Two consecutive freshets engulfed the Union River watershed, causing the breakage of a newly built retention dam. Miles of water surged to lower land, straight into downtown Ellsworth in early May of 1923.
Power was out, a boil water order was in effect, bridges were impassable, and homes were flooded. There was almost $7million in today’s money in damages to Ellsworth alone, though many other communities shared similar destruction.
Nonetheless, it seems there were very few lives lost to the disastrous flooding. For that much we are grateful.
“Fire can be fought, but against flood, man is practically helpless”
Prior to this flood, the Union River was a major industrial and shipping site. Many of these buildings were thoroughly destroyed.
Click through these digitally colorized glass plate negative images below for a surreal experience of what this really looked like.
Use the arrows on the left or right.
