Arizona republican., 1911-10-02
Wreckage That Strews Val
ley Below Bayless Dam is
Supposed to Contain
Three Hundred or More
Bodies.
STATE POLICE
ARE IN CHARGE
Late Reports Say Loss of
Life in Costello is Small
and That Town of Whar-
ton Suffered Small Dam
age.

AUSTIN, Pa. Oct Dawn this
morning revealed a ghastly scene of
death and destruction wrought by
flood and fire last night. Austin
was busy mill town yesterday. 1t
is but a wreck today.
Torn by floods and eaten by fire
the charred and wet remains of build
ings are believed to contain 900 or
more persons where they lie strewn
along the valley edges and down the
mountain gOrges. Spectators. many
of whom barely escaped with their
lives last night, today looked down
from the surrounding hills to see
the wreckage of some 400 houses. q
score of business blocks, three
churches, several large lumber mills
and. three miles further down the
ruin of fifty more buildings in Cos
tello. The flood did not spend it's
force until it had rushed ten miles
from the reservoir to Wharton, a town
which suffered to some extent. IUt
is practically intact The loss of life
in Costello, where the residents had
warning. is believed to number only
three.
The property loss in the valley Is
six millions. In Austin, out of a
hundred directly involved in the del
uge hardly a dozen survive. The
furious flood let loose when the Bay
less Pulp Paper company's dam
crumbled yesterday 1t picked up
huge battery of heavy timbers and
these with the heavy lumber from
the mill yards. strewed the path of
the waters with a horrible havoc
OF death At the hospital there are
but six Injured, and for their care
a small army of physicians and nurses
who poured into the devastated town
all last night and today. Medical
supplies have remained unused in
the car of the state cOnstabulary who
arrived this afternoon and took charge
Of the situation. Orders were issued
at once at the railroad to bring no
more sightseers to Austin.
Signs are posted on the chief high
ways permitting none but workmen
to pass. Hundreds Of automobiles
and carriages have been turned back
During the night searching parties
with engine headlights, auto lamps
and pine torches searched every pile
of wreckage but scarcely a living
soul was found. Surrounded by death,
men who at first shuddered at the
touch of a dead body. set about in
differently to search the mangled
forms for papers and marks of iden-
tification. The immediate scene of
ObliteratiOn in Austin covers an area
three -eights of a mile wide and one
and three-quarters long. 1t COM
prised the business district and the
valley residence portion.
Nearly a mile above the town
stood the mammoth concrete dam
of the Bayless company, 500 feet
long. fifty-two high. and thirty thick
at the bottom. tapering to three at
the top. Back of this dam yesterday
was a reservoir of water a mile and
a half long with an average depth
of thirty-five feet. Directly in front
of this was the Bayless plant. Stack
ed high nearby were 100000 cords of
fifty-inch wood, and forty million
feet of lumber for wood pulp. valued
at two million dollars. The town
was a smart little place of substan-
tial buildings running across the ra-
vine
The principal business buildings in
cluded the brick structure housing
the Austin bank. the pOstoffice and
two hotels. Five minutes after the
dam burst everything in this section
was obliterated. Along the foothills
are the scattered ruins of the town
The brick buildings acted as buffers
as the 25-foot wall of water swept
swept down but they collapsed under
the weight of the accommodating de
bris. The wrecking Of the dam was
as complete as it was sudden. Two
immense sections from top to bottom.
Is feet wide were thrown out bOdi-
ly like the immense gates of canal
lock- The outward swing was more
than fifty feet. On either side the
structure crumbled The cause of
the break is a matter which the dis
trict attorney will investigate. The