The Daily Missoulian. [volume] (Missoula, Mont.) 1904-1961, 1911-10-02
COMING OF DAWN
REVEALS HORRORS
OF AUSTIN FLOOD
Later Reports From Little Pennsylvania City
Show That the Loss of Life Will Not
Be So Great as Was Feared---Dam
Which Burst Had Long Been
Thought to Be Defective.

A,stin, Pa. Oct. 1.-The curtain OF
night, which was rung down on the
Austin flood scarcely before its VIC
tins had all been claimed and Its
surviving spectators fully realized
how great tragedy the elements of
water and fire had enacted, had lifted
by dawn today, revealing CHASTITY
scene Of death and devastation. Aus.
tin itself, yesterday busy mill town
of 5000 persons, Is only u ghost Of a
town today.
Torn to pieces by water and eaten
by fire, the wet and charred remnants
of it's buildings, believed to hold the
bodies Of many persons, were strewn
along the valley edge. piled In rows
in the main street of the business
section, or swept In scattered masses
far down the ravine.
Hundreds OF spectators. many OF
whom barely escaped being victims
of the disaster, looked down from the
steep hillside above Austin and Co.'S
tello through a veil of fog this morn
ing to see the wreckage of some 400
houses. score OF business blocks.
three churches and several large lum-
ber mills and three miles further
down the river, at Costello, the ruins
OF more than 80 buildings.
The flood did not spend its force
until II raced more than 10 miles
from the reservoir Wharton, still
further on. suffered somewhat, but 1t
Is practically intact. The loss of life
at Costello. where the residents had
10 t,n
three.
Immense Property Loss.
The property loss in the valley is
estimated at upwards OF S6.0OO,000. In
Austin. out of the hundreds directly
enveloped in the deluge, hardly a doz-
en- survive. The furious flood let
loose when the Bayess Pulp & Paper
company's dam crumbled yesterday
afternoon, picked up a huge battery
of heavy timbers in the mill yards at
the foot OF the dam and with these
thousands of planks and logs, rammed
its path with terrible havoc
At the hospital today there were
but six injured for the care of the
small army of physicians and nurses
who had poured into the devastated
town. The medical supplies remained
unused In the cars rushed here by
the railroads.
Constabulary IN Charge.
The state constabulary arrived this
afternoon and took charge of the sit
uation. Immediately orders were Is
sued to the railroads to bring no more
sightseers to Austin and signs were
placed on the chief roadways permit
ting none to pass but workmen. Hun
dreds of automobiles and carriages
were TUNED back.
Sears hing parties with engine head
lights, automobile lamps, pine torches
and improvised lanterns of every sort
poked their way into every pile OF
night, seeking any WHO might be alive
Scarcely living person was found.
Surrounded by death, men who al
first had shuddered at the touch OF
dead body. set about indiffer-
emily searching mangled forms fol
papers OF Identification ere they haG
been long at work.
One corpse among so many did mo-
seem ghastly; but the sensation was
appalling.
The oblitsratsd Area.
The immediate scene of the obliter.
alton OF Austin covers an area three
eighths OF mile wide and one ant
three quarters miles long,
Nearly mile above stood tn.