Little Falls herald. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1889-1950, 1903-06-19
i. FIVE HUMID RED DEAD
TOWN OF HEPPNER, ORE, PRAc.
TIcALLY WIPED OUT ~ q.
s* TREMENDOUS FLOOD.

Disaster Follows q cIoudburst and
Came with such suddenness That
Residents Are Unable to Seek
Places Of safsty-Thrse Hundred
Bodies Have Been Recovered and
Scores Of People Are Missing.
Portland. Ore, June 16.-Followins
a cloudburst, a wall Of water twenty
feet high rushed down the gllch Of
Willow Creek at dusk Sunday and
drowned half of the 1880 inhabitants
Of sHeppner, Ore. The furious water
carried the residences of Heppner
away. So great was the force Of the
water that boulders weighing ton
were rolled along the gulcb, crushing
everything in their path,
Wires, bridges and railroads were
swept away and complete reports have
not yet been received.
The most trustworthy reports say
that the loss Of life at Heppner will
be at least 500. though the number of
dead probably Is larger.
A. report from lone, seventeen miles
from Heppner, says that 800 bodies
have been recovered. The food came
with such suddenness that the inhabi
tants were unable to seek places OF
safety and were carried down to death
by the awful rush of water. Some of
the. business part of Heppner, which
is OH high ground, escaped.
Early in the afternoon a thunder
storm occurred, covering wide re-
gion of country, and later a heavy
rainfall set in, many of the small
streams overlooking their banks in i
short time. Bridges were swept away
like straws, and the darkness of the
night soon made the situation more
appalling.
Dozens Of Bodies Found.
AS soon as possible after the flood
subsidized the work of relief was be-
gun by the survivors.
Dozens of bodies were found lodged
along the bends of the stream, and in
several places they were piled two or
three deep. Up to 2 o'clock Monday
afternoon 200 bodies had been recov-
cred within the town.
Many of the buildings, which were
not carried away, were moved from
their foundations or toppled over
Hundreds of horses, cattle, sheep
and hogs, that had gone into the
creek bottoms for water, persisted.
Fifteen buildings in Lexington,
nine miles below Heppner, on Willow
Creek, were washed away, but no loss
Of life is reported, the inhabitants
having time to save themselves from
the surging torrent.
Damage was done buildings at lone,
though nc loss of life is reported.
Word was received from lone late
in the afternoon that 800 collins were
needed at once at Heppner. The
weather is hot and it is necessary that
the dead should be buried at once.
One hundred collins were sent on
the Oregon Railway and Navigation
overland train at night, and 100 will
be sent from The Dalles and Portland
The Portland Office of the 0. r. and
N. received the following message
from Heppner, via Echo:
Need Aid to Recover Bodies.
"Need relief in shape of large body
VI 1uCu ~ AC1p CAOAA q " oJ uOO1 ID dAN
recover bodies. Haste is essential, as
he weather is turning warm and the
dead must be recovered before putre.
fication sets in
damage to track unknown, further
than ten miles below here, which to
that ponit is more than two-thirds
washed out.
agent herman and wife are, pre-
Ill + mt
been found.
depot and all loaded and empty
cars still intact, but the yards are
washed away"
The Oregon Railway and Navigation
company has received information
that a horseman rode ahead of the
flood and warned the people of Lexing-
ton and lone, and by this means the
loss of life at those places was pre-
vented.
A number Of wool buyers from Bos-
ten are supposed to have been at
Heppner when the cloudburst occurred
and are supposed to have persisted.
r. D. Ball rushed into the torrent
and rescued Mrs. Elizabeth Matlock,
but her husband, James Matlock, per-
ished. John A. Herman, the Oregon
Railway and Navigation agent, wired
the news to lone and then attempted
to escape from the rushing wall of
water but he was carried down to death.
LOCATOR Of Heppner.
Heppner ia the center of a large
farming and stock-growing country
The town is built on the banks of
Willow creek near the converging
point of four other mountain streams
that drain q large area of rolling and
billy country that reaches from three
to twenty miles to the foothills and
along the course Of Willow creek it.
self for a distance of twenty-five
miles to the base Of the Blue noun
tains