The Portland daily press., 1884-09-12
FLOODS AND ToRNADoEs,
$25o,oo0 Damages Caused by the
Clear Lake, Wis, Tornado.
THREE RAILROAD BRIDGES,
MILLS AND STORES SWEPT
AWAY BY FLOODS.

EAU CLAIRE, Wis, Sept. 1.-This morning
the OnlppeWa river commenced rising six
inches an hour. The Eau Claire river Is 16
teet ABOVE low water mark, and still rising. A
score OF families are moved out of their houses,
in some OF which there are four feet of water.
The Ptenix manufacturing company's build
ing is partially under water.
BotFsae Chippewa and Eau Claire rivers
began > ling at noon after having reached a
stage thl feet higher than that in the gre at
flood OF 1850. Every bridge on the Chippew a
river has gone down including five railroad
bridges and five wagon bridges In this city
the loss OF property is appalling. No satisfac-
tory estimate can be made at this time. In and
between chippewa Falls and Eau Claire the
loss Will not fall short of 81 800 600 and may
greatly exceed that sum. The Eau Claire gas
company lost 800 tons of coal and all its build
ings valued at $4,000. Business houses on
both sides OF the two rivers are submerged
and great fears are felt lest when the water
recedes the foundations may be SO much i'm
paired as to cause the walls to crumble. In
this city over 20 houses have been swept away,
butonly one life lost.
The Chippewa river has fallen three feet
since noon. Nearly 400 dwellings have been
swept away or wrecked and 1000 people are
depending upon their neighbors who live on
high ground for shelter and food Tonight
a RELIEF committee has been organized and
hundreds of people are being fed in the court
house and the gospel tent of the Y. NJ. @. A.
The east and west sides of the Chippewa
which divides the city are entirely cut off from
communication with each other except by way
oil. the Omaha railroad bridge which neceEsitates
a walk of four miles in reaching the business
portion of the east side, from the court house.
Almost every family in the city loses some
thing The Chicago, Milwaukee & st. Paul
railroad company's loss in the Chippewa Val
ley will be not less than bali million dollars
The lumber companies all lose heavily, but
,1p9ViAaf hvy hQ
peopls, who have had their homes swept away
The newspaper offices have all been flooded
and no paper has been issued today.
CHIPPEWA FALLS, Wis, Sept. 1.-THE most
disastrous flood ever known in this section is
reported. The Chippewa river has risen 20
feet since Tuesday night at II and Is still grow
ing higher at the rate of foot per hour. Three
railroad bridges are in great danger and a
wagon bridge is hourly expected to go. All of
the upper dams on Duncan creek which
passes through the town are destroyed, a
portion of the flood from that cause reached
Chippewa Falls at l O'Clock yesterday AFTER
noon and swept away every bridge, five in
number, together with large number of
buildings including Kehel's planning mill,
Callikg's feed store, Stiles, Lego & Bailey's
livery stables and Stumm & Weiner's agricul-
tural buildings The loss in the city so far is
estimated at 100000. The worst is still to
come, however as dam IA miles north of
Chippewa Falls broke yesterday afternoon and
released 100000 feet of logs which it is feared
will do great damage in their course down
the stream.
ST, PAUL, Sept. --latest reports from the
flooded districts of Wisconsin indicate that
the waters are receding at Chippewa Falls but
rising at Eau Claire where the water is four
feet deep in the Western Union telegraph
office.
ALPENA, Mich, Sept. ia violent thun-
al ar toHIo
The velocity of the wind was As miles an hour,
accompanied by rain fall of over an inch in
eight minutes. Thomas Scarf was struck by
lightning and killed on the street. Another
man had an arm broken. A house, a mill, a
smoke stack and number of piles of lumber
were blown down. Forty thousand feet OF
lumber were blown into the lake. The tor nedo
was not very wide and lasted only Is minutes.
CLEAR LAKE, Wis, Sept 1.-THE total loss
by the tornado at Clear Lake and vicinity, will
reach at least $3.50, 600. Bill Nye of Laramie
Boomerang celebrity, was driving with his
brother about three miles east of Clear Lake
when tornado struck them. He was lifted
out of the wagon by the wind and dashed to
the side Of the road. His right leg was broken
in two places. His brother was only slightly
injured and walked to Clear Lake and pro-
cured help, but it was six hours before the in
red man could be brought to town as the
road was blocked with fallen trees. About 30
buildings were wrecked in Clear Lake includ-
ing the Methodist Congregational and
Lutheran churches. Humboldt & Co.'s saw
mill, three miles east OF there was destroyed.