Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1892-05-25
SCORES OF LIVES LOST.
Awfal Sweep of the Flood at Sioux City,
Ia.-One Hundred Said to be Dead.

Ia.-One Hundred Said to be Dead.
Sioux Cry, Ia, May 19.-Between go
and 100 persons have lost their lives,
and fully 5000 have been made home
less by the great food that is sweeping
down the valley of the Missouri and
through the bottom lands lining the
course of the Floyd. Everywhere
along the path of the great wave, five
feet high and extending from shore It
shore and overspreading the lowlands,
houses have been swept away, barns
and farm buildings carried off.
and whole families whirled of
on the tide, some to sink and others to
be tossed about down the stream,
clinging to fragment of timber or the
wreck of some building. Thus num-
bers of families have been scattered,
parents not knowing the fate OF
children, and children ignorant whether
their fathers or mothers are living or
dead. The terrorized people who es-
capped have sought refuge in 30 many
quarters that it is impossible to judge
what the number of deaths will be, and
it will be some days before any really
accurate list OF the dead or the missing
can be prepared.
At the manufacturing suburb Of Leeds,
nine persons are known to be drowned.
Four were drowned at Springfield. OBJ
servers on the high bridges counted ff
teen bodies that swept under it. Matt
Roe, an old sailor, saved twenty
eight lives. A woman who man
aged to wade to q box car
there gave birth to child, and two
hours later was rescued. A woman
named Hinton and three children were
drowned in their own house. Two
Swedish families were swept away.
The first note of warning was tele-
gram received from Hinton, twelve
miles up the valley. to the effect that a
fourteen-foot rise was coming. In
telligence was sent to the police
station. When the wave reach
ed the city a volume Of
water overspread the banks of the
river to a depth of three feet and
threw a mist of foam before it. In a
few minutes the water had risen
houses lying contiguous to the river,
and the panic-stricken inhabitants,
to the number of several thou
sand, hastily abandoned their doomed
homes and fled in terror to the Missouri
bluffs Probably 10000 people live on
the low grounds. The railroad tracks,
train yards and round-houses are there,
also lumber yards and warehouses on
the banks of the Floyd.
The scene at the yards is almost indie
scribable. The rush of waters came
down across the bottoms as the over
flow of the river at 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 short
time they began moving down stream.
The new division started first and al
most the whole block started off down
stream, and the report of the rend1ng
and breaking of timbers sounded al
most like the sharp crack of cannon.
At II O'Clock there was not a
sign of the hog-yards left. The
large corn cribs containing several
thousands Of bushels of corn were also
carried away The scale-house and out
buildings were taken with the flood.
The cattle-yards at the time mentioned
above we're mostly intact, but the south
portion was floating, with the evident
possibility that it would soon follow the
hog-pens and sheds.
city. When the great mass of water
came down and struck the swollen Mis-
souri, 1t threw the tide backward and
over the banks of the Floyd, turning the
lower part of the city into a vast lake
So rapid was the rise of the tide that
great numbers were unable to es-
cape, and the work of rescue
engaged every energy of the people.
At 10 o'clock the fire alarm was sounded
to call out more workers. All boats
from the lighthouses on the Sioux
River were brought in and
used to save life and prop
erty. Hundreds of dwelling were
almost covered by the rising waters.
The whole railroad yards and switching
track district is under water, and there
has been immense damage to the round
houses and other railroad property.
Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha is da naged
to the extent of $4,000. That road, the
Illinois Central, and the Sioux City &
Northern enter the city by the
Floyd Valley, and all are stopped. AT
o'clock the water reached to Jen-
nings Street on Fourth Street. The
Hotel Fowle and the Boston Invest
ment Company's buildings up town
were surrounded with water. The
Union Depot was cut off IS early as 9
o'clock. All business was suspended.
The Floyd River was almost back to
it's banks at noon to-day, and. hundreds
of people are returning to homes which
they were compelled to abandon yester-
day. Score Of houses were swept from
their foundations and others badly
damaged. The damage to movables is
large where tie houses did not float off.
Fifty retail stores on the lower ground
were destroyed or badly damaged. The
Floyd River cut across a bend and
scooped out q great channel, starting in
about lower Eighth Street. All houses
but very few in this vicinity were ut
terly wiped out. The railroads and
stock yards will suffer the greatest indi-
vidual losses:
WRECKED AND BLOWN UP.