The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1900-04-08
Adding immense Volume to the Al
ready Swollen Stream.
MANY LIVES HAVE BEEN LOST,
While the Destruction to Property is
Enormous-Austin is in Complete
Darkness and Without Water
works-Houses, Drowned Cat
tie and Other Debris Float
ing Down Swollen River.

AJJSTON, TEXAS, April This city
is tonight In pitch darkness with a
raging river one mile wide and swollen
far beyond its natural banks, roaring
and sursing through all the lower por-
tions of the town, having spread de-
struction and death in its wake In az
dition to tho vast loss to properly IN
terests, it is calculated that between
thirty anl forty lives have been sacrihced'
and the reports coming in from the
tributary country to-nlSht 90 not .eiio
to improve matters.
The flood is not unlike the disastrous
.Johnstown flood some years ago, IN that
a raging river, already swollen FAR De-
yond its capacity. bore too heavily upon
an immense dam spanning the river mere,
breaking it and letting loose a reservoir
of water thirty miles long. half a%mile
wide and sixty feet deep, to aid in carry
ing destruction down the valleys of the
Colorado River.
The great dam in the Colorado River
gave way at noon to-day from the
enormous pressure OF water and debris,
and with roar and crash the river swept
the valleys below the city, wreckng the
immense light and power plant and
drowning eight -workmen. Following Is
a list of the known dead, including those
killed In the power house:
Frank Pincet, Frank Kinney, Walter
Flower Walter Johnson, Alfred Johnson.
Frank Fitzgerald, Walter Blossman.
Joseph Newman, Dick Morris tcolored).
John Proes, Charles Burchard. Six
negroes.
RAGING TORRENT.
Last Wednesday night it began to rain
very hard at this place, the storm extend
ing north of here along the watersheds
T1,o "a
continued until this morning, the down
fall aggregating six inches. All this vast
quantity of water along the watersheds
OF the Colorado River rapidly sWelled tne
current until at s o'clock this morning
the river. which had been rising steadily
since last evening. was raging torrent,
having risen forty feet within ten hours.
After daylight this morning 1T became
evident that the situation was serious.
The river began to rise so rapidly that 1t
was evident that the immense dam and
all the power-houseS and contents, cost
ing one and ore-.lalf million dollars, were
In imminent danger. To add to the ter
ror of the situation small frame houses,
trees and debris of every description. In
VARYING quantities, began descending the
river and ptlirg up against the upper
face of the dam. This weight was au-
mented every moment. until by 10 O'Clock
there was a mass OF debris lodged aSalnst
the dam, which threatened the safety or
the structure.
THE DAM BROKE
In addition millions OF gallons OF water,
muddy from it's long journey, was whlri-
ing and plunging to the sixty-foot ran,
and it was evident that no wall could
withstand the immense pressure
The crisis came shortly after IL O'Clock,
when suddenly. with roar like the roar
of the ocean. the great wedge twenty-five
feet high, five hundred feet wide and about
eight feet thick rolled out OF the centre
of the dam down the face OF the sixty
foot depth into the river below. his lefr