The 2009 calendar, the fourth in a series created by Sylvia Newman, contains pictures and a description of the big flood of July 12, 1947.

"People said it was a storm like they had never seen before," Newman said.

DEADLY STORM

The torrential, localized two-hour rainstorm devastated a 3-to-4-mile section of the Town of Saranac.

Three people died in the flood, which sent raging water, boulders and trees down Corners Brook and True Brook and destroyed roads and bridges.

Saranac Highway Superintendent Paul Ebere, 41; Leo Lashway, 32; and his son, Donald Lashway, 8, died when the car they were in fell into True Brook as the Route 3 bridge collapsed.

At least 50 miles of roads had to be repaired and rebuilt, which wasn't finished until the following year. The $500,000 cost nearly caused the town to go bankrupt.

Numerous pictures of the devastation are spread over the pages of the calendar, providing a stunning testament to the flood's power. Among them are photos of huge rocks covering many roads; an enormous gully, carved by the water, that contains a collapsed telephone pole; and the remnants of the Route 3 bridge over True Brook.

SCHOOLHOUSE MOVE

The description of the flood damage came from "The Controlling of the Saranac River, Floods and Freshets" by Saranac Town Historian Jan Couture. It was published in The Antiquarian, a publication of the Clinton County Historical Association, in 1991.

Funds from the 2009 calendar will probably go toward relocation of one of several local historic schoolhouses in the area, Newman said. She hopes it can be converted to a museum.

Newman put together her first calendar in 2006. It featured pictures and an account of the early history of the Town of Saranac, with pictures of the Redford Carousel, Saranac Cornet Band and Redford Glass Works, among others.

That calendar was created to raise money for restoration and repair of the Civil War Monument in Saranac Independence Cemetery, which was successfully completed in May 2006.

THE RIVER RUN