 CANAL BURSTS ITS BANKS - Barges Smashed and River Dammed " When the Bolton @-@ Manchester Canal burst its banks at Little Lever yesterday millions of gallons of water cascaded 300 feet into the River Irwell , carrying down hundreds of tons of earth and stones . The river rapidly became blocked on the Bury side and the banked @-@ up water flooded the surrounding land . " Like Niagara " was the description applied by one resident in the vicinity . Bricks and iron reinforcements of the side of the canal were torn away and carried into the river . Canal barges were smashed up as they too swept over the falls . Fortunately , there are no houses in the neighbourhood , and no one was hurt . It is feared that work at a paper mill and a chemical works which depend upon the canal for transport will be affected . Mr John W. Martin , of Loxham Street , Bolton , said : " I was cycling along the bank when I suddenly saw signs of a subsidence begin on a bend in the canal . I could not stop and my only chance was to ride furiously along the two feet of earth which remained . As I passed over the earth fell away behind the back wheel of my bicycle and I was thrown off . " The noise was deafening . A few yards from me tremendous quantities of water , rock , and earth were moving bodily from the canal . A gap about 100 yards long has been opened in the canal embankment . A few years ago there was a similar landslide near the spot . " 
