Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1900-04-24
Since Thursday Night, Water Has
Fallen About Five Feet.

since 1881. Water continued to raise
all day Wednesday, three inches an
hour, and in the afternoon the ST. Paul
r. r. tracks, near the Kickbusch Roller
mills, were al inundated and water
commenced to make its way down
Shingle street, finding an opening where
the railroad track passes under the
high bridge. Geo. Morisette, with a
crew of men, placed timbers across this
opening and sand was thrown in, suffic-
lent to prevent any possible overflow at
this place. 1t was well that this precau
tion was taken for the water raised about
eight inches above the tracks. The
water covered the bed of the railroad
bridge leading to the Barker & Stewart
island, also the wagon bridge, and both
were heavily loaded down, while the
former was saved the latter went out
on Thursday night.
At the McEachron roller mills, it was
necessary to load down the railroad
which runs out west of the mill along
ILie uOtlH SIdc. AHC COOPCtdSC SHOlI
had to be abandoned, and for awhile it
looked rs if there might be some dam
age to the guard lock- Slight damage
was done to the paper mill dam at Bro
kaw, and it was necessary to throw
every ything possible, wide open to let
out the water, to prevent anything more
IL Il
Wednesday and remained closed until
yesterday, on account of the water get
ting into the basement.
1t was necessary to close the saw
mills of the Alexander Stewart Lumber
Company and Barker & Stewart. The
Barker Il Stewart island was entirely
covered with water, and for time it
thought there would be large loss of
lumber, but active work prevented.
What is known as the "Beebe bridge"
came near being swept away. Logs be-
longing 70 the Alexander Stewart Lum-
Der Company, some 100000 had been
dumped on the bank of the river above.
The rain and rising river broke the
rollways and the whole mass rolled
into the river, between and 6 o'clock,
Wednesday morning. Quite a number
of the logs got away and went on their
way to Stevens Point; a jam was
formed against the bridge which saved
the balance, but the bridge was badly
wrecked, the two centre spans having
been pushed down stream about two
feet and raised up fully foot Further
damage was prevented by fastening
cables to the bridge and tying them to
piles above.
All of the islands below the city were
oyerfiowed and the Alexander Stewart
Lumber Company had some lumber
washed away from their piling grounds.
The C. & N. w. r. R. Co. had filed
in their depot grounds, on Clarke's
island, making that part of the river
known as the Devils Elbow" even
and symmetrical They figured that
Big Bull falls was pretty tame affair,
so did not take the precaution of put
ting in retaining wall now the Devils
Elbow is there in all its pristine beauty
and the company's tons of rock and top
dressing, are snugly tucked away in the
rocky bed of old Big Bull falls.
Water fell nearly as rapidly Thursday
night as it had raised on Tuesday,
showing that much of the raise was due
to the opening of the Tomahawk
and other large dams along the river.
The loss here will reach six or eight
thousand dollars, due to causes above
stated and to the giving way of booms,
piles, etc, of the Wausau Boom Com
pany.
All of the streams in the county were
way up and on many, quite consider
able damage was done. Over on Little
Rib, John Youles says the stream was
the highest he had ever seen it. From
the bridge which spans the stream,
nearly to the hill to the west, was a
mass of water The road was badly
washed out, and impossible to only
those who were we'll acquainted with it,
and to them an attempt to pass over
was extremely dangerous. This proved
so to the mail carrier, Henry Wescott
He was bringing the mail in and when
he reached about the centre where the
water was very swift, his wagon tipped
over and he lost a buffalo robe, blanket
pair of shoes and several other articles
but worst of all, nearly lost his life
He hung on TO the u. S. mail, LOST
his footing and got into deep water
Jacob Kolter and others who live near
there came to his assistance, but had q
hard time to save Wescott and his team
Several mishaps happened to the other
farmers but no lives were lost. The
water reached nearly to where the
Single steam saw mill used to stand
The banks of the Eau Claire over
flowed aud washed out 4 part of the
road between the foot of the hill and
Schofield; travellers found it necessary
to follow high ground wherever they
could
At Mosinee good many logs escaped
but the damage done to the Desser
mill, guard lock, etc, was slight Th'
floor of the saw mill was flooded about
two feet.