The diamond drill. (Crystal Falls, Iron County, Mich.) 1887-1996, 1911-10-07
RUIN SPREAD BY
lOosENED FLOOD
HurIs Big BroadsIde Of Water
Against Austin, Pa.
Men. Women and Children Are Miss
Ing and Hundreds OF Bodies Are
Thought to Be Beneath Wreck
age Scattered for Miles.

Between l50 and 200 lives were lost
In the food. caused by bursting dam.
which overwhelmed Austin. Pa. and
vicinity The property loss is placed
at $4,000. 900.
Sweeping a path for a mile, a pillar
OF water jammed its battering ram OF
cordwood through the valley where
the town of Austin lay on Saturday.
There II smashed a broadside
against the full length OF the principal
street gathering UP rs Il went tho
boards that minute before We're
houses. and hcaYed the splintered
fragments agaust The more suhsian
ual line or brick stores
Brick and steel gave way almost as
completely a4 mad the le solid CON
struction but the wave was hinderod
long enough to pile up 10 the height
If three-story buldins the mass Of
torn debris Then the food ripped
ahead, swirling over the few small
buildings that lag below until il came
10 railroad shops whore cars and To-
comotiVes were finped onto their
sides and stripped Of their wheels and
roofs. and where the natural gas pipes
in the engine rooms were scraped off.
Then came the fire that finished the
lob IN the yards and in the nearby
shops After that the water kept on
through the valley until II bad
brought down an bat four of The
houses In Costello, the village that les
three miles below
But City buildings remain IN what
was Austin and they are rercaod along
the hillside AN five churches were
destroyed and the Austin National
bank is the only building that still
stands In the town below.
over 100 bodies have been recov.
cred and there Is a great dearth or
cofhnF
Relief trains have been sent from
Williamsport, Port Allegany, ST Marys,
Olean, Corning, Galleton and Coudcrs-
port Three car loads OF provisions
and clothing We're sent from Williams.
port and the citizens have raised over
"a thousand dollars as a relief fund ~
the cities in the state are sending in
contributions IN Austin,
The dam that split into eight pieces
Just as a row of dominoes will bulge
apart was not an old structure II
was placed fellow an antique wooden
Grub a tri1e over two years ago But
there have been murmuring against
the heavy bulk of water that II re.
strained, even in spite OF it's newness.
The women OF the town especially
The dam was owned by the Baylss
Pulp Paper company, which has its
headquarters ia Hinghamton, ~ y
The vast amount OF water confined
above the dam was used IN the proc
osses Of washing pulp after It's chemi-
cal treatments before IL Is turned into
paper
Replenishing Of food supplies Is tax
ing the energies of the commissary rs
well as the railroads The seventeen
nurses from the state dispcnsary have
been worked almost 20 the limit Of
their endurance. having been forced
10 do duty ut the morpue as well as
to act as cooks and serving maids at
the commissary. because the necessary
help has been unobtainable Several
have been compelled 70 relinQulsh du
~ temporarily to obtain rest
There Is remarkable absence Of Ger
emony in the burial OF the dead.
There are no carriages or vehicles tn
the town except one rough undertake.
er's wagon In most instances when
a body Is turned over 10 relatives a
simple service is read and the caskot
IS borne TO one Of the two little GENE.
teries by half dozen friends