Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1903-06-11
CREST OF FLOOD
WAS 50 FEET HIGH
Like a Great Tidal Wave Il
Swept Down on PacoIet,
South Carolina.
OVER FIFTY LIVES WERE LOST
Property Loss BY the Destructive
Flood Is Now Estimated at So.
600, oOO-Loss in Clifton District
Is Appalling.

rental rain storm visited this regior
between last midnight and dawn yes
terday, resulting in general devasta
ton and destruction of life and prop
erty. All the bridges and trestles OF
the main line of the Southern railway
were washed away. The greatest de
struction of life and property occurred
at the Pacolet and Clifton and Glen
dale cotton mills.
SO many wires are down and com
munication of all sort is so thorough
ly demoralized that it is impossible
to form any definite calculation of the
loss OF life in yesterdays cloud burst
and the resultant floods. The mortal
ity list may go to $50, but the more
conservative estimates place it some
where around forty or fifty. The to
tai property loss in the entire section
laid waste by the storm is likely tc
aggregate 100000. The loss al
Pacolet is placed at 100000, sum
married. as follows:
Mills number l and are demol
ished, $4,000 spindleS are wrecked
$500 bales of cotton, 100000 WORT
OF cloth goods in the company'S store
damaged, griSt mill, cotton gin, post
Office, shoe shop, blacksmith shop,
dental Office, livery stable and Presby
terrain church all washed away. More
than 500 people are homeless and
1000 out of employment
There was no wind and no damage
by lightning, only by water. This fell
in veritable torrents, converting the
surface of the earth into lake OF
raging water, Rivers overlooked theil
banks to heights never before known
creeks became rivers and small rlvu
lets roaring torrents, wiping out ev
erything in their course. Railroad
bridges were torn from stone ard Iron
piers, cotton mills were crushed like
straw before the food, ami grist mills
and innumerable smaller industries
and cottages were washed away by
the angry waters.
At late hour tonight scores OF
people were clinging to tie branches
of trees at Clifton and could not be
reached. Unless help comes TO them
soon 1t is feared that many Will fall
into the water and drown.
Columia. S. D.. June S.-Though
the great flood of water is passing or
to the to the ocean laden with debris
of every description and the swollen
streams are subsiding in the Pied
mont region, the losses of life and
property are increasing, and a conser
vative estimate tonight places the
property loss at not less than $500,
000 The most conservative estimate
of the dead is 80. At Clifton alone
100 operatives are missing from the
village and all are believed to have
been lost. During yesterday deaC
bodies were washed ashore here anC
there occasionally dismembereC
limb would float to the banks.
At Converse, Is dead are reported
and IL at Clifton No. 2. At Clifton
No. 2. twenty-six houses are destroy
ed; Is at Clifton No. l and 20 at Cliff
ton No s.
At Converse mills, the newest Of
Clifton's cluster, the walls were wash
ed away and the looms left standing
The engine room bricks were carried
three miles down stream, demoliShins
the operatives houses on the way.
Reports from the Seneca river, neal
the Georgia line, are better tonight
The Blue Ridge road between Seneca
and Anderson is intact and the Newry
mill is not badly damaged and will b.
running tomorrow.
Charlotte, NC, June 8.-Yester
| lays developments in the devastated
| mill settlements at Pacolet and Cliff
| ION, on the Pacolet river in South Car
pima, do not lessen the horrors o.
! he situation there, although it is be
| ieved that the loss of life will not ex
| iced fifty people. The destruction o
| property by the flood was far-reachins
and even yet a number of mill points
where it is feared damage has beer
lone, cannot be heard from on &C
count of the prostration of telephone
and telegraph wires. The town o
| Union, S. c., is totally isolated. The
1ockhart mills, located below Pacolet
| 'or whose safety fears have been ex
pressed, are but slightly damaged.
Following is summary of the dam
| Ige to the cotton mills:
Pacolet, Nos l and 2 totally de
:troyed; Pacolet, No. 3, badly dam
| .ged. These mills operated sixt!
thousand spindles and 1900 looms.
Clifton mill No 3, at Converse, 81,
100 spindles, totally destroyed.
Dexter mills, $4,000 spindles, hal
| destroyed.
Clifton mills, 1880 spindles, hal
| destroyed.
Glendale mills, badly damaged.
Pacolet warehouse totally destroy
| ed: $500 bales of cotton and 400
bales of yarn swept down stream.
At Pacolet a Presbyterian church
hotel and number of mill cottage!
were entirely demolished. The prop
erty damage is in the neighborhoot
| of half a million dollars.