Baxter Springs news. [volume] (Baxter Springs, Kan.) 1882-1919, 1892-05-21
Coming Down Floyd River It Inun-
dated Sioux City.
MANY LIVES ARE REPORTED LOST
Exact Number Not Yet Known, But Esti-
mated Mt Twenty or Twenty-Five
About Two Thousand Head OF
Stock Drowned.


center of the city and which was already
swollen bank full.
The wave came few minutes after z
o'clock. Warming had been given but
short time before to the inhabitants
of the low lands, but only n few OF them
had been notified. The first intimation
was a volume of water spreading over
the bank to the depth of three feet and
throwing n mist of foam before 1t. In
u few minutes the water had risen above
the first floors and several thousand
people fed in terror to the higher
ground. At least twenty-five people
drowned.
The water rose four feet in an hour
and half, and from O'clock continued
to rise steadily, but not so rapidly.
Probably one-third of the inhabitants
of the city live on the low ground which
is overfowed. So rapid was the rise OF
the tide that great numbers were un-
able to escape and the work of rescue
engaged every energy of the people.
The only names of the dead so far
ascertained are: Nellie West, child;
Mrs. Louise Horner and two children;
Frank Henderson, wife and child; two
boatmen, unknown: A. p. McClearat;
an unknown Scandinavian; Mrs. Peter
Rasmussen and two children; two I'M
known men near Fourth street, near
Fairmont bridge; unknown man at
Sioux City & Northern yards.
At 10 o'clock the fire alarm was
sounded to call out more workers. All
the boats from the boat houses on the
Sioux river were brought in and used
to save life and property.
The Missouri river is high and when
the food in the Floyd river struck it
the water damned up and rushed over
the adjacent low grounds. The stock
yards and packing houses are situated
at the confluence of the two rivers and
they were instantly inundated. About
1900 head of live stock were drowned.
Many hundreds of dead stock have also
been floating down the Floyd river
The whole railroad yards aud switching
track district is under winter and there
has been immense damage to the round
houses and other railroad property.
The round houses of the Chicago, st.
Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha are dam
aged to the extent of $4,000. That
road, the Illinois Central and Sioux City
& Northern enter the city by the Floyd
valley and all are stopped. Not train
left Sioux City yesterday.
1t is estimated that 5000 people have
been driven from their homes. All bus
mess is suspended.
The water is slowly receding. A citi-
Zens meeting ut the courthouse organ
lied to provide several thousand people
with shelter. The damage to property
will reach $1,000, 900. The loss of the
Sioux City & Northern railroad will eX-
coed 100000. Miles of cedar block paw
ing have been washed out.
The first warning of the approach of
the food given the stocllyards company
was telephone message warning them
to prepare for high water and stating
that the Seventh street bridge had
gone out. The whole available force of
the yards, and also bystanders who
could be induced to assist, were at once
put to work in an endeavor to get all
stock out of the yards.
A long train of empties were sent
down to the chutes, but before the cars
could be loaded and pulled, the rush of
water came and put out the fires in the
engines, and they were compelled to
stay. The attendants and yardmen
who had not time to escape were perched
on the roofs of cars waiting to be
rescued or for the subsistence of the
flood.
The rush Of water was SO great that
number of commission men and their
employees could not escape. They took
refuge in the third story of the Ex-
change building, while the water had
risen to within an inch of the first
floor
The scene at the yards is almost indie
scribable. The rush of water came
down across the bottoms as the over
flow of She river ut first flowed out on
the east banks. At 1890 solid blocks of
hog pens were seen swaying with the
motion of the wind and waves and in a
short time they began moving down
stream. The new division started first
and almost the whole block started off
down street, and the report of the rend-
ing and breaking of timbers sounded
almost like the sharp crack of cannon.
At IL o'clock there was not sign ola
hog yard left The large corn cribs con-
tanning several thousand bushels of
corn were also carried away. Scale
houses and all buildings were taken
with the flood. The cattle yards at the
time mentioned above were mostly in
tact, but the south portion was floating
with the evident possibility that it
would soon follow the hog pens and
sheds
Later accounts show that the loss of
life has been much greater than at first
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