Clint Hall on the Flood of 1916

Clint Hall on the Flood of 1916

Excerpt from an oral history interview with Clint Hall (1901-1999), recorded 1995 by Eleanor Newcomb Rice (1924-2018). Mr. Hall was 15 years old during the Flood of 1916. He recalls getting rain all weekend, then crossing the streetcar bridge with his father and seeing the flood's destruction, which included houses which had "knocked into Smith Bridge and tore it down." He remembers the "streetcar bridge" being the only one that survived the flood, as a result of loaded Southern Railway railcars weighing it down, the Southern Railway's and Buncombe County's responsiblity for rebuilding roads and bridges (in the absence of federal government aid), and the expectation for men in the community to contribute to road maintenance four days per year. He also briefly discusses convict labor (chain gangs), and Mrs. Rice recalls having read about chained prisoners dying in a flood. 

The book that Mr. Hall and interviewers describe is The Floods of July 1916: How the Southern Railway Organization Met an Emergency. 

This is a 10-minute selection of an 80-minute interview (MS051.001L) held by Buncombe County Special Collections.

Additional information is available from BCSC. 

Listen to the full recording on the Internet Archive.

Buncombe County Special Collections

English

MS051.001L (excerpt)

Audiocassette recording

00:09:53

Eleanor Newcomb Rice

Clint Hall