Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1881-10-07
Wisconsin Floods.
on THE CHIPPEWA.


the Chippewa has reached its worst.
The food is receding rapidly, and fears
of further damage are allayed. The
mills will resume the latter part of the
week with full crews. Further reports
of the damage to grain are discourag-
ing. The city is alive with unemploy-
ed men anxious to resume labor. The
booms are safe on the upper Chippe-
va. There is great inundation from
here 10 the Beef Slough works. One
of the Eau Claire bridges is badly Grip
pied and the other weakened.
ATT CROSSE.
LA CROSSE, Oct 1.-THE rise in the
river at this place has been slow. the
past "a hours. bnt the water is now
higher than last spring. Great
damage mas been done on the low
lands in this vicinity, and many
of the mills have been compelled to
shut down. All the manufacturers on
the river banks have suffered. 1t is said
the rise here will be considerably
greater than now, as the indications
point to a great volume Of water above,
which has not reached this city yet
beyond the recollection of the oldest
inhabitant of the high stage of the wa
ter at this time of the year The Ona-
laska mills have been obliged to shut
down, and the damage done in that
vicinity will be considerable. The is
lands are overtiowed and large
amount of stock is reported drowned,
principally hogs. The merchants Of
this city occupying stores on River
street have removed everything in the
easements, so that no damage will be
done In this line.
AT MERRILL.
MERRILL, Oct 4.-The Wisconsin
river is booming, higher than ever
known before A large amount of logs
and lumber have gone down stream.
The railroad bridge between here and
Wausau went out Sunday night. The
wires are down also. Mail Will be car
ried by team between here and
w ausau until the bridges are repaired.
The mills at this place have shut
down.
AT GRAND RAPIDS.
GRAND RAPIDS, Oct. 1.-The flood
reached this point on Sunday, attain
ing It's highest in the afternoon, and has
been falling the past "a hours. Owing
to previous preparations but little dam
age, except to River street, has been
done. Friday and Saturday merchants
and those living on River street, hear
ing of the rise at Wausau moved on to
higher ground. The timely action Of
the council in Strengthening weak
points on the river front alone prevented
large loss of property, though the
water was not as high as in June, 1850,
by sixteen inches.
THE RAILWAY COMPANIES.
MILWAUKEE, Oct. 4.-There is intense
excitement among the inhabitants of
the northern counties of this state over
the alarming rise in the rivers and
streams III that section, and fears Of
general deluge of farming lands in the
vicinities of the rivers are expressed on
all sides. Inquiries by a Sentinel re-
porter at the leading railway offices re
vealed most startling state Of affairs.
The Wisconsin and Chippewa rivers
NC JUN blSISl tllSy MGIC ever
known to be at any period before, and
III many places have overhowed their
banks, causing much destruction to
valuable property, and in several cases
rendered entire families penniless. As
yet but few particulars the floods can
be CLEANED, but the railroad officials
are confident that they will be able to
give better reports by evening. The only
serious washouts sustained by railway
companies are reported by the Wis
consin Central at Stevens Point, and
the Chicago, Milwaukee & St Paul's
river division The latter, however,
anticipated this turn of affairs, and as
soon as the breaks were discovered
they were Immediately repaired The
Central was not so fortunate The
swelling tide washed out the bank
where this railway crosses the river at
Stevens Point, and also, it was report
ed, good deal of their track The
officials of both roads were found very
reticent about giving particulars, but
stated that their through trains were
all more or less delayed The Central
trains were delayed until this morning,
by which time their tracks were re-
paired At last reports it was still
raining in many parts of the state, and
the danger Of terrible floods were mo-
mentarily increasing.