Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1901-04-25
STORM n FLOOD.
leaves Zone of Ruin TwoHundred
Miles i'm Diameter.

Mites In DtuuhetcEs
Pittsburg, April 23.-The most wide
spread and destructive storm, from a
material point OF view. has passed. 1t
/ has left a gone OF ruin 200 miles in d.
ameter. 1t was unusual in that 1t pos
sessed so many different features.
| Cities seventy miles from Pittsburg
Were tied up by one OF the worst cnow
| storms ever known. While the now
fall was from eighteen inches to three
feet deep, which is not extraordinary.
! the snow was so wet that ii chung in
| weighty masses TO shade and fruit
trees and electric wires and poles, bear
ing them to the earth. 1t settled Oh
steam and street railroads like wet
sand, stopping all traffic and making
p~edestTianism a feat for only the most
hardy. The fall was so heavy n
! spontaneous in some places that the
I residents declare IL seemed like the
bursting Of a snow cloud. A few miles
away from the unfortunate towns We're
municipalities in just as dire straits
from rain, but with speedier prospect
for relief. as the rain will run on
faster than the snow can melt, yet
here traffic was practically suspended.
Water overlooked and washed out
railroad tracks n hillsides came down
and buried the rails. In addition,
Nearly Every Town
on the Ohio river between Pittsburg
and Wheeling was in darkness last
night. Electric light plants or their
wires are damaged and the gas in the
mains Is generally turned of. A re-
maFkable feature Of the storm is that
| h,,% fau- Fato ly,ir~ IEranfl- ostrth,,t a hla
to his cause have been reported. A
~railroader caught in a wreck caused
by a landslide, and the death of an old
woman from shock are the only ones
known SO far. There may be others,
but as communication is cut off from
many populous places it will be the end
Of the week before the total can be
footed up. The money loss Is just al
difficult 10 foot up. 1t may reach s3,-
600, 900. The railroads think they have
lost $1,000. 900. The loss of wage to
the army OF workers in manufacturing
plants up and down the rivers viii
mount UP to $500 900, and the repairs to
the plants will be a large sum. The
damage TO stores, stocks. residences
and furniture in Pittsburg, Allegheny
and towns and cities down the Ohio
will probably reach s500, 900. The tele-
graph companies nave suffered severe
ly, but cannot yet compute their losses.
In addition, there is the enormous in
direct damage caused by the almost
complete suspension of trade. What
that amounts to no one can determine
exactly, and estimates simply reflect
the conservative or radical character
OF the Computer.
People I'm Great Alarm.
Cincinnati, April 23.-There has been
more alarm throughout the Ohio valley
on account of floods than at any period
since February, 1884, when the Ohio
river reached its highest stage of sew.
enty-one feet and nine inches at this
city. Most of the inhabitants Of the
valley spent the night in anticipation
OF the worst food ever known in the
valley, as they will not know until to-
day the water has begun falling at
Pittsburg. Until this news reached the
river men last night. it was feared that
the record of 1884 might be broken. but
now it is generally believed that the
river will not exceed the foods OF Feb
ruary, 1897, and OF March, 1898, when
1t reached sixty-one feet at Cincin-
natl. The present fiood is the worst
that has ever been known SO late In.
the spring. The food win do much
more damage now than II would have
done n or two months ago.. While
the close observing river men are con-
fident that the record of 1884 will not
be broken unless another mountain
food reaches Pittsburg, yet 1t is now
evident that
Nnnh noraaaa vEtlE M Man.
before tie present rise is exhausted.
While the water has begun to fall at
Pittsburg, both rain and snow have
been falling heavily all along the Ohio
valley. The danger line has already
been reached at points above Cincin-
natl, and it will be reached here this
morning. The merchants and manu-
~facturers in the lower part of the city
were working all day yesterday and
all last night preparing for the worst.
Early last evening the weather bu-
reau here announced heavy SHOWS and
rains along the Ohio valley, especially
in Southern Ohio. The uniform rise
during the day was four-tenths of q
foot per hour, but the average was
higher last night. The weather bu-
reau announced that the anger line
a been reached at all upper sub
stations last night, and that II would
be reached in Cincinnati this noon.
Owing TO the general p%rostration of
telegraph and telephone wires ii is i'm
possible to hear from many points. The
trains are all late. II is generally con-
coded that the fruit CROP throughout
the Ohio valley is gone and the damage
to crops Is very great.