The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1884-09-25
Earlier Accounts.
From the ST PAM ri ,uaor prosa Govt ~


From the st. Paul Pioneer Press, Sept. H.
South of the Omaha railway bridge, in
West Eau Claire, from the Pioneer Iium-
Der compahy's mills to Westville, two miles
away. and at the extreme end OF West Eau
Claire and at estvile, the damage wrought
by Thursdays flood is tremendous Along
this section the banks of the Chippewa are
low; but Notwithstanding this and the
fact that the soil is sand, the people had con-
structed their dwellings close to the waters
edge, apparently fearing no overflow The
west side of Shawtown, division of
West Eau Claire, is where chaos reigns
The streets are filled with lumber, houses
place covered with a layer of black mud,
le1t by the Hood, from one to three feet in
depth; bedding, household furniture. roofs
shingles, logs, ffteen-foot piles of wood;
houses with logs driven through them; the
depot inclined at an angle of forty-tive de-
grees, and telegraph, telephone and electric
light wires down. The Milwaukee railroad
track ana bridge are completely uprooted:
the street car tracks arc buried under the
blacklist, nasticst mud that ever was formed
out-of-the-way places - one indescribable
mass of everything that could float The
lise Of water at Shawtown was twenty
two feet six inches, the most of the Hood oc-
day morning No lives We're lost
there The main damage is to the Milwau-
kee railway, its loss certainly being over
$4,000 in that locality, while the streets
OF Shawtown are swept out Of existence.
me estimated damage from Westville to the
boundary of Shawtown. is over 1928. OOO
OF deaths on the West side there
are not many, as near as they can be
traced now; 1t seems that a Mr.: Lilly, who
lives near the Madison street bridge, was
trying to save his wife from the flood His
body was found Friday morning. Friday
evening float passed down the Chippewa
with two men on it, According to the story
OF the bystanders it disappeared Just opposite
the Bailey house and the men were not seen
again. ilGrossly exaggerated stories are fiv
ing around about other deaths in the vicini-
ty. but their truth is doubtful Of the logs
that have broken loose, lumbcrmen say not
one one VIII reach Durand; and they
water goes down. Between Eau Claire and
kumsey's Landing, down the river, many
farmers were found by the relief party
perched upon knobs with their families:
homes gone fields under water, and no pro-
visions. There arc fears OF great suffering
between here and Durand. A careful est
mate made by parties resident there approx
imates the West Eau Claire losses about as
follows, and the figures given cannot be far
from correct:
M nMno1 zero ROAD 9c;,n,;:;; $4,000
municipal loss' bridges, etc.......... 100000
No outside aid will be needed. pubic
believed that the total 'G loss in ali y Eau
Claire will not exceed 81 ,OCO, OOO house
passed the city Thursday half submerged,
a woman with child in her arms standing
at the upper window and a man on the
roof: They arc supposed to have been
drowned: The river has fallen rapidly to-
Gay, at the time of writing having gone down
from nfteen to seventeen feet. 1t is stated
that over 4oo.O0O.OOO feet of logs have
ern points The Phoenix Lumber company
estimates it's damage at $4,000. The
bridges across the Eau Claire in the city
are jammed into all possible shapes,
of house having hoated into the bells
pond with five dead persons in it have just
come ill., Summarizing all tho damage
resulting to this town up to date,
from Chippewa Falls to Eau Claire the main
damage is to the mill and numbering inter
ests, though private property in that section
has suffered considerably At Eau Claire the
CITY ana railroads suffer; the mills are less
damaged 1t is stated that over 5000 peo-
pie nave been directly injured by this flood,
or the principal divisions of great railroad
almost entirely swept away, ne-tifth
OF large city submerged, a dozen and over
smaller places more or less damaged and
SOU AtkiON UuTneU 10GO q sea,
The flood is directly traceable to the cyclone
that swept St Croix and Polk counties. The
great bulk of rain did not fall though till
after the blow Of last Tuesday night, when
all the small streams in Chippewa and Bar
ron counties north Of here were turned into
rivers and lakes that discharged themselves
into the Chippewa and came down its course
No such rainfall has ever occurred in Wis
consin before since early pioneer days, and
the destruction from wind and rain is unpar-
alleled. Nearly four millions damage from
wind and over three millions from water ia
terrible record
THE LUMBER INTERESTS
CHIPPEWA FALLS Wis, Special TELEGRAM.
Sept 13.-Fred Weyerhauser, president Of
the Mississippi Lumber and Logging COM
pany, was here again to-day looking after
the interests of the company He states that !
there was in the Chippewa 525, OOO. 600 feet
Of logs belonging to his company, and above
$1,000. 600 belonging 70 other partiea Ad-
vices received from Mr.. Irvine. at Beef
Slough, are to the effect that all the loos nm