River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1892-05-26
DESOLATION
Marks the Path of the Floods-Sad Scenes
In the Submerged Districts Hundreds
Homeless and Poverty-stricken-A Fine
Opportunity for the CharitabIy-Inciined.


Marks the Path of the FIoods-Sad scenes
in the Submerged Districts Hundreds
Homeless and Poverty-stricken-A Fine
Opportunity for the Observation-Disclosures.
ST.. LOUIS, May 23.-Gov. Fifer is
seriously considering the issue of a
proclamation calling upon the people
of Illinois generally TO contribute to
the relief of sufferers by flood in
that state. Thousands of such
sufferers, including $50 at Belle
vile and $500 at Alton, are
not only in need of assistance for the
present, but will in numerous cases be
dependent upon others for weeks to
come, owing to loss of crops and homes.
and in some instances the loss of
their farming land, which was swept
away by the food. Gov. Fifer will inn
mediately obtain census of the suf-
ferers in each county where they have
taken refuge, in order TO determine the
exact number of persons who will be
burdens upon the various communities
/ for some time to come and to form
systematic plan of relief in which the
people throughout Illinois will probably
be asked to cooperate
The Mississippi and Missouri valleys
present a melancholy picture of ruin
and devaSt ation. For a distance of 10
miles above and below here the valley,
TO a width of from to Is miles, is one
vast waste of muddy water. On every
hand the roofs and upper stories of
farmhouses stand as melancholy land
marks of what We're once prosperous
farmers houses. Fences, barns and
1 hax-efonlyc 4l,o
work of years has been destroyed in
single week.
| To add TO the serious condition of the
/ beleaguered people, sickness has over
/ taken them to an alarming extent
They have been living in improvised
huts, tents and poorly constructed
| buildings and. as a result of exposure
| to the inclement weather of the past
week, many families are suffering
| from pneumonia and other sickness in
cidental to cold and wet weather.
ALTON, Ill, May 23.-For the last
seven days the relief committee has
labored increasingly. Its members
| dropped their business and gave them
selves up TO the work of the rescue.
They have had at their disposal, freely
rendered by their owners and captains,
1 the ferry boat Altonia, the steam pleas
ure yachts Ramble and Pasa, and for
part of the time the st. Louis Post-Dis-
patch boat Percy Swain, together with
forty-fve skiffs rendered by Brance
Dorsett, and several scows and fat
boats.
The instant boat load of sufferers
steamed TO the docks it was met by the
s Il. IL
homes to the unfortunates and pro-
vided them with food. But soon the
homes were all filled, and the Y. NJ. c.
A. gymnasium and parlors were thrown
open as temporary quarters. Freight
cars, barns, public halls, the city hall
and all available shelters were turned
into homes for the sufferers. Food and
other clothing were freely given.
it is impossible to estimate even the
immediate loss, but the most serious
phase of the trouble is not so much the
actual loss to the growing crop as the
fact that the distressed farmers, with
out a cent ahead i'm the world and with
no credit, will have to be supported by
public benevolence until next years
crop is harvested, and many of them
are ruined forever and will need gen
erous help TO place them on their feet
again.
SIOUX CITY, Ia, May %. With few
days warm sunshine Sioux City will
begin to feel herself again. Almost
nothing in the way of rebuilding homes
can be attempted until the flooded dis
trict becomes passably dry. At pres
ent mud reigns. Until Sunday it has
rained necessarily since the flood. Fri
day and Saturday were two days of
billiards, hail, sleet and wind, retard-
ing even the superficial salvage work.
A general roundup of the situation
places the dead at about twenty-five.
A careful estimate places the number
of those rendered temporarily homeless
by the food at 5000. The majority of
these have found shelter with friends.
The relief committee has probably 1000
app! ications on file. The committee
will accept outside aid, which has been
generously offered from many quar-
| tiers. Mayor Pierce and other leading
citizens have favored the declination of
outside aid, but at public meeting on
Friday night were induced to reverse
their course.
1t will take many weeks to restore
order out OF chaos in the flooded bot
toms. The direct losses to property,
while over 81 900, 900 all told. are but
fraction of the total indirect losses by
interrupted commerce. There is no
kind of business but will feel the blow,
and yet the people are hopeful, even
buoyant
Viewed from any point, the flooded
/ districts are indescribably desolate.
/ Houses are lying on their sides and the
! debris of things movable is strewn over
a surface of several square miles.
Fences, sidewalks and house supports
4 form general litter. Along the banks
of the Floyd tons of earth have been
torn away, showing the terrible force
of the waters that swept the valley
with fatal suddenness
Sudden and overwhelming as was the
Sioux City flood, its property losses are
small when compared with the general
flood losses throughout the state and
country. This rain-soaked corn country
is in danger of at least partial failure
of crops owing to the lateness of the
planting season. The total damages 20
farmers, to the railroads and TO the
general business interests of the coun-
try will reach an enormous total.
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OUT OF THE ORDINARY.