The Flood of 1870 caused over a million dollars of damage and devastated Hallowell. The Kennebec River crested at twenty-five feet, after rising 6 feet in half an hour on February 20th. The Hallowell-Chelsea bridge was destroyed and the city's railroad bridge was swept away at a loss of $50,000. An ice jam formed in Hallowell and tore the walls off riverside buildings. A building occupied by Bodwell and Wilson was thrust into Water Street. Two storehouses were splintered and Leigh and Wingate lost 300 barrels of flour.

It was a hard time for ice dealers as well. Two newly constructed ice houses were blown down in a gale and the flood destroyed the ice fields before they could be harvested.

The mount of this image indicates that the photograph was taken by Hallowell photographers named Hunton.

Note the dog in the foreground, and the men in the boat going across Water Street.