"We have found out definitely that our bridge at Piqua is still standing, although there are vast washouts at each side of it. We also know definitely that our bridge at Dayton is gone; also the four-span bridge over the Muskingum River at Zanesville is gone and there is some question as to whether our bridge over the Scioto River at Circleville is gone or not, as we have no definite information on this. "We have men and material all assembled and starting actively at work here and there wherever the water has receded sufficiently to permit us." On the Pennsylvania Railroad alone the loss amounted to millions of dollars. There was not only the tremendous loss due to the loss of tracks, roadbed and bridges, but also the loss of passenger and freight revenues. Everywhere it was conceded that the tie-up was the most serious and extensive in the history of the road. [Illustration: Photograph by Brown Bros. Hundreds of substantial buildings were lifted from their foundations and piled up like broken cigar boxes simply by the awful sweep of the wind] [Illustration: Photograph by Underwood & Underwood. Some of the most prominent society women and girls in Dayton shouldered hoes and shovels in the work of cleaning up the city] HEAVY LOSS ON BALTIMORE AND OHIO The financial loss to the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad aggregated millions of dollars in the destruction of property alone. President Willard was asked on Thursday for an estimate of the damage wrought by the floods. His reply was: "I cannot tell. I haven't an idea. I wish I could say that it would be $2,000,000, but I cannot. "I know that half a dozen bridges on the Cincinnati, Hamilton and Dayton have been destroyed and bridges on the Baltimore and Ohio have been washed away. We have lost one of our largest bridges on the main road to Chicago, at Zanesville, Ohio, and it will probably be six months before we will have another completed bridge there, although we will have some bridge there soon. We hope to have our main line to Chicago open in twenty-four hours, and our main line to Cincinnati open in the same time. We cannot tell when we will have our line to St. Louis open." ESTIMATED DAMAGE Conservative estimates of the damage to railroad property in the flooded Middle West, plus the loss entailed by the suspension of traffic, ranged from $10,000,000 to $15,000,000. The entire railway system of Ohio and Indiana was practically put out of business for five days by the floods in the Middle West. To repair and replace the railways affected by this disaster, railway officials stated, would practically wipe out the surplus earnings of many railroads. In other cases dividends were threatened. The reason was, they said, that all such damage must be retrieved out of current earnings and could not be charged to capital.