 men were employed by the railroad to fill in the washout, completing the work by Monday night, so that the railroad traffic was resumed that Tuesday. The clean up began immediately. Families returned to their homes, and the bridge on Horse Creek was opened for travel even while repairs were being made. Then, on Tuesday night another deluge of rain swept through this section causing a second flood. The unexpected cloudburst filled the streets of Chaumont with water from eight to ten inches in the 20 minutes before the storm moved on. Nearly all the clean up completed on Monday was undone. Garry Putnam’s automobile, which was parked beside his house, was swept over the bank and into Sawmill Bay. It was later found underwater near the Crescent Yacht Club. The Grange Hall, perched in the edge of the creek, with its foundation nearly wiped out, attracted a great deal of attraction during and after Tuesday’s storm. Much of the foundation had been torn away by flood water and it was feared that the building itself would be washed away. It remained standing, but later it was moved 40 feet back from the creek’s bank and was placed on a new foundation. On July 16th, only eight days after the original storm, a third cloudburst unleashed a half-inch of rain over the Chaumont area within 20 minutes. The antiquated Horse Creek bridge had to be repaired once again, but otherwise the damage in Chaumont was minimal. Later the the Horse Creek bridge was completely rebuilt and its culvert widened to prevent future flooding. The creek has not flooded since that year.
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