The raceway bank above where the Blodgett Mills are broke, and the released water swept across the river and flooded the opposite side, causing considerable damage.

The evidence

• “On June 1, 1851, the raceway bank above where the Blodgett Mills now are, broke, and the water, being suddenly released, swept across the river and flooded the opposite side, causing considerable damage.”

  1908-brown-rock-county/26-history-of-janesville.md, Vol. 2, PDF p. 30 / book p. 544

  Brown, William Fiske, editor. Rock County, Wisconsin: A New History of Its Cities, Villages, Towns, Citizens and Varied Interests, from the Earliest Times, Up to Date. Chicago: C. F. Cooper & Co., 1908. 2 vols. archive.org/details/rockcountywiscon01brow, archive.org/details/rockcountywiscon02brow.

  Grade A: Found on a page of one of our sources