The Dickinson press., 1910-03-12
ED. BERRY's BIG LOSS
BY WATER At "RIvERsIDE"

Yellowstone on March 4 arose in it's
might, as it has seldom done in recent
years. and the creations of man were
as nothing in it's Grasp. Destruction
aud death were the result of this ex-
hibition of its might.
Seldom. If ever. has the river broken
up so soon after the coming of warmer
weather. This year it threw of the
bondage of winter after two days of
sunshine. As a consequence of the I'M
expected breaking up, people were not
prepared for the overflow. The ice was
unusually thicA, and it gorged easily
and quickly.
Along about the middle Of the after
noon an alarm came from E. j. Berry's
Riverside ranch. where the overflow
of the water. due to a big gorge below
the place. had left four persons facing
death where they had sought refuge in
the barn.
A rescue party was quickly formed,
and Superintendent B. o. johnson
ordered u a special on which were
loaded boats and ropes. A laree number
of volunteers were on hand, and the
train pulled to the place of danger
none to soon.
When the rescuers arrived, the -four
persons, first driven from the house
when that building BEGAN to cave in.
had been forced 10 seek the highest
possible place in the haymow, the water
having reached the second floor of the
barn. They did not know at wha,
moment the building would be carried
away.
Mr.. Berry's loss of stock was particu.
larly heavy. When the water began
to rise. the boy on the place attempted
to drive the cattle and horses to hi9hea
ground. But the water rose with amaz'
ing rapidity. and he finally had al
he could do to save himself.
Thirty-one head of cattle, mostly milcf
cows used for supplying the Jordan hote
with milk and cream. and consequently
valuable stock, swept down the ic!
torrent and destroyed. likewise sixty
seven head OF hogs (and hogs are might!
valuable lust at this time) toeethe
with a number of head of horses wer,
destroyed. MI. Berry's loss from thi'
source alone. will run into the thous
ands of dollars.
In addition, his irrigation pumpin,
plant was practically ruined, and it il
impossible to estimate nj this time tn
damage to buildings, fences and to tn
land itself, for the great river wa
practically turned from it's course
hundreds of yards to the south, seeking
for itself a new channel in place Of tn
f one hocaded by ons and tons of ice
1t was more than fortunate that III
gorge broke as soon as it did.
It..looked for a time as though the N
P. would have some main line loss
but Superintendent johnson stated lat
this evening that the company had not
SO fan, lost a dollar that he knew Of.
The Bates & Rogers Construction Co.
which. has the contract for putting il
the bridge across the Yellowstone 70
: the new Missouri River Cor Lowe
Valley railroad, did not escape withou
serious loss.
All kinds of debris, much of it of
1 valuable character, has been goin,
;: down the stream this afternoon, render
i. ing certain a valuable salvage fo
residents neal the bars of the river, al
$ the way to the confluence with the Mis-
l souri,.
A crowd gathered at ,the big wago
= bridge across the Yellowstone-the lare
est tnidge in the state, by the way-an
many wondered if the catastrophe of
few years ago. when a large section Q
the bridge was carried away, would b
l repeated this year. The big mass Q
ice struck the piers of the bridge wit
: mighty impact, and the mass rose al
most to the level of the bridge platform