The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1891-03-06
Fuller AccO UNITS OF the Floods
in California and
Oregon.
Fears That There Has Been
Great Loss Of Life in the
ella Valley.
Over a Thousand Persons Being Fed
at the Southern Pacific Depot
in Yuma.
Fears Expressed Of Repetition of the
Floods of 1890 on the Lower
Mississippi.

UNA, Ar1Z., MATCH S.-OVer S0U
houses are in ruins in this place and
about 400 people are homeless. It is
feared that hundreds of lives have been
lost in the ella valley. No reliable re-
ports can be obtained from that locality
as the roads are impossible and all the
wires are down. Above Yuma the river
is seven miles wide and below the town
the water covers the country in one
gray1 lake over fifty miles across. Over
1000 persons are being fed daily at the
Southern Pacific and the town has pro-
visions sufficient for eight days more.
The blockade of west bound trains, it is
expected, will be raised in about four
days, but it will be at least two weeks
before they can go East.
Many Lives Lost.
Reports from Jakuno, fifteen miles
above here, are to the effect that the
food drove the people into tree tops.
Many became exhausted from cold and
hunger before the food abated and
dropped into the water and were
drowned. 1t is estimated that anywhere
between thirty and hundred lives were
lost in the valley. Desolation reigns
supreme all along the valley. Every
house ON the hills has been thrown open
to receive the homeless and hungry and
hundreds are quartered in tents and
government buildings. The merchants
have opened their goods in the streets in
order to help the sufferers. The water
is still high for 200 miles east of this
point, ard as all of this must pass here
many fear that the worst is yet to come.
In this county
Losses Foot Up Nearly 100000,
and the damages suffered by the rail-
road company will amount to more than
$3.50, 900. The common loss has brought
all classes of citizens together, and all
have worked with will, first in trying
to save the town, by constructing levees,
and when that effort proved futile,
in saving as much as possible
from the ruins. The old town will
probably not be rebuilt, as both mer-
chants and residents will erect their
stores and houses ON the hills in order to
be out of reach of any further damage.
In the city the ruin has been most
complete, the Catholic church being
The Only Building Left Standing
on the main street. The convent and
adjoining school stood the wear of the
waves for many hours, but finally crum-
bled into ruins. The Yuma Sentinel
moved its Office four times Saturday,
but finally succeeded in getting out on
the hill Sunday. The Times was less
fortunate, and its Office and material
went down in the wreck. Fears were
entertained that the fine railroad bridge
would be carried away, but fortunately
the piers stood the test, and unless some
extra heavy wreckage should lodge on
the structure and cause jam it will not
be materially injured.
Army Officers Lend Assistance.
The officers of Fort Yuma have done
everything in their power to assist the
sufferers, and fortunately there was
good supply of tents on hand, and these
were at once placed at the disposal of
the homeless families rnd much suffer
ing thereby prevented. Should there be
no further rainfall it is hoped that there
will be little further loss and that with
the restoring of communications with the
west sufficient supplies will be brought
in from San Francisco and Los Angeles
to prevent any serious trouble. A boat
which arrived from Mohawk, sixty
miles up the Gilla river, brings
Reports of Terrible Loss of Life,
all the country being under water. The
greatest sufferers are the poor Mexicans,
whose entire possessions have been
swept away and who have no reserves
to fall back upon. There is yet vast
stretch of territory to be heard from,
and every one fears that when full re-
turns are in the loss of life will prove of
appalling magnitude. Reports from
the valley of the Colorado below this
place state that s,zp4
Hundreds of Cocopal Indians
have been drowned. They are located
about sixty miles south of here. and
their tribe is about 5000 strong. Their
villages are all on low land, and there
are no hills on which the Indians could
take refuge. An immense number of
them must have been caught in the flood
and swept away. The water rose six
feet in twelve hours, and came on them
almost without warning