The Madisonian. (Virginia City, Mont.) 1873-1915, 1896-07-18
'TW ASIAN AWFULSTORM
VISITED MADISON COUNTY
LAST SUNDAY
And Did Not Overlook Our Neighbours
Frank Lemoine Drowned Near White
ands Of Dollars -WashOut the Pony
Branch of the Northern Pacific.

ands of Dollars Washout on the Pony
Branch of the Northern Pacific.
Last Sundays storm was the most
furious of its kind ever visiting Madi-
son county Or southern Montana. 1t
was attended with great destruction of
property which in the aggregate, will |
amOnnt to thousands of dollars. Bad |
asit was here it was much worse up the
Beaverhead near Dillon. where bridges
and culverts were washed away and |
the road left in miserable condition.
Sundays stage from Virginia did not
reach Dillon, being stopped by a
freshet which had carried away the
bridge across deep gorge about 10
miles this side of Dillon. The driver,
Elmer Page. unhitched his horses and
managed to ford the freshet. and TAX
ing the mails with him, reached Dillon
little later than scedule time. For
tunately there were no passengers.
Nearly every bridge between Dillon
and Point of Rocks has been washed
away.
The storm covered a broad area. 1t
reached beyond Jefferson county on the
north, to Lima on the south and away
back into the Centennial valley coun-
try. In the Madison country it was
not quite so severe, but further east it
ragged furiously. Several bridges and
about 1000 feet of track were washed
out of existence on the Northern Paci-
. fic, between Norris and Sappington.
, Every dry gulch was torrent.
As rule, the damaged property in
( Madison county is confined to farmers
r who can i'll afford tie loss: Tender
: growing crops were beaten down by
: hail, and the storm king overlooked
: nobody.
Frank Lemoine. a young man who
: is interested in placer property near
r Whitehall with Henry Filing, was
2 drowned. The circumstances sur
8 rounding his death have not been
q learned.
Cloud bursts were numerous A
. heavy one visited Granite. The straw
J. berry crops OF George Bottcher ant
|. Mrs. Robinson were totally destroyed
: the loss in each instance being severa
+ hundred dollars. Peter Geer and Bel
l. Williams are also sufferers.
v The Chinese companies operating IL
T. placers near the mouth OF Alder gulcf
i were badly damaged. Their location
n is such that they received the full ben
T. eft of Water gulch cloudburst and thei
is diggings were damaged to the exten
% of $4,000, according to the statement o
n their manager. At this point Aide
+" gulch is said to have been a river
D. One Chinaman narrowly escapes
q drowning. He was asleep in his cabi1
q when the food struck him, and his frs
a knowledge of the water was when
,t covered his bed and awakened him
le He managed to get out Of the cabi
away down stream. A number OF tn
Chinese cabins were washed away.
Va The torrent in Dry Hollow, nea
Frank Redfern's ranch was seven G
M eight feet Some years ago som
=, placer work was done, near Redfern
place, with a dry rocker. When Tn
water had subsidized, it was foun
:, that it had washed away the sand
-. bed rock, and several coarse nugge
- were picked up on bed rock by VIII!
49, Dupuis and the Redfern boys. One (
N these nuggets weighed nearly a dolla
~ ~ At Twin Bridges the storm was
gentle one, being just sufficient to il
vigorate the musquitos, upon who
- the dry weather was telling. 1t
thought that with this moisture ar
with what nutrition they can get fro
the natives, they will manage to g
through the summer.