The Dickinson press., 1884-09-20
Earlier Accounts.

From the st. Paul Pioneer Press, Sept. Il.
South of the Omaha railway b bridge, in
West Eau Claire, from the Pioneer Lum-
Der company's mills to Westville, two miles
away, and at the extreme end of West Eau
Claire and at Westville, the damage wrought
by Thursdays flood is tremendous. Along
this section the banks of the Chippewa are
low; but Notwithstanding this and the
fact chat 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, u division of
West Eau Claire, is where chaos reigns.
The streets are filled with lumber, houses
turned and twisted in all ways, the whole
place covered with a layer OF black mud,
left by the flood, from one to three feet in
depth; bedding, household furniture, roofs,
shingles, logs, tifteen-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 and bridge are completely uprooted;
the street car tracks are buried under the
blacklist, nastiest 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 flood oc-
curing Wednesday night and Thurs
NSAN AAS Ah"AAA ohA$ 10 w oAS III u
kee railway, its loss certainly being over
$4,000 in that locality, while the streets
OF Shawtown are swept out of existence.
The estimated damage from Westville to the
Half Moon Lake canal, which is the northern
Of deaths on the West side there
a traced ao now Man 7, seems as nf that as a Mr. 1hef Eii Han wb be
lives near the Madison street bridge, was
trying to save his wife from the flood. His
III, r@- r~,.,,1 H.. NIL
evening a float passed down the Chippewa
with two men on it. According to the story
of the b%ystanders it disappeared just opposite
the Bailey house and the men were NOT seen
again .ilGrossly exaggerated stories are fly
ing. around about other deaths in the vicini-
that have broken loose, lumbermen say not
one will reach Durand, and they
can easily be recovered when the
water goes down. Between Eau Claire and
Rumsey's Landing, down the river, many
farmers were found by the relief party
homes gone, fields under water, and no pro-
visions There are fears OF great suffering
between here and Durand. A careful esti-
mate made by parties resident there approx
mates the West Eau Claire losses about as
follows, and the figures given cannot be far
from correct:
Milwaukee road $25, 600
Lumberfrms. foundry, etc.......... $4,000
Municipal loss, bridges, etc. ........... 800, 900
Residents"........... ...".......... 15O,OO
No outside aid will be needed. A public
subscription is being taken up in the
city for aid to sufferers. 1t is
believed that the total loss in all Eau
Claire will not exceeds 100000. A house
passed the city Thursday half submerged,
a woman with a child in her arms standing
roof. They are supposed to have been
drowned. The river has fallen rapidly to-
day, at the time of writing having gone down
from fifteen to seventeen feet 1t is stated
that over 100000. 900 feet of logs have
drifted into the Dells reservoir from north