The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-12-03
ICE GORGE is STILL INTACT.
CHIPPEWA FALLS IN THE SHADOW
OF A GREAT CALAMITY.


and Devastation VIII Reign SUI
Dreme-People Moving Their Eff
fectS to Places of Safety All
Through the Chippewa Valley.
Eau Claire Threatened with An
nihilatiOn.
Chippewa Falls Wis, Dec. 2.-This was
moving day in Chippewa Falls, and along
the Chippewa valley down to the Missis-
sippi. The lower streets of the city We're
alive, and noisy with moving wagons and
all descriptions of drays. Everything
that could be drafted into service was set
at work, and the merchants of Spring
street, got to places of safety with speed.
At midnight the water, forced back from
the Chippewa ice gorge, was creeping up
the street toward the Wisconsin Central
station. This morning at clock the wa
ter was two feet above the tracks. An
hour later the tracks were abandoned
The water rose steadily, and at noon
Spring street, in its business section, WAS
lake. For several blocks further back,
hotels and business houses were chilly,
the water having extinguished all fires.
For ten miles below, the Chippewa river
is filled with ice gorged well to the bot
tom obstructing the flow, and back of it
the water is constantly and rapidly rising
TO the dam at the upper end of the city,
Below the gorge to Eau Claire, the water
| is receding, while reports from above the
dam indicate that the water on the Upper
Chippewa, Clambeau and other streams
Will soon go down.
There is a complete cessation of business
here and hundreds have been to great in
| loss ic
but the shadow of a great calamity lies
over the Chippewa valley. 1t is of record
| that fifty years ago an ice gorge formed
near here and that when 1t went out in
| the spring it swept the valley clean to
! the Mississippi There were no houses
! then, but great trees were cut Off banks
swept away and devastation followed. If
the weather is not just right from now
until spring, history may repeat itself,
not in an uninhabited wooded country, but
in valley lined with farming houses and
! rich, prosperous cities.
Eau Claire might be swept out of exist
| ence by such a flood and the loss would
! be terrible. All this is a possibility, per-
haps probability. If the weather should
moderate now, or should the force of the
| back water become so great as to loosen
| or break the jam of ice and logs, packed
almost inextricaby between this city and
Eau Claire, the calamity would come now.
/ win In6 mercury at Zero the SuIeclnR
| from the flood would be beyond the power
of imagination. Vast masses of water
are flowing up over the upper dam above
| the Weyerhauser mill, at the lower end
| of the city, bringing down broken ice in
| large quantities. Below the rapids, at
! the dam this water flows under the ice
! packed for miles, showing against the
bridges and backing into the town. The
water is twenty-five feet above the low
mark
The wagon bridge across the river to
| the south of the town seems almost inn
perceptibly in motion, and may be moved
! dangerously soon. The entire pack above
| the solid gorge has moved 1000 feet in the
| last twenty-four hours and attempts are
| being made to open a passage through it
| by dynamite.
Telegrams are being received here con-
tinually from persons who have friends in
the city, asking as to their condition. 1t
may be said there is no danger to life here
nor will there be.
! The city is in darkness tonight the gas
| plant having been long ago abandoned.
The Wisconsin Central has roped in it's
depot buildings to hold them
Late reports from Little Falls, where
! the Weyerhausers have the biggest dam
on the Chippewa, are that the jam there
is likely to hold. If it should not, or if
! the dam should be opened, probably great
head Of water at the-local dam would be
raised six or eight feet.
At II o'clock tonight the water is 2S
! feet above low water mark. Every place
Of business on Spring, River and lower
Bridge streets is being vacated
A report that the Little Falls dam had
given away to the pressure upon It has
reached the city. If it is fact, an enor-
nous body of water will be precipitated
upon the city about o'clock in the morn
! ing, as it win take that length of time
for the water to travel the forty miles of
river bottom between here and the points
indicated.
The river presents a terrible appearance.
The ice gorge is forty feet high, and back
ing the water on the city at the rate Of
foot per hour. Poor people are all suffer-
ing terribly from the cold.
Trempealau, Wis, Dec. 2.-Over 1,OO,0OO
feet of logs are fastened in the ice between
here and Eau Claire They came out OF
the Chippewa and Eau Claire rivers dur
ing the recent foods. The Mississippi
river at this point has risen seven feet
within the last four hours.
Durand, Wis Dec 2.--The situation on
the bottoms remains unabated. The terri
BILE food extends over miles in the low
country and the damage to live stock and
hay and grain aggregates thousands Of
dollars. One or two men refused rescue
and no word has since been heard from
them. About thirty people who were
brought here are being taken care of in
the county building
At this place the water is in every
street and many Easements of dwellings
and people are moving.
Should the dam break above Eau Claire
there is no telling the danger and dam
age that will ensue to Durand and vlcini-
ty. Stages west to Arkansas and Eau
Galne are abandoned and the wires to
these points are down. Business is prac-
tically at a standstlll.