River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1874-05-26
TWO HUNDRED LIVES LOST,
GREAT DESTRUCTION OF PROPERTY.

OF the New Haven and Northampton
Railroad, burst this morning, com
pletely sv aping away the three manu-
featuring villages OF Leeds, Haydens-
vile and Williamsburg. Scarcely a
building is left standing.
WHERE n rooK EFFECT.
The villages effected by the disaste,
are Williamsburg, Haydenville, Leeds
and Florence, located ON Mill River, a
tributary to the Connecticut, running
into the latter at Northampton.
The mills on the stream have all been
carried away, and included brassworks.
button-holc factories. silk and cotton
mills, brush factories, agricultural i'm
plements and basket factories, etc. /;
besides, saw and grist mills.
rnE GREAT RESERVOIR.
The great reservoir covered $50 acres
OF ground and had an average deptb of
thirty feet 1t was drawn upon in drv
time to supply the mills at Williams
burg, Haydensville and Florence.
ESTIMATES OF CAPITAL.
The manufacturing capital invested
along the river, Affected BY This disas
ter, placing II at the lowest estimate.
must be $4,000, 900, and the inbmediata
population suffering about 5000. The
population Is almost wholly manufac-
turing one, which has grown up along
the dams.
At Skinnerville, the store of Hayden.
NrANA g y, i
bank building. with the safe. were
swept away. The safe contained $50.
600 in money T.. NJ. Graves stove.
+. Ames' store 8nd several houses.
i1ootnis Hotel, Hayden d Go. S tobacco
factory and two iron bridges were also
swept away,
The total pecuniary loss by the dis
aster is estimated at nearly ~, 600. 900
The following isl general estimate Of
losses by places 1T Williamsburg w.
II, AvoHess, Touring mill swept away,
$40, zoe; II. l.. James, mill damaect
and left without water power, $40, 900
honses, barns, etc, gone, $4,000.
At Skinneryille-Wm. SINNERS silk
factory and twelve tenement houses
destroyed, $780, Other houses and
barns, $3.50
AtHaydenville-H Hayden. Geer& Co. 5
brass-wurks, savings bank buildidos
and tenements swept away, $3.50, coo
The Hayden Tobacco Company's mill
carried off, $1,000. The Hayden foun-
dry and machine works, damaged, So
cC0. Other houses and stores, $50, 900.
GaswOrks, $1,000
AT Leeds-Nanatuck Silk Company.
dam broken and several buildings and
houses carried away, $500 George
L. Warmers button factory destroyed
and three tenements, 100000 Other
houses, barns, etc, $40. 900.
At Northampton-Emery Wheel
Company, damage, $4,000
At Florence the Florence Mauufac-
turing Companys brush factory and
damage to stock ~, 900; Wontuck Silk
Companys mill partially torn away
andstock damaged IS, 600
The latest figures of the loss OF life
by this calamity make the total IA.
divided as follows between the three
places Williamsburg, 70: Leeds, 40
Haylenyille, 30. These figures only
represent persons whose loss is posi-
lively known, though bodies Of all are
not yet recovered.
Bodies are constantly being found.
and in some cases those of persons
who were not supposed to be lost, so
that 1t seems perfectly safe to say that
the total loss of life will exceed $50. il
indeed it does not more nearly APP
proach 200.
The gatekeeper of the reservoir says
he has lived IN constant expectation Of
a break, and has often called the atten-
ton of his superiors to its unsafe con-
dition. The accident has caused great
among theresidents along
the west branch of Mill River. of which
the Goshen Reservoir is the head. and
which joins the east branch ut Williams.
burg 1t is in all respects similar to
the Williamsburg Reservoir. Themost
intense excitement prevails in the vein +
ity of the disaster.
FINDING THE DEAD.
At Skinneville the first bodies were
picked up, dug ont from the mud. or
taken with difficulty from the overload .
cd ruins. All through the afternoon
the work went on. till night, and then
men with lanterns, seeking their dead
stood guard. At iaydenylle forty
bodies were gathered 10y night. Al
Leeds five. There had been. in the af-
ternOon, gangs Of plundorers promptly
turned To workers 10y no stiuted threats.
The people were ready 20 brain them
with stones. There were fewer dead M
Florence and Northampton, 40 in all,
and many more are certainly buried in
the mud and rubbish that fills the val
ley with black heaps from Williamsburg
to Northampton.
just below the village of Leeds ON
what was u pretty lawn. called Warmers
Flats, u vast amount of debris was col
lectcd A hundred men with oy teams
and horses 10 move the timhers began
work early in the forenoon. I'm the first
half hour five bodies were found. and
before noon twenty were unburied from
that spot
PAINFUL RECoaNruoNs.
The operatives from Williamsburg
whose lost ones had not been recovered
crowded the little carpenter shop into
which the bodies were carried and an
were recognized. although some were
4 -. 4. "a