Union County courier. [volume] (Elk Point, Union County, D.T. [S.D.]) 187?-1913, 1896-12-03
Nun COUNTY COURIER
ELK POINT, Q. ..
D BUCHANAN BROS. PuBLrsHEss
SEEMS 10 BE DOOMED
PEOPLE ABANDON THEIR HOMES
At CHIPPEWA FALLS.
Only q Miracle Can Save the City
from Destruction Main Business
Portion OF the Town Under Water
No Lives Reported Lost.
Town Seems TO BE Doomed.
ELK POINT, .. D,

Town Seems to He Doomed.
Tuesday was day OF excitement and
anxiety at Chippewa Falls, Wis.,. The
worst OF the situation is the knowledge Of
the impending danger and the fact that
they are utterly helpless to stay or to avert
Il All hope Of breaking the gorge and
thus allowing the pent mp waters to subside
Il now abandoned. All efforts were de
rected towards removing household goods
and merchandise out Of the reach Of the
Hood. Every team In the city was
engaged In this work. Every resi-
dent and business firm in River Street
has moved out. The Chippcwa Lumber
and Boom Company's mill and yard are
under water and ill hope has been given
mp 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 that another gorge was forming thirty
miles above, and this greatly added to. the
alarm, Is in case it should break, nothing
could save the city from being swept away.
Reports Of very serious nature come
from down the river. The country every
where Is flooded, and there is report afloat
that thirty people were lost at Durand.
However, there has % yet been no con-
hrmatioa OF this, and It is not generally
credited.
Tho gorge continues to grow in extent.
Il p now over five miles long, and in many
places thirty to fifty feet high. It COM
pletely dams the river, and this Il what is
causing the rapid rise Of the river.
The heavy rains Of last week were followed
by sudden freeze, which quickly massed
the noaEing Ice IN the Chippewa, and the
swiftly running current continually added
70 It, til II reached it, present gigantic
proportions.
There d NO food ct Eau Claire, but this
met h causing the people ct that place
much uneasiness, - 1t indicates that the
water b being piled up a. by dam, above
them. The Ice pack at Badger Mills, half
WY between Eau Claire and Chippewa
Falls, h growing in extent, and everything
seems to indicate that the river is choking
up.
Reports from various portions OF the
Chippewa runs indicate deplorable con-
dition Of affairs. At the Flambeau farm,
ffteen miles above Chippewa Falls, an
other gorge has formed. The river has
Overnowed its banks and inundated the
country twenty miles ON either side.
Domestic animals have persisted by the
SCORE. Farms and farm houses are
flooded, and the property losses will
reach into the hundreds Of thousands.
Mayor Lindley ordered an explosion OF 500
pcunds Of dynamite, hut after 800 pounds
had been exploded the experiment was
abandoned . . failure.
Railroad officials who viewed the gorge
state that there Is not sufficient dynamite in
existence to blast channel for the river
through the frozen mass Of snow, logs and
Ice. The river has risen slowly up to 9
O'clock Tuesday night, and it is feared that
tbs worst ID yet to be encountered.