1814: Logs in swollen Maine rivers cause destruction

1814: Logs in swollen Maine rivers cause destruction

Author: AccuWeather May 17, 2022 Duration: 2:24
This Date in Weather History
History
The state of Maine is known for many things, including my favorite, Maine lobsters. But one of the longest running industries in North America, dating back until the early 1600s is logging. The British Royal Navy quickly claimed the best stands of light and strong Eastern White Pine for the masts, spars, and planking for their fast and maneuverable ships. England's competitors, the French, the Dutch, and the Spanish, were left to build from the heavier Baltic Fir. It was Revolutionary War debt which boosted the first large scale harvests. To raise money, Massachusetts sold land to the District of Maine. Logging operations grew in proportion to the national demand for lumber products, which grew in proportion to the expansion of the nation itself over the 19th and well into the 20th centuries. The industry became extensive and complex employing surveyors to identify likely stands of trees, lumbermen to cut timber, teamsters and their draft animals to haul logs, scalers to measure the timber's worth, and river drivers to float logs to the mills. Most trees were felled in the late fall and winter and then floated downstream on Maine’s rivers to ports at the coast. These golden rivers, as they were called, because of their color appearance because of the logs and the money the wood would represent on delivery were covered from bank to bank with floating timber. Most of the time they were controlled by crews working the river. But as they floated downstream in the spring they would sometimes get loose and out of control. The result could be, and often times was disaster as the timber acted like a battering ram destroying anything in its path. On May 17, 1814 after a soggy April and early May the rivers were all swollen and the logs did their work wiping out anything in their path, destroying bridges and docks and any structures near the shore. It would take years to recover.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.


Every day has a story written in the wind and rain, and This Date in Weather History uncovers those narratives. With AccuWeather Meteorologist Evan Myers as your guide, this daily podcast connects the present to pivotal moments where weather dramatically altered the course of events. You might hear about a forgotten blizzard that stranded a city, a hurricane that redirected a war, or a simple shift in the breeze that allowed a historic discovery. It’s more than just a list of facts; it’s a look at how the atmosphere has been a relentless and fascinating character in the human drama. Each brief episode offers a specific, grounded tale, revealing how the climate has shaped cultures, economies, and personal lives in ways we often overlook. Tune in for a thoughtful blend of meteorology and historical context, delivered with the authority of AccuWeather. This podcast turns the calendar into a map of atmospheric intrigue, reminding us that the past is always present in the sky above.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 50

Official website RSS
This Date in Weather History
Podcast Episodes
This Date in Weather History Update [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:10
This Date in Weather History podcast update from AccuWeather. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
2014: Hail storm causes $400 million in damage in Abilene, TX [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:25
On June 12, 2014 a hail storm that hit Abilene produced more than $400 million in insured losses to vehicles, homes and commercial property. "This is the worst storm damage I've seen in my 41 years in the insurance busin…
2008: F3 tornado strikes Scout camp near Little Sioux, IA [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:49
June 11, 2008 marks the tragic loss of 4 teenagers at a Boy Scout camp near Little Sioux, Iowa; 48 more were injured. The tragedy struck at the 1,800-acre camp about an hour north of downtown Omaha. An EF3 tornado, with…
1752: Benjamin Franklin famously flies kite in thunderstorm [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 3:13
Benjamin Franklin, inventor of bifocal glasses, the Franklin stove, one of those that wrote the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, ambassador, Governor of Pennsylvania, on June 10 1752 in Philadelphia, fle…
1984: Violent tornado outbreak in Russia [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 2:19
The tornado outbreak of 9 June 1984 is among the most important tornado events in Russia’s history because it was associated with substantial loss of life with 400 deaths, and contained one of two F4 tornadoes ever recor…
The 1953 Flint–Worcester tornado outbreak [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:58
The 1953 Flint–Worcester tornado outbreak was a devastating tornado outbreak sequence spanning three days, two that featured tornadoes each causing at least 90 deaths—an F5 occurring in Flint, Michigan on June 8, 1953, a…
1984: F5 tornado destroys 90% of Barneveld, WI [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 2:16
On June 7 1984, nine people died and 200 were injured when a tornado slammed into the Iowa County, Wisconsin community of Barneveld. The F5 twister destroyed 90% of the town of 580 residents. What made Barneveld’s tornad…
1944: How weather forecasting impacted D-Day [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 4:44
The story of how weather forecasting impacted the Allies invasion of Normandy on D-Day in 1944.https://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/d-day-anniversary-how-the-weather-forecast-changed-the-tide-of-war/359733 Hosted…
1925: Temperature reaches 100 degrees in Washington DC [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:41
Rainfall totals in the northeastern United States from January through the end of May 1925 had only reached half the normal total in most cities. This meant, at least for the first 5 months of the year the climate was mo…
1976: Strong tropical cyclone and 40' storm surge hits India [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:43
On June 4, 1976 a strong Tropical Cyclone, known in the US as a Hurricane, hit the port cities just north of Mumba on the west coast of India. In the decades prior to the storm, massive Tropical Cyclones has battered bot…

12345»