The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1900-04-08

Gave Way-Fourteen Men In the
Much Loss of Life Is Feared.
AUSTIN, Tex. April This city is to-
| night in pitch darkness with a raging riv-
| er. one mile wide and swollen far beyond
| its natural banks. soaring and surging
! through all the lower portion of town,
having spread destruction and death in It's
| wake. In addition to the vast loss TO
| property interests, 1t is calculated that
between thirty and forty lives have been
| sacrificed and the reports coming in from
| the tributary country tonight do not tend
| to improve matters. The flood is not un-
| like the disastrous Johnstown food. some
years ago. in that raging river. already
swollen far beyond its capacity, bore too
| heavily upon an immense dam spanning
| the river. breaking it and letting loose a
reservoir of water thirty miles long,
half a mile wide and sixty feet deep, to
| aid In carrying destruction down the val
leys of the Colorado river.
The Great Dam Gives wny.
The great dam in the Colorado river
gave way at noon today from the enor-
| nous pressure OF water and debris and
! with a roar and crash swept the valley
below the city. wrecking the immense
| light and power plant and drowning eight
| workmen.
Following is list of the known dead.
| including those killed in the power house:
| FRANK KINCET.
FRANK KINNEY.
WALTER FLOWER.
WALTER JOHNSON.
ALFRED JOHNSON.
FRANK FITZGERAED.
WALTER BLOSSMAN.
JOSEPH NEWMAN.
DICK MORRIS, colored.
! JOHN PROES.
| CHARLES BURCHARD.
Six negroes.
stormed since Wednesday Last.
/ Last Wednesday night It began to rain
| very hard at this place. the storm ex-
/ tending north of here along the water
1 sheds of the Colorado river, The precipi-
! tation continued until this morning. the
| downfall averaging six inches within an
| hour All this vast quantity of water all
along the watersheds OF the Colorado
river, rapidly swelled the current until at
/ q ClNth NHaS hilk Altt Aif'tF "''Sh
| had been rising steadily since last even
ing. was a raging torrent having risen
/ forty feet within ten hours
The Dam In Imminent Danger.
After daylight this morning It became
! evident that the situation was serious.
/ The river began TO rise so rapidly that It
| became evident that the dam, power house
! and contents. costing N5o,ooo were in
I IT..
/ OF the situation. small frame houses, trees
/ and debris OF every description COM
menced descending the river and piled up
/ against the upper face OF the dam. This
/ weight was augmented every moment. un-
tu 10y 10 o'clock there was mass Of
/ debris lodged against the dam which
/ threatened the safety OF the structure.
/ Ia addition. millions of gallons Of water.
/ muddy from tts long Journey. was whirl-
ing and plugiug 10 the slxty-toot fall. and
/ Il was eviden, that no wall could with
stand the Immense pressure
The Dam Bursts.
/ The crisis came shortly after Il o'clock,
/ when suddenly, with a report like the roar
( of the ocean. a Ervat wedge. twenty Ave
/ feet htgh. - ,eet wide and arout eight
/ reet thick. rolled out OF the center session
/ of the dnm down tho face ot the sixty
foot fau dcsa into tho river below This
! left a hansirs gap in the very middle %
1 tha dam. ,5fuueh which the debris and
( Vai,r ner,s'y poured. Vhuo the flood. al
ready 5letlk. was threatening everything
. in its aAta.
Wild Excitement In the city.
f Ta, released water poured inu the
+ postr house. ceteh.ae eight employees at