The enterprise. [volume] (Harlem, Mont.) 1899-1926, 1911-10-12
Breaking of Huge Paper Mill Dam
Sends Torrent of Water
Down the Valley
COSTELL AND AUSTIN DESTROYED
Flames, Caused by Bursting Gas Mains, Break Out In
Wrecka8e of Ruined Villages, Adding to Hor-
ror Of the Catastrophe, as Soon as the
Floods Had subsidized.

the warning and, believing it was fire,
fastened to the center of the town,
only to be caught in the flood and
swept away.
The flood passed quickly, leaving
desolation in it's wake. Houses had
been crushed and tossed about like
toys, while hundreds of bodies had
been carried down on the crest Of
the surging torrent.
With the passing of the water, those
who had fled to the hills fastened to
return to their ruined homes in search
of relatives and friends. Here and
there bodies had been cast up along
were recovered in short time Some
Of them had been so badly battered
by the tossing debris that they were
beyond recognition, while others had
been carried along with no apparent
injury.
Many were caught in burning build
ings, and it will be days before the
real extent Of the calamity will be
known. 1t is believed that no less than
$50 persons persisted and some esti-
| mates are higher.
Fire Adds to Horror.
| A dangerous situation developed i'm
mediately after the water had passed.
Austin is piped for natural gas, and
the great force Of the flood tore the
mains from the Streets and the largest
pipe in town burst in the business
section. The gas gushed out and in a
twinkling had taken fire.
The flames leaped to a height of
twenty feet, and, blown by strong
wind, were communicated to the near
other pipes had burst and were pour
ing their inflammable fluid into the air.
Men who had rushed forward in the
hope of doing some good were over.
come and fell, while others were
caught in the. flames and incinerated
The street became glowing he'll, and
there was no salvation for those who
CHANGED to be near. How many per
ished there is not known, but one esti
mate places it at score.
Austin had little fire protection al
best, and with no one left to man the
little apparatus the town possessed
the progress of the flames was unin
terrupted. Rapidly they swept along
always fed by the continual supply
; Of gas from bursting mains, there was
: no staying their progress. They licked
up what the water had left.
, Down at the shops of the Buffalo
, and Susquehanna railroad, history wa:
; in the making. The buildings were
located below the business section OF
the banks of Freeman Run, and were
more substantial than most of tn.
houses which had been swept ava.
by the flood. When the great mass
| of crushed and broken timbers, rep
, resenting houses but a few minutes
, before, came crashing down the,
| lodged against the shops. The impac
J was so great that the walls wer,
| crushed in, but the framework stoo,
, and formed barrier against whicl
flotsam and jetsam of the flood foun
: Judgement.
l Men Caught at Machines.
r Here also the gas pipes burst, an
' as the shops were in operation, fir
5 quickly was communicated to tn
I heterogeneous mass. Men were caugh
8 before they could leave their m;
f chimes. Some of them were crushe
n to death without a warning, but otl
Q ers less favored of fortune were pill
/ ned down and met most horribl
e deaths in the flames.
S Nearby was the plant of the Staat
r ard Lumber Company, which had o
hand a large stock of stove wood.
S was the fuel the flames most desire,
a and when the pipes burst there an
Y the burning gas broke through tn
d building it was soon destroyed. Her
r too, debris had piled high, and he,
luckless ones who had been swell
It down stream met DEATH
J. For hours the machine shops an
d the lumber plant burned and the ode
,, of burning flesh was so strong as |
r drive many persons from the seen
How many died here never will /
h known, but, counting the employees
l. the plants and the persons in tt
9 flood, it will not fall short of 200.
l. But worst of all were the cries
e the women and children. Most a
the men were at work and they wei
If at home alone. They had heard IL
e warning sent out by the telephone gil
d at least some of the people say tt
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