Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1911-10-10

History tells us of fellow who
lived in the bloomin' past, who upon
one occasion, shook his fist at the
the lightning, and dared it to do its
worst. That was before the Germans
changed the spelling of the word to
wurst. If that fellow had been living
in this territory the past week he un-
doubtedly would have shaken both
fists at the rain clouds, which have
been squeezing out water by the bar
rel, causing damage and anxiety be-
yond measure.
While repairs were being made on
the Rothschild dam the gates of that
structure have been kept closed, and
large body OF water was backed up.
Rains of the past ten days caused the
pond to swell to its highest point, and
low lands have been flooded, the great
est trouble arising in the village of
Schofield where row boats could be
flOated on the streets. Last Tuesday
the water had reached that point
where it was found necessary to open
all the gates of the big dam. This
had tendency to lower the water to
some extent, but rains which came
later brought the river up again to
the danger point. On Wednesday the
water had risen to such a height in
Schofield that the street railroad COM
pany could not operate cars through
the village, and passengers had to be
transferred.
During Thursday night the rain
came down in torrents. The govern
ment's local guage showed that more
rain feil in few hours than was ever
recorded before in a like time since
the local bureau was established.
This brought the river up another
notch and it kept going up all day.
During the forenoon the east gate OF
the guardlock was forced out Of posi-
tion, and crew of men worked with
a will all the balance of the day TO
close it up. This was done by getting
logs jammed in every way and then
running in flood wood. This stopped
the flow to some extent, but not
enough to place the mills and grounds
out of danger. The water flowed over
the lower part of the Plumer island
and also over the top of the west side
of the street railroad company's dam.
Soon the water began to pour into
the company's power house through
the upper windows. In short time
it was flowing in stream through
the Barker & Stewart Lumber Co.'S
yards and the mill had to shut down.
The H. E. McEachron mill, too, closed
down.
The greatest property loss in this
city perhaps resulted in the eastern
section. During Thursday night the
water came off East hill in rivulets
resembling mountain streams. The
water settled on the Bells farm and
soon there was lake Wausau No. 2.
This lake rose to that point where the
water flowed over the st. Paul tracks,
carrying garden truck off the Bel
lis farm as far west as the Dunbar 81
Brown addition. People living in
that section got busy the next morn
ing with baskets and sacks and some
had soon collected enough onions,
cabbage, cauliflower, tomatoes, ETC.,
to last them some time. L. j. Kret-
lows house stood in the middle of
this lake and egress or ingress could
be made only in boat. Lying near
new house which is going up were a
number of punches of shingles and a
pile of lumber and the lakes surface
was covered with shingles and boards.
Before the flood there were 1000 heads
of cabbage on the farm. There are
not so many there now, since many
of them found their way into near by
homes. There was also a field of
shocked corn The corn of course will
be loss.
Every cellar in that section was
filled with water next morning and
nearly everyone lost more or less by
the occurrence. A sewer backed water
into Conrad BOpf & Sons grocery
basement at the corner of Seventh
and Washington streets, destroying
many cases of goods. The sewers
failed to carry off the water, and
were filled to the tops of the catch
basins. The property loss in that
section of the city will run up into
the hundreds, perhaps thousands OF
dollars.
The st. Paul transfer north of the
high bridge as far as Franklin street
was covered with water, and box cars
were standing in the water up to
their floors.
The southbound st. Paul train
came down Thursday morning with
three coaches and encountered water
at many points along the way. A
gentleman who came down on it from
Tomahawk informed us that there
was great fear up there that the
Tomahawk dam would go out, and
men were watching it.
The waters in the Wisconse and its
tributaries continued to raise all day
and well along into the night. Crews
of men hired by the mill companies,
the street railroad company and the
Northwestern railroad company
worked all day and nearly all night
A dam was built across the transfer
tracks under the high bridge. the
water back of it rising. TO a point two
feet above the tracks. Had this dam
not been built the Thomas Produce
Co.'S warehouse, the KickbuSch ware.