Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1901-06-26
FrightfuI CatacIysm Devastates
Elkhorn Valley, West
Virginia.
TWO MINING TOWNS DESTROYED
"A Number of Smaller Towns Suffer
Heavily from the Torrent of
Rushing Waters.
keystone the Greatest Sufferer-Cloud.
burst Follows Many Hours of
Heavy Rainfall,

New York, June 24.-Mayor Land,
of Bluefields, w. Va, wires as follows:
1T is estimated that 200 lives were
lost in the Elkhorn flood. The dam
age to the Norfolk and Western Rail-
road company is estimated at half a
million dollars, and to the coal compan-
fes and individuals at two million dol
lars"
Roanoke, Va, June 24.-From 100 to
200 lives are lost and property esti-
mated at several millions of dollars is
destroyed by a food which swept
down the Elkhorn valley from Ennis
to Vivian in West Virginia. The min
ing towns of Keystone and Vivian are
practically destroyed and q number of
smaller towns have suffered heavily.
About thirty miles Of track of the Nor
folk and Western railroad are swept
AWAY, with scores of freight and box
cars and number of passenger
coaches. Some of the finest houses
in the valley and hundreds of miners
cabins are gone.
For several days heavy rains had
swollen all the mountain streams.
which poured into the Elkhorn river,
causing 1t to, rise to a torrent. Then
a cloud-burst came early in the morn
ing In the neighborhood Of Vivian,
which made every stream a raging riv-
er, carrying everything before it. The
Hood was at its worst from to IL
O'Clock in the morning. The great
mass of water started down the valley
with a roar that was heard above the
storm.
swept Everything Before It.
1t swept everything before it.
trees, telegraph poles huge powders,
whole buildings, railroad ties, steel
rails, box-cars, and coal sheds. Into
the mass of tangled wreckage Of the
food were swept helpless men, women
and children.
The little town of Keystone, with a
population of about 500 seems the
greatest sufferer, practically the en-
tire town being washed away. This
town is the principal one in the Poca-
hontas coal fields and is located near
its center. 1t was to a great extent
headquarters from which the mining
was also the only place in the field
where whisky could be purchased. At
this place there were some twenty-five
to forty saloons, all of which were
washed away but one. The report
comes that the mining population are
now occupying the banks of the
streams below, catching the merchan-
disc and barrels of whisky and beer
as they float down.
A great number Of the coal and coke
points throughout the Pocahontas are
reported practically destroyed, and are
in some instances entirely washed
away. At Landgraf the beautiful
home of General Manager Ord is re-
ported gone, but his family is said to
be safe. Between ElkhOrn and Vivian
yard 100 cars are said to be washed
from the tracks, and many Of them
were carried down the streams.
~ BeIated Train Brings News.
1t was $50 o'clock In the morning
when the passenger train from the
west over the Norfolk and Western
railroad which is due here at 100 p.
m. reached Roanoke. When the train
came In there were many people at the
station who had waited anxiously all
night for the belated newscarrier from
the devastated coalfields Of West Vir-
ginia.
Among those who came in on this
train, and who had been in the storm,
was a prominent business man OF RO-
anoke, several railroad men and a
woman and two children. They came
direct to Roanoke from Vivian, and
were compelled to walk distance Of
eleven miles from that place to the
small town of Ennis, where they were
enabled to get train for this city.
These passengers declare that the
number of deaths has been exagger-
ated, and feel confident that not more
than 100 people have lost their lives,
though they cannot say with any GER
tainty as to the number. The noun
tain districts lying back from the rail
roads probably have suffered heavily
and the exact loss of life will not be
known for several days.
A railroad man who has been work
ing at Vivian told correspondent that
the rain started last Friday night and
continued for some time In modera-
ton, but shortly after midnight the
heavens seemed to open and poured
forth great volumes of water.
Passengers Rescued with Ropes.
When the cloud burst over the town
of Vivian there was passenger train
standing In the railroad yards. About
forty passengers, of whom three were
women, were in the cars. The water
rose rapidly and soon was over the
trucks of the cars. Houses and cars
were being washed about before the
eyes of the frightened passengers.
Ropes were thrown to the cars and
the male passengers caught them and
waded through the water, which was
now waist deep, to places OF safety
around the coks ovens on the adjoin-
ing hill The women were too much
frightened to get into the water and
were placed on the tender OF the en-
CINE, where they were safe. Other
portions of the railroad yards were
washed out and 100 bar cars were
wrecked.
The house In which the section mas
ter at Vivian lived was washed away.
A young son of the section master rode
on driftwood for four miles and was
then lodged in a tree, from which he
was rescued. A colored section hand
who was In the section masters when
the food waters struck the building
Mas drowned. The rain ceased fall