The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1894-05-02
NO HOPE LEFT.
How the Gauthiers
Met Death.
SLID INTO THE RIVER.
Carried Down Without
Warning.
ONE MOMENT OF SILENCE.
ONE MOMENT OF SILENCE.
When Moving Earth Had Choked
the Falls.
THEN THE SOLID EARTH SHOOK.
Details of the Strange Disaster Which
HaS Stricken a Canadian
Neighborhood.

ST. ALBANs. Quebec. via Lachevrotiere,
May 1.-Samuel Gauthier. farmer of St.
Albans, his wife, Emily, their sons. Joseph
and David Gauthier. and a brother, are
buried under hundred feet of earth by
the terrible landslide of Friday last. The
scene of the accident is eighteen miles
from the nearest telegraph station. and
this is the reason why news of this terrible
freak of nature was not given sooner to
the outside world.
For miles there is nothing but desolation.
Where the ST. Anne was once nearly a
mile wide it is now only narrow stream,
raging and surging in vain attempt to
break It's new bounds. Woods, houses and
cattle all are gone, and nothing is left but
barren ground of uneven height for six
miles back. Here and there the debris of
the Inflated farmhouses. granaries and
outhouses are seen in little heaps. tangled
up with upreoted trees and carcasses of
dead cattle. but most of it has been swept
into the river and carried long since into
the st. Lawrence and thence toward the
ocean.
The shores of the river are of peculiar
formation and rise $50 feet above the level
of the water, except for a mile or so,
where the slide occurred. Here for almost
seven miles back tie earth has gentle
declivlty nearly level with the river.
whose bed has risen at least sixty feet
What the scene must have been when the
earth began to move can be imagined.
The lower soil Of the river bank is COM
posed of clay, hoDeycombed by the water.
that for years back has filtered through
from the mountains.
1t was O'Clock ia the evening when
these claybanks caved in, and with
thousands of tons of sand on top slid into
the river. The farmers were just prepar-
ing for supper. The noise was terrific.
but was followed by a sudden calm, for
the roar of the falls had been smothered in
the crumbling earth. The ground, how
ever, kept on vibrating as from al earth
quake, and the farmers for miles around
rushed out of their houses for shelter,
which they did not know where to find
After the first panic was somewhat al
layed they went pack. but the river had
slowly risen. snow and ice. which is still
plentiful here. helping to strengthen It's
power. The water rose for miles. 1t was
fully 100 feet high when the earth began
again moving. first slowly. then faster, and
finally 90 fast that those who were fleeing
were thrown down. 1t is a miracle, in
deed, that no more human lives were lost.
The ground near the river slipped off
first and the first house was that OF the
Gauthiers, which shared the fate of the
pulpmils farther down by the first break
in the shore. There is not the slightest
doubt that the poor Gauthier family are
dead. When the landslide started the
house was seen to be on fire, and even had
they not been buried or smothered to death
they must have been crushed under the
immense quantities of earth that kept
sliding on top OF them. No one is really
certain as TO the exact spot where they
were buried and it is possible the bodies
may never be recovered.
1t Is difficult to exactly describe the state
of affairs. The debris of the houses and
the dead animals are situated in what was
before Friday the middle of the river.
Even to-day 1t is impossible to cross the
river. although an attempt will be made to
repair the bridge at st. Albans this after
noon. All the boats for miles around have
been swept away. Thousands of people
crowd the banks and point out to one an
other where the farmers or their friends
otond