Omaha daily bee., 1896-12-02
RIVER RUNS THROUGH A TOWN
Citizens of Chippewa Falls Forced to
Leave Their Homes,
ICE GORGE NOT, AMENABLE TO DYNAMITE
Large Tract nr Country Inundated aud
ThuusnhhA Of Hcud of Live Stock
Dr6Wncd - Eau Cinire
III Danger.


CHIPPEWA FALLS, Wis, Dec. This
has been a day Of excitement and anxiety,
and tonight finds the inhabitants of this
little village in a state bordering on panic.
Tho worst Of the situation is the knowledge
ot the impending danger and OF the fac;
that they are utterly helpless to stay or to
avert 1t. Those whose houses have been
flooded have removed much of their house
hold goods and belongings to higher ground,
and are huddled together in the school
houses and other vacant buildings out oi
the path of the torrent that is sweeping
down several of tho main streets, All hope
of breaking the gorge and thus allowing
the pcnt-up waters to gradually substde Is
now abandoned All efforts today were di-
rected toward removing household goods
and merchandise out of the reach of the
flood Every team in the city has been en-
gagged in this work. Every resident ana
business firm of River street has moved out.
The Chippewa Lumber and Boom companys
mill and yard are under water and all hope
has vanished of saving the entire business
portion of the place from being submerged
and the water will soon reach the court
house, eight blocks from the river
A report from Little Falls was brought
in this morning that another gorge was form-
ing thirty miles above here and this greatly
added to the alarm. as in case 1t should
break nothing could save the city from beinS
swept away. Reports of very serious
nature come from down the river. The
country everywhere is flooded. The gorge
continues to grow in extent. 1t Is now over
five miles long and in many places thirty
to fifty feet high. 1t completely dams the
river, and this is what is causing the rapid
rise of the water here. The heavy rains of last
week were followed by sudden freeze,
which suddenly massed the floating ice a.
the Chippewa and the swiftly running cur
rent continually added to it until it reached
its present gigantic proportions. Below here
the Chippewa Is falling. There is no flood
at Eau Claire, but this fact is causing the
people at that place much uneasness, as
it indicates the water is being piled up as
by a dam above them. The ice pack a
Badger Mills, half way between Eau Claire
and Chippewa Falls. is growing in eXtent
and everything seems to indicate that the
river is choking up.
Reports from various portions of Chip.
pewa run indicate a deporable condition OF
affairs. At the Flambeau farm, fifteen mile
above this city. another ice gorge has
formed. The river has overlowed its banks
and inundated the country twenty miles on
either side Domestic animals have perished
by the score Farms and farmhouses are
flooded, and the losses will reach into the
hundreds of thousands. These reports
are meager and 0uncoTrOborated but ii Is
SAFE TO estimate lnat at least oODj nOfSeS
cows and hogs have met death in the food
At Chippewa Falls the river Is fully three
quarters of a mile wide and its surface l.
covered with anchor ice to a depth varying
from ten to thirty feet. The most stub
born resistance offered by the obstruction Il
in that portion of the river between thc
wagon bridge and the Central railroad
bridge, about half mile in length.
Today Mayor Lindley ordered an explosion
of 500 pounds of dynamite, but after 300
pounds had been exploded the experiment
abandoned as a failure. Railroad Of
1cials who viewed the gorge stated that
there is not, sufficient dynamite obtainable
to blast q channel for the riyer through the
frozen mass of snow. logs and ice. The
river has risen slowly up to o'clock to-
night. rgsnS a
EAU CLAIRE IN GREAT PERIL.
CHICAGO, Dec 1-Tldngs OF calamity
threatening villages and towns in the Chip |
pewa river valley of Wisconsin were con-
frmed by passengers and crews OF incoming |
trains today. According to them, the city |
of Eau Claire is in the shadow of a big |
ice gorge which threatens to give way at |
any moment and precipitate a food the |
inhabitants OF the valley. Express Messen- |
ger Asbur says that the center point of the |
danger is at Eau Claire. He continued:
"An express agent, whom l relieved at |
Chippewa Falls told me that a great ice |
gorge fifty feet high and five miles long |
has formed near the lower part of Eau |
Claire This gorge is forming a reservoir |
of water which is packed with lumber, !
driftwCod and foes The only thing which |
keeps the flood back Is the ice gorge. When |
that gives way something awful will happen. |
Families are moving away and carrying |
their household goods to high land. The |
water has risen everywhere Four feet of |
water covers the Wisconsin Central tracks |
and it is rising at the rate Of six inches an !
hour. The bottom lands are covered with |
water and a great less of stock is said to |
have been reported by the farmers. Cellars, |
where supplies are kept. have been com |
pletely filled with water. | near that the |
river has already reached the twenty-foot |
mark and is rapidly rising"
The Chicago Milwaukee & ST. Paul has |
suspended its service through the Chippewa |
valley, it being utterly impossible to get a |
train through the flooded country Logs |
and limbs from trees are strewn many feet |
high on the tracks. On some low grades |
tho water rises many feet above the ties |
and high enough to eXtinguish the loco |
motive fires. No effort will be made to |
run trains on this division until the road |
structures are clear and examined.
Train crews report that an engine and |
coach sent out to the low lands below |
Durand came back with two score of men,
women and children on board, who were |
driven from their homes by the food and |
were found nearly dead from exposure and |
cold, The engineer said he could not finish |
the trip on account of the rising water,
burlington Drldge at chippewa is reported
by train crews to be impossible. Reeds |
landing, above Alma, is said to be totally |
covered with water and traffic is effectually |
stopped Local railway officials received in
formation that the Chicago, Burlington &
Northern railroad Is also seriously handi-
capped by the Ice gorge and rising foods.
Passengers on the Wisconsin Central train
which arrived from the north at noon re-
port that the water is already five feet deep
in the streets@of Chippewa Falls and that
dynamite is beingfuse in an endeavor to
break the gorge. SD
INUNDATI0N is GENERAL.
MILWAUKEE, 20 Dec. WISCONSIN Cen
tral officials receiyed advises from Chippewa
Falls tits morning TO the effect that the
water had reaeheds to within three feet OF
the falls with Indications that by this even
ing the gorge you'd be as high as the falls.
The water hastfeceded from the Wisconsin
Central tracks,. but these are forty feet
above the river the subsistence is no sign
that the lower part OF the city of Chippewa
Falls is not spfetlng According to the re-
ports no great damage has resulted in the
city up to the present time, but the danger
is far from tTfgl1yer
a special u afe Evening Wisconsin from
Chippewa Falls says: The situation in Chip
pewa Falls isSgfeSmg more serious every
mi Thtss r,,a porpa yvh