The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-04-23
IT DID GREAT DAMAGE
Reports Coming In From the
Flood District.
REPAIRING THE TRACKS
Great Northern Took Excellent Care ofIts
Blockaded Passengers-FiguringO Out
the Loss Around Chinook-Hay
Crop Will Be Excellent.

Great Falls, April 22.-William J. Ca
sey, who has been visiting his father
in Oshkosh, Wis, for the past month,
returned to this city yesterday He was
on the second of the trains blockaded
on the Great Northern by the washouts
and he speaks very highly of the action
of the .oad in caring for the delayed
passengers When the train reached
Devils lake the passengers were in
formed of the conditions ahead of them
and We're given an opportunity to pro-
coed as far as the track would permit
If they so desired. To those who pre-
ferred to remain where they were,
where better accommodations could be
had, the company gave the privilege of
stopping at the hotel at the company's
expense, or Of dining on the train at
their own expense. The food furnished
by the railway in the first instance was
excellent. and many of the passengers
availed themselves of the opportunity.
Mr.. Casey says that the officials of the
road were exceedingly attentive, and
the passengers not only made no COM
plaint but had no cause for it. The
track was repaired in an incredibly
short time. In places there were miles
where the water had not only swept
but had flowed with power sufficient
to entirely overturn the track, so that
the rails, with the sleepers attached,
were f1oated off and either stood on end
like fence or were completely revers-
ed. All of this track was replaced and
stayed with piling and timbers or with
filling. Engineers are ordered not to
exceed speed of - miles an hour over
all such replaced track. Another wash
n jmDOS-
sibility with the new and larger Gull
verts which have been put in, and con-
sidering the fact that this has been one
year in 20 in unusually high water.
Reports of the incidents down the
road during the flood are coming in
now. Chinook was light set on a hill
and even the lower parts of that town
did not escape the flood. Many boats
We're built and many citizens developed
a skill in their use hitherto unguessed.
In one of the livery stables of the town
hay was carried into the barn in boat
and from that unloaded into the NOW,
while many a rancher whose stack of
hay had disappeared in the muddy tor
rents was obliged to obtain a supply of
baled hay, and this was brought out
from Chinook in boats. William Kerr
and Bert Knapp are among those who
can speak with authority of the peril
of those who go down to the deep in
boats. They started for Kerr's ranch,
some two miles from town, in that sort
of a vehicle, and just before reaching
their destination were caught by the
current and spilled into the icy flood.
They managed, however, to reach the
barn and there recruit their strength.
They found, also, that some of the pigs
which had been penned up in the struc-
ture had not been as fortunate and had
been drowned.
In the dry portion of Chinook the peo-
pie have had heaps of fun in hunting
jackrabbts. The flood drove these ami
mails into the high land, and as the
water rose the area was gradually di-
minished until they could be seen fire.
quently hopping through the streets.
Then the hounds were turned loose. and
there was succession of coursngs, to
the delight of the forcedly idle citizens
and the small boys. Others amused
themselves in recalling former navigat-
ing skill, and boating is likely to be an
amusement in Chinook for several years
to come. A party of Missourians who
arrived just prior to the flood put in a
ferry and did thriving business con-
Veying passengers from the foot Of Sta
ton hill to the passenger depot. The
depth of water at the latter place may
be imagined from mishap which came
to Mrs. d. c. Ross. She had returned
from Helena on lAe conpnatlOn tfaln,
which reached Chinook in the early
morning. In the darkness she stepped
from the platform into water which
reached her chin, and it was only by
the timely aid of others that she was
rescued from the pit into which she had
fallen.
A. S. Lehman is probably the heaviest
loser in Chinook. His lumber yard was
located in the lower part of town, and
at the start the fence went out, For