Little Falls herald. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1889-1950, 1901-06-28
HEAVY LOSS OF III FE
DEATH LIST. OF THE WEST Viz
GINA FLOOD INcREAs-
!, ~ ING HOURLY. f - s.Ga Y +.
Details Coming in Slowly and Fully
Bear Out the Fears Earlier Enter:
tained-Believed Many Corpses Are
in the Piles Of Debris, Which in.
Many Instances Are Thirty Feet
Hiuh and Cover Half an Acre. =. +.

Many Instances Are Thirty Feet
High and Cover Half an Acre. =. F
Bluefield, w. Va, June 25-Details
of the fearful flood in the Pocahontas
Tat top coal region are slowly drifting
into this town, which is situated 70
miles south of =. the scene OF the
wrecked homes, and fully bear out
the fears early entertained as to the
havoc wrought by the storm. FIFTY
dead bodies have been found. Thou
sands of people are homeless and 1t IS
feared are without food, or at the best
with only food enough to last at most
several days. The work OF establish
ing railroad communication is being
pushed with vigor. There is little hope
of sending the sufferers succor until
railroad connection is again renewed.
Men are working clearing away the
debris and recovering the bodies OF
the dead. The list of dead is being
augmented hourly. The relief trains
are running between this city and the
stricken district and everything pos
sible is being done to relieve the suf-
fering and restitution.
Over 100 miles of track belonging to
the various coal operations are prac-
tically total loss. The rails are bent
and twisted like wires. Even the
heavy Orders of the collapsed rail
road bridges were rendered useless.
The force Of the flood is better known
when it is explained that by reason of
a long fill and low iron bridge some
distance up the valley the food was
damned and
Monster Body Of Water
accumulated, probably as large a vol
ume as Was contained in the famous
dam at Johnstown. When this CO.
struction gave way it let down a mon
ster volume of water on the villages
and mining camps below.
! The recovery Of bodies in the past
"a hours has not amounted to many.
The reason assigned is that the
corpses of the missing are hidden in
mammoth piles of debris. Some CT
these piles are 80 feet high and cover
in some instances as much as half
acre of ground, and it is the work of
days to search through them. It has
been suggested that the best plan
would be to burn these masses of de-
bris, but the friends of the dead are
loud in the denunciation of the idea.
$50 bitter is the feeling regarding this
matter that if it is attempted blood
shed will be the result. Up to night
some so bodies have been recovered,
yet the list of missing and reported
drowned is 249. It will probably
never be known how many have per-
ished. Passengers from a train that
was overtaken by the flood and COM
PEELED to stop have reached this city.
They were rescued from the train by
means Of ropes. Debris has washed
in the cars half way to the ceilings
and is piled about the outside,
Almost Covering Them Over.
A messenger arrived who traversed
the full length of the stricken district.
He reports that the destruction to
property is a great deal worse than
was apprehended, but that the loss Of
| life is not heavy.
At Algona number of miners
standing on high point in water
waist deep rescued % women and
children as they floated past. A num-
Der whom they threw ropes to were
so excited that they made no effort to-
save themselves. Thirty-four houses
floated down and were dashed to
pieces against the sides of the iron
bridge at North Fork Junction before
that structure collapsed.
Further details from the Clinch val
ley are to the effect that three mem
bers of the Vandike family are now
dead from injuries received in the
flood.
At Pounding Mill four persons were
drowned, John P. Tate, Mrs. Clara
Hoops and two children.
The town of Liberty Hill, in Taze-
we'll county, was swept away, only two
houses standing.