Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1889-06-07
TME CONEMAuGH CALAMITY.

the valley of the Conemaugn. The de-
tails, i'm perfect aud incomplete at first
gair in horror and tragic grandeur as the
facts ara more fully understood. A
populous valley in the heart of the rich
mineral regions OF the Alleghenies hat
been swept by deluge. To the populou.
villages and cities that nestled in thai
valley the end of the world has come.
The awful story of the auciens food has
been there repeated. While engaged in
their peaceful avocstions, the housewife
plying her needle or repairing the even
ing meal, the furnaces sending forth
their fame, the shops ringing with
strokes of the artifcer, the streets
and dwellings, alive with the bus le
and hum of active, joyous life
the children a. play, the curious watch
ing the swollen current of the m ountain
stream, all feeling sense of security, all
full of happiness, life and hope, fear
fol ominous roar is heard up the valley.
terrified glance in that direction, a
blanching of cheeks, shrieks of terror,
a starting of the mother to gather her
little ones; the father's first i'm pulse TO
seek his family and hasten to the hills
Looking up the valley a mountain wave
Ia seen, oo whose summit are dancin Z
houses, trees, the Fragments of bridges,
carts, animals, the bodies of men, WON en-
and children. |. ID rolling downward on
the doomed city. There i. no time for
thought or action. The wave of death
sweeps on, In an instant the mad, roar
ing torrent fills the streets. Ia g great
believing, the crash OF falling walls, the
quick hurting of building against
building, the sweeping away of
great factories, the topping of tall chin :
neys, the ella, hing Of locomotives, aud Of
pobdernu5 machinery swept DOWN. ,rd
by the irresistible power of the waters,
are scarcely heard. Thousan Is aro swept
onward, %struggling In the waser;
some, crushed, others overwhelm o, die
suddenly. Some strlkin, OUT for dear
life, others ciinging to their houses; others
to aany floating object; others in their
chamber OF frame homes hurled whirl
ing, bouncing along with terrific velocity.
Hundreds are dashed to death againaJ
rocks aud trees as they are swept on
wards Higher, higher noun: the waters
The fierce current widens and sweeps in
the dwellings, further up the hiisid, =. Be
low the city is a narrow gorge, and here
the river is spanned by a bridge with
tion, and the waters pile up. The hous .,
floating like oorks, huddle and crash to
gethsr. Some ar stoven in; others, with
their living inmates, arc lifted high
up on the moving mass. Who can
portray the terrorS of the hOurr The
few that ars spared ars looking on from
the hiilsides. Those in the wnirling
dwellings, on the tumuituous sea formed
by the partial damming of the flood,
who can depict their anguish Some
praying, others shrieking, others meet
ing death calmly, many bravoly trying to
save their friends. O5hers ii the mad
ness of fear thinking, or rather acting
by instinct only 10 save themselves.
Then, horrors upon horrorsl The had
died, josLiinE ruins of dwellings, aud
other debrl4 pinned in by the narrow
gorge at the bridge, burst into flames.
The darkness Is stealing on. Those who
had begun to hope for escape from the
raging flood are oliled to face more
dread full death by the NJ less merciless
element of fire. Hundreds ara roasted
In the flames. Death holds high carni-
val. Human hands can render no aid.
Men oan look on their hearts aching,
their souls wrung with anguish, but moth
ing can be done to rescue, nothing to
avert the awful doom.
Night desoends upon the scene az if to
cover the mad revel of death. What
night of horror to the survivors ! What
of terror to those who yet live pinned
into the wreokage, but not blessed with
bHesty uefbh NhHh w "iNpi w INV
few, how few, who drenched and be
numbo d havs escaped from the deluge !!
Some TINT are left ohill and shiverlug in
the darkness, come TO reahze that home,
family. wealth aud all that made life dear
are swept away. Reason predicts that
they must be dead, but hope snatches at
straws of possibility that they may yet
live. They wait for, yet dread, the
morning, living a night which the torture
of heartache aud anxiety prolong till 1t
seems to be wears, reslzinR that next to
the horror OF meeting death in such
stroke of desolation is the horror and
anguish of witnessing and surviving it.
It will be many days ere the full extent
of this dread tragedy is known. The list
OF the dead will swell aud lengthen. The
losses of material wealth Will climb into
millions; and many survivors will die
from the shook and exposure OF the ter
rors of that awful time: but the pen or
tongue are powerle.s to depict the hor-
ror. the terror, the suffering ard the
sombre grandeur OF that catastrophe,
the GREATEST of its kind that has ever
happened on this continent; and let US
hope that the like may never be repeated.