The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1890-02-26
WALNUT GROVE DAM
The Great Arizona Flood Leaves
a Track Of DesOlati0n.
EVICTION OF PITTSBURG TENANTS.
The Scenes Rivalled Those Witnessed in Ire
land-Heavy Storms in the East
Expelled for Suing in Court.

PRESCOTT, Ariz., Feb. ga messenger
bringing further details of the Walnut
Grove dam disaster arrived this morning.
Sheriff O'Neil, who went to the scene of
the disaster, writes as follows:
The scene of desolation along Hassayampa.
below the sites of the dams, is complete. For
miles the waters, turned free by the bree king Of
the dams, have filed the bed of the creek with
bodies and with enormous boulders, trees and
every other kind of debris.
Following is partial list of the drowned ::
Hannah Mccarthy, Joe Reynolds, miner;
George Ebbetts, laborer; Alexander Mcmillan
coachman for Van Buren,; Ely Wheeler, la
Sorer; one Mexican, name unknown; G.. l..
Sllsbee, Charles King, blacksmith; Patrick
shay, laborer; Patrick Dairy, laborer; Charles
Braeken, laborer; William Flanagan, laborer;
Frederick Palmer, laborer; L. D. Haynes
laborer, and child; George Rundell laborer
and eight Cinnamon. Besides these mentioned
some twelve or fifteen miners who were placer
mining between the upper and lower dam, with
d NUMBER OF rancherS along the stream, are
missing and when all casualties are ascertained
the entlre loss will probably be between fifty
and sixty lives
a number of bodies have been recovered,
many OF which were found twenty and thirty
miles from the places were the flood overlook
them. All the remains are more or less mutt
lated, Whlle IN several cases only fragments
have been buried in the sand others torn to
pieces and others gone far south
me impetus of the stream of water when
turned loose can hardly be appreciated without
gong over the ground covered by it, Those who
saw 1t say 1t came down almost in a perpendlc
ular wall ninety or hundred feet high and ap-
parently crushed down instead of sweeping
everything before it, A great body of water
one and half miles square and sixty
feet deep emptied in an hour I'm
mense boulders weighing tons were thrown
around Enormous trees were broken in
Two or torn into shreds, iron bars broken and
twisted out OF shape, and an ordinary fat-iron
was picked up and carried five miles and then
embedded In the walls of the caiion eighty feet
ABOVE the present level of the stream A large
safe containing 5000 was swept away and no
trace has been found of it, The flood struck the
lower Dam at 80 a. m and five minutes later the
headquarters five miles below, were swept AWAY
several persons were at both points watching
but Notwithstanding this, the number drowned
at the frst point was over thirty and these who
escaped did so with only what they had on their
Dacks, many with only their night clothes on.
me survivors are in great restitution, having
neither provisions or clothing. Many are using
coarse grain sacks in lieu OF clothing.
Friday evening courier was sent from the
upper to the lower dam to warn the residents
that the former structure was in danger of
breaking, but owing 10 the storm the messenger
loSl ms NE IN trying to cross the HaSsayampa
within view or the survivors of the camp he had
tried TO save.
Charles Thompson, the courier who arrived
TINS afternaon from below Wickensburg reports
enSburg and three in addition TO those already
discovered. The old historic Brill ranch, with
an the other ranches along the river have been
swept away.