Little Falls weekly transcript. (Little Falls, Morrison Co., Minn.) 1894-19??, 1896-04-17
HIGH WATER AT ST. CLOUD.
The Mississippi on a Rampage
Bridges and Other Inn
provements in Danger.


~ Mondays st. Cloud papers con-
tain extended reports Of the food In
the Mississippi at that place. The
following paragraphs are taken
from the Times of that day:
The heavy rains of the past few
DAYS showed their effect In u rapid
rise of the Mississippi river, which
began about three O'Clock Sunday
afternoon, and by midnight had
climbed fully five feet hetween st.
Cloud and Sank Rapids. while n
mean rise of nearly three feet was IT.
ported at the dam. This morning
the water gauge showed Is 9 as
against 10 2, the highest point ever
reached by the river, on April 2lst,
1894. ::
1t has been expected for several
DAYS that the ice would go out al
most any hour. as the river was
cleur below the dam. The recent
rains, it was thought, would grad
ually melt the ice, and although the
river was rising, as was to b. eA-
pected, no one suspected that 1T
would be attended with any damage.
Even yesterday afternoon when the
rising water forced down jain OF
logs from Sank Rapids, that came
crashing through the thick ice with
a dull and ominous crunching to
within a short distance above the
railroad bridge, no danger was ap-
pretended. The force of thejam asst
came tearing down the river driven
on by the great volume OF water that
was being held back, was terrific.
The ponderous logs that had lain all
winter in their icy beds were tossed
about like reeds, and the ice, still
several feet thick, was broken up and
splintered into great foes. On the
east side of the river the jam forced
it's way through the ice within few
hundred feet of the railroad bridge,
but on the west side, where the cur
rent did not appear to be SO swift, it
did not get as far. Occasionally the
mass of ice and logs would commence
to crunch and rumble. but there was
no further movement until about
midnight.
The second movement of the jam
threatened to sweep everything out
of the river. The policemen who
were on duty in the city say that it
sounded like distant thunder
storm. On the upper levee on which
are located a number of houses, the
people were awakened by the noise
only to find. that the water had
reached their doors. Consideration
reigned. One man put his wife on
his shoulder, and with a child in each
arm waded to dry land. In the
darkness and the terrific din that
was going on out in the river the
people feared the worst.
About 1.3O this morning the man
in charge of the water works station
found that they could no longer
keep up the pressure. Chief Engineer
Hull was sent for, and an investiga-
ton disclosed the fact that the jam
had broken the water main which
connects with the system, on the east
side, and is laid across the bottom
of the river, just above the st. Ger
main street bridge. Whether large
section of the pipe was carried away
or if there has been only small
break cannot be told at this time.
The fire department was called out
and the mains were connected by
means of hose between hydrants'
on both sides of the river, which was
laid across the st. German street
bridge.
A telephone message from Sartell's
this afternoon at one O'Clock stated
that the water was higher at that
point than it was two years ago
and that the river was a roaring
torrent. Although the stream had
been clear for some time ice and.logs
were again coming down very fast.
and this will only add to the gorge
at St. Cloud. At Sartell all the piling
in the river was taken out.
This afternoon the committee on
Mississippi river bridges deemed it
advisable to take some ecautionery
steps, and arrangements are now
being made to open channel IN the
river at the dam by blowing out the
ice and logs damned there with
dynamite.