The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1896-12-02

Waters Already Invade Cities
That May. Be Swept Out s.
j.. of Existence. i: :.
People Fleeing From Their Homes and
Moving Everything; Portable :.
to- the: Hills.


CHIPPEWA. FALLS, Yrs, Dec. T.
The Chippewa River is gorged at twenty.
points tonight, and the backing up Of the.
water is becoming quite alarming At
this point the water has crept up from the
bridge to the postoffice, two blocks back
of the river, and the river is now twenty
tour feet above the low-water mark. The
Wisconsin Central tracks are covered with.
water two feet deep and the road uses the
Omaha tracks, the. transfer being made at
Eau Claire. Duncan Greek, tributary.to
the Chippewa River here, is also doing
much damage, as the water is backing up
in it from the river. The Chippewa Lnm-
Der and Boom Company's: mills and lum
beryards are ali under water. aud every
resident and business firm on River street
has moved out. The very latesr.is that an
ice gorge is forming Just below. the falls.
1t is the opinion OF river men that this
will be the saving OF the city; thatit will
scatter the water. ON the lowlands bove
the falls and give THE water below the
falls chance to recede.
At Flambeau farm the river ran over its
banks, destroying 300 head of livestock
and running a dozen farms and buildings
1t is feared that the course of the FLYER
will be changed, throwing it directly on
the town and completely inpndating it.
In that event heavy loss of property and
life cannot be ayerted: The bottom lands
are covered with water and great loss of
stock has beer reported. by farmers In
making It's way past the region where the
food is raging. train on the. Wisconsin,
Central. running from st. Paul to Chicago,
lost more than two hours. Finally it sue
ceeded in reaching Irvine station, small
place near Chippewa Falls. AS far as a
mile on every side of fhe town, incl uding
Irvine station itself. the water has reached
such a height that men and animals can
no longer venture out with. safety. :.
From 700 to 1000 men were at work, and
the scene was dotted by lights of lanterns
used in the work 1t was decided BY the
residents that the use of dynamite might
save their homes and the town from. de-
struction. Tonight sticks.of the strong
powder were exploded in the endeaVor to
break the ice gorge. Meanwhile wagons
loaded with household goods and the
portable possessions of residents were
being hauled away TO places of safety in
the woods to the east of the city. =.
The flood in the Wisconsin River con-
tinues, and at Granite Heights, ten miles
north of. Wausau, the Chicago Milwaukee
and st. Paul tracks are under water for
some distance. This water is thinly
sheeted with ice, which is not strong
enough for transfer, and yet is thick
enough to seriously impede any attempt
to clear the track. No part of the track is
h,,k -
safe to attempt to rim through the water.
There is "a total suspension of railway
traffic on the Wabasha and Durand sec
ton of the same road.
DURAND, WIS, Dec. /. The ice gorge
which begun at ". est Newton, on the Mis-
sissippi, and gradually extended up the
Chippewa since Friday has reached Round
Hill, three miles below this city. The
eighteen miles of the Chippewa below
Round Hill, the Chicago, Milwaukee and
St.paul Railroad track, is completely sub
merged.
So far as known no lives have been lost,
but those living on the Chippewa bottoms
have been rescued with difficulty. Sew
eral families on the Buffalo County side
were driven from their homes by the form
ing OF gorge at Plum Island. Scantily
dressed they waded through the ice and
water to a high place on the railroad
track, from which point they were rescued
by relief train from this place. Several
OF the party were badly frozen.
At Flambeau the river ran over its
banks, destroying 300 head of livestock
and running dozen farms and buildings.
PIERRE, S. D., Dec. Later storm
returns from. the range country are not so
favorable as those which came in earlier.
While there were but w'cattle lost the
storm has proved to be q serious one for
sheep men. Henry Seville, rancher,
came in this afternoon and reports passing
14O0 dead sheep which belong to Mon
tana man.. So far as has been learned at
least 1000 are lost, with a large part of the
sheep range to hear from.