Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1892-05-26
SCORES OF LIVES LOST.
Awfal Sweep of the Flood at Sioux City,
Ia.--One Hundred Said 20 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 Hood that is sweeping
down the valley OF the Missouri and
through the bottom lands lining the
course of the Floyd. Every where
along the path of the great wave, five
feet high and extending from shore /
shore and overspreading the lowlands,
houses have been swept away, barns
| and farm buildings carried off,
and whole families whirled Off
| on the tide, some to sink and others to
| be tossed about down the stream,
cinging to fragment of timber or the
wreck of some building. Thus num-
| beys 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 80 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 lif-
teen bodies that swept under it. Matt
Roe, an old sailor, saved twenty
eight lives. A woman who man
aged to wade to a 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 q
fourteen-foot rise was coming. In
station. When the wave reach
water overspread the banks Of the
river to depth Of three feet ana
threw mist of foam before it. In a
| few minutes the water had risen
above the first floors of those
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 tothe 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 isalmost indie
scribable. The rush of waters came
down across the bottoms rs the over
flow of the river ut first flowed out
on the east banks. At 1880 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 rendlng
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 and out
buildings were taken with the flood.
The cattle-yards at the time mentioned
above were mostly intact, but the south
| portion was floating, with the evident
| possibility that it would soon follow the
hog-pens and sheds.
The Floyd River runs through the
| city. When the great 1uass 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 vast lake
So rapid was the rise of the tide that
great numbers were unable to es-
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 lie 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.
The round-house of the Chicago, ST.
Paul, Minneapolis 4 Omaha is damaged
to the extent of $4,000 That road, the
Illinois Central, and the Sioux City 4
Northern enter the city by the
Floyd Valley, and all are stopped. Att
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 as early as 9
o'clock. All business was suspended.
The Floyd River was almost back to
| its banks at noon to-day, and hundreds
| of people are returning to homes which
| they were compelled to abandon yester-
day. Scores 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 bend and
scooped out 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-
yidual losses.