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Flood’s anniversary leads to new feature
By Lynn Hotaling
The approaching 65th anniversary of Jackson County’s greatest natural disaster gave rise to this newspaper’s newest feature.
“Then and Now,” a series of paired photos showing a local scene’s past and present, debuts this week on page 1C. The idea is simple, but its execution relies on the expertise of Sylva Herald photographer Nick Breedlove, who accepted the task of shooting the present-day images.
Finding the right location and perspective can be difficult, Breedlove said.
“The technical term is ‘photopoint,’ and locating it can be a challenge because we have very little information about where and when many of our file photos were taken,” he said. “Also, most of the older images were shot with medium-format cameras, and trying to reproduce the focal length they were shot at is not easy.”
One advantage Breedlove has is the increased versatility of modern digital cameras and the boost he receives from today’s computer technology, he said.
“I take my laptop with me so I can instantly view the shot next to the previously-scanned old image,” Breedlove said. “That way I can tell while I’m at the site whether I need to try another angle or location. My goal is to reproduce them accurately and consistently with regard to shadows, scale and perspective.”
Breedlove said he tries to find objects that are enduring, like the Courthouse cupola in this week’s photos or a ridge line.
“It’s important to have a reference point,” he said.
The final step is to overlay the old and new images on the computer to be sure all the points line up, Breedlove said.
While this week marks no particular milestone in the life of The Sylva Herald, it is certainly one of the best-remembered anniversaries in Jackson County lore.
The great flood of Aug. 29-30, 1940, killed four people and destroyed every bridge that crossed the Tuckaseigee River in the county. It also damaged the railroad track, as evidenced by this week’s page 1C photos.
“Never before in the memory of living man, or the traditions that have come down from the old settlers or the Indians, has anything comparable to this disaster come to this country,” is the way the Jackson County Journal described the 1940 flood of the Tuckaseigee and its tributaries. Torrential rains, which hit especially hard in the Canada and Caney Fork sections, fell throughout the night of Aug. 29-30, and the resulting flooding caused an estimated $2 million in property damage.
Several localized areas apparently received immense amounts of rainfall in a very short time. Some said they were “cloudbursts” while others called them “waterspouts.”
Most published reports confirm that Canada and Caney Fork were the hardest hit. The Jackson County Journal reported hundreds of places in those sections where “great streaks were stripped down the mountainsides, from top to bottom, carrying everything before them, down to the solid rock,” and told of craters 30 to 40 feet deep. People in those areas said they heard loud sounds like the discharge of dynamite, and that water gushed from the earth,” according to the newspaper.
The initial “Then and Now” features will spotlight various downtown locations; this week’s choice was the only Sylva photo available among the images that survive of Jackson County’s greatest natural disaster.
“We’re excited about the addition of this new feature,” said Herald Publisher Jim Gray. “People are always curious about this area’s history and they enjoy looking at old photos. Our ‘Then and Now’ series will provide glimpses of the county’s past while offering an updated image for comparison.
“We’re lucky to have a photographer of Nick’s caliber to make our idea work,” Gray said.
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