River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1897-08-05
STORM AND FLOOD.
The Heaviest Downpour of the Sea-
son, Saturday Night.
The TrimbeIle on a Tear.

son. Saturday Night.
The TrimbeIle on Tear.
The heaviest thunder storm of the
year fell upon us Saturday evening
about nine o'clock, and for nearly
three hours occupied the stage to the
exclusion of all other human interests.
The storm seemed to move upon
three distinct centers which came out
of the south and east, met somewhere
near the head waters of the Trimbelle
and South Fork, aud let fall living
terror upon the defenseless heads of
mortals. Lightning dropped out Of
the clouds in hot bolts. and rain fell
in such torrents that everything loose,
from road-dust to saw logs, was scoop
ed into the hollows or whirled away
on the numberleSs runnels that
sprang up in every gully and ravine.
The South Fork soon swelled TO a
roaring freshet and oyerran its banks
from Healey's TO the Glen. The road
bed at Burnett's was ripped up, rock
and planking, and the wire fences
strewn like ropes over the meadow.
by morning the South Fork at the
iron bridge had fallen two feet below
the highest level, but the Kinnickinnic
had just reached its height at about
eight O'Clock. 1t was probably four
feet above its usual level and shook
itself over the falls, the color Of coal
smoke, and with a voice like thunder.
The man with the kodak was duly on
hand and the sight seekers leaned
over the bridge rails At POmeroy's
the central support of the bridge
broke away and the road was blocked.
With the exception of some Slight
damage to James PERKINS, barn on
the County Line, the lightning did
little destruction.
RAILROAD DAMAGED.
Some rather serious wash-outs oc-
CURED on the railroad between here
and Ellsworth. the most important
being that at bridge 81, near Pixies
crossing, mile this side of Belden-
vile. The embankment was badly
washed away and the piling torn out,
so that the bridge was quite i'm
passable till Tuesday noon, when the
wrecker mad repaired the damage. In
| the meanwhile the regular train,
| blockaded behind the breach, made
| the run from Ellsworth to the dam
| aged bridge. where passengers express
and baggage, were transferred to a
| special that completed the regular
| no nf tho linz
BELDENvILLE's HIGHEsT.
At Beldenville the flood was prob
ably most severe, and the water rose
two feet and four inches higher than
was ever previously known. The
! Trimbelle, whose habitual role is that
| of understudy to Mary's little lamb,
put on her CATERS and a big frown
| Saturday night and tore across the
stage till she shook whole cubits out
of the landscape. Sawed lumber,
| cordwoOd, bridges and small buildings,
were tossed along on the curren t, and
| stfewn over the meadows or piled up
in solid havoc against the big trees or
In the Choked passages.
Fred IIicock 5 feed mill, machinery
and all, was picked up bodily and
strewn like kindling wood among the
big tire es, where the machinery lay
glistening in the sun on Monday.
Bake blacksmith shop was torn in
two ana Npled across the road, where
j. lay in a heap with its sign mo
Credit" telling of a tyrannical past
| and a diSreputable present. Three
car loads of Larson Bros. oak furni-
| ture stock were scattered along the
stream or lodged against the mills
| below. Piles of lumber were swept
up even to their foundation, and all
| the mill bridges and platforms were
ruined. The smoke stack on Larson
| Bros. mill was torn off by the guy
| rods and that on COOn's mill fell in
| the same way. Both mills were flood
ed above their engine rooms and their
| foundations badly shattered. COon's
| mill suffered most, from the continual
| Unfolding of heavy drift-wood from
above.
Nearly all the drying sheds, where
| the broad sheets of thin veneering are
piled up in tall stacks to cure. were
| flooded to a depth Of from one to four
| feet. To be saved all the wet lum Der
had to be taken from the piles and
exposed to the sunlight
The flood was not without some
alarm from personal danger. The
| thick of the freshet came and went in
about fifteen minutes near midnight.
just before the crisis. and with the
water already surrounding them, Cad
Coon, with the aid Of Jim Griggs and
his lantern, led his wife and little boy
out of their cottage to the village
street above. Returning to rescue his
dog watch and other things of value,
he found that the flood was before
him, and was obliged to roost in a
shed till morning, while the water
picked up his cottage--a temporary
affair built only for summer outings
and bore it some distance down
stream At the home of the Larson
brothers the food rose six inches over
all the first floor. and the lightning
flashes showed the black currents en-
tirely surrounding the house.