Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1901-08-24

| Tremendous storms on the Gulf OF
| Mexico sent devastating tidal wave
the Gulf States, sweeping away lives and
property, backing up the rivers, inundat-
| ing thousands of acres of low land and
isolating important points. The damage
to property is extremely heavy, and it Is
| feared that the loss of life will be appal-
| ling. Communication was cut Oft with
! districts where the chances for fatalities
were greatest.
Mobile, Ala, Thursday night was COM
| pletely isolated. Great damage has been
done there along the water front, and in
the lower part Of the city. What loss OF
| life there has been in Mobile can only be
| conjectured. At 4:3O o'clock in the after
| noon the Western Union Telegraph office
| there was abandoned. About that time
| there was three feet of water in the
| operators room.
The Associated Press operator made
| his way to the operating-room in a boat.
He took a position on top of the switch
! fee and succeeded in detaching his wire
from it's place on the board. Then by
| dint Of labor and through contortion of
| the body be sent the following message:
Gam on top Of the switchboard here
with a lineman. The water is over three
| feet deep in this room, and it is still ris-
ing. The wind is blowing at the rate of
fifty miles an hour, and we look for
dic.
| trict is deserted"
Here the wire failed, and nothing more
could be gotten from the plucky fellow,
though repeated efforts were made
A report from Mobile received over
railroad wire in the afternoon said that
the mill of the Dixie Lumber Company
| was carried away and several employees
were killed. In and near New Orleans
vast stretches Of land are under water,
there is much suffering among the poor
in the flooded districts, and along the
Mississippi River.
Reports from points in Alabama and
Texas show that a hurricane of unusual
fury devastated an immense strip OF
country. 1t was regarded as probable,
from the nature Of the bulletins, that not
| only have railroad and factory properties
been extensively damaged and traffic Grip
pied, but that hundreds of people have
been drowned.
1t Is also feared that thousands of
acres of rice fields have been laid low by
the wind or covered deeply by the water.
There was a general tie-up along several
branches of railroad lines, the Louisville
and Nashville being particularly hard hit.
Shipping interests were also imperiled,
and there were many stories that q num-
Der of ships had gone down, all on board
being lost.
Heavy Loss of Life.
The storm which swept the gulf coast
from Pensacola and moving westward
during Wednesday and Thursday pros
trated telegraph and telephone wires to
such an extent that news from the outly-
ing section was hard to get. The great
est fears were entertained for the safety
Of the people living at Port Eads, which
Is at the mouth of the Mississippi River,
and for the ships that started for sea just
before the storm began.
The wires to Port Eads were pros
trated Tuesday night ct o'clock. tt
storm which swept chat section is de-
hcribed as a regular tilal wave, s;m;la:
to the one which resulted in such awful
loss of life in 1893.
The house of a man named Golden
half mile above the quarantine station,
was swept away, and the fifteen mem
bers of the family, including nine chill
dren, were drowned. The quarantine
buildings were badly damaged, but no
one injured.
The government boat General Reese Is
believed to have been lost. Capt.
OBrien's house was swept away, but he
was on the boat which was believed to
be outside. The pile driver at Port
Eads was sunk. The steamboat Buras
was driven ashore near the lighthouse,
and later it was reported that she had
sunk. Her crew We're said to have been
saved. The tugboat Velasco went down
to Pass POutre, which is the eastern
mouth Of the river, with two barges.
When last seen she had her decks awasil
and is believed to have gone down.
Twenty people were on board.
There are numerous reports of individ-
ual casualties all along the river from
Buras down to the Passes. There is
serious apprehension concerning the Che
Mere Caminada and Grand Isle sections,
on the South Louisiana coast, west of
the Mississippi River, where 1000 lives
were lost in 1893 by the tidal wave. Up
to this writing no word has been received
from that section, which is largely inhab-
tied by fishermen, mostly Chinese and
Malays.
Up to Wednesday midnight everything
seemed to be safe at the Mississippi coast
towns, Bay st. Louis, Pass Christian,
Biloxi, Mississippi City and Ocean
Springs.
The Louisville and Nashville Railroad
is blocked off beyond Chef Menteur, thir-
ty miles from New Orleans. The big
steel bridge there is safe, but beyond
there are several washouts ON the road