The Lake County times. [volume] (Hammond, Ind.) 1906-1933, 1907-01-21
ELEMENTS ID
GREAT DAMAGE
Flood and Wind Work
Havoc in and About
Hammond.
SEWERS ARE BACKING UP
Fire Engine Pressed Into Service to
Rid Basement of Water
House Blown Down

Hammond and the neighboring cities
have suffered damages from nood ana
storm TO the extent OF several Thousand
dollars. The drenching rains OF the
past few weeks have saturated fha
soil until IL viii absorb no more and
as result greater volume or water
than ever has been poured into tn.
Calumet river which is overlooking It's
banks. backing up the sewers and i
higher than 1t has been in years
Easements all over the town have
been flooded and in the case of de-
partment stores the damages has been
considerable.
This morning there was found to be
i've inches OF water in the basement
of the Lion store and a large stock of
candy, quantities OF paper sacks and
several hundred bushels OF potatoes
have been more or less damaged.
The water came in so fast this morn
ing that Mr.. Wolf notified the fire de-
partment and the fire engine was
pressed into service to save the rest
of the stock from ruin
Under Towle's opera house the water
rushed in so fast that il was found
impossible to cope with the how and
all EFFORTS to start the furnace wers
unavailins.
Cold Day at TowIes.
A large house was expected and the
problem of preventing the freezing out
of the audience was serious one. Ff-
teen or twenty gas stoves were pro-
vided and with rubber hoses attached
to the gas jets the big auditorium was
fairly habitable. The chorus girls,
however. found the scant attire in
which they were compelled TO appear
hardly enough TO Keep out the cold
and they complained bitterly OF the ilI
luck that made such condition of af-
fairs their lot
In the basement of the First Nation.
al Bank building pumps were kept
running all day yesterday, but ii ap-
peared that the water ran In from un-
der Towles opera house as fast as II
could be pumped out and so there was
not much progress made in lowering
the level
The basement floor of the Hammond
building was also submerged in sew
eral inches of water, but the pumps
that were already installed for the
purpose of keeping the basement dry,
were set to work at once and the con-
dition there improved considerably
during the day.
e. c. Minas was compelled to nss
heroic measures to keep back the now
from the basement of his store, bnt he
has had considerable experience in an
effort to put in a water proof base
ment and so he was prepared for the
worst when the rains decended and
the floods came" AS a result his losses
Will be inconsequential.
Tha oh
striking cases of losses by food. but
there are dozens OF the smaller stores
in which goods stored in Easements
have been ruined and hundreds of
householders have been Inconvenience
more or less by the water which
rushed into their cellars
Want Pumping Station.
Every one is complaining OF tha
fact that the sewer system which has
been built at a great expense can NOT
be depended upon in an emergency and
there is strong agitation on the part
of some of the business men for a
sewer pumping station at the foot of
Holman street that will pump away
the sewage at all times of the year
The damage from the high wind that
blew through the city from Saturday
evening TO Sunday evening was also
considerable. Telephone wires are
down all over city and 1t is said that
communication by telephone with CHI
cago. with the exception of one lead.
was destroyed.
The glass windows In several store
fronts were blown in both in this city
and Whiting and the loss from this
source was considerable. In one case
an entire building was blown down.
George Pearson has been building a
residence for Ben Idner on Summer
street and the wind was strong enough
to blow this down. The loss will be
about $500.
The fall in temperature and the sun
shine that came with 1T were a well
come change as compared with the in
tolerable weather that has been the
nile for the raaf fva or IL rrooIr-