The Washington herald., 1911-10-02
SIGHTSEERS IN THRONGS
VIEW HAVOC AT AUSTIN
City Doomed to Destruction for Two Years Meets
Its Fate-PrOspered in Its Danger
By IRWIN NJ. THOMAS.

By IRWIN NJ. THOMAS.
Austin, Pa, Oct. 1.-The destroyed city
OF Austin views the situation as though
the town had been built simply to be de-
stroyed. Its fate was foredoomed. Not
a man or woman or child old enough to
understand but knew that sooner or later
the dam would break and Austin be swept
away.
The site Of Austin is now an empty
waste of mud along the flats with a
fringe Of houses on the hills as frame
to the picture of destruction. These dwell
ings, still neat and trim, of the archi-
lecture found in most manufacturing
towns form a border to the picture of
desolation. .
The town of Austin was built in the
Sinnema honing Valley. In the last CEN
sus the enumerators gave it's population
as 2910. More than so per cent of these
were native born. A fair percentage had
been drawn to the settlement by the work
in the Bayless pulp and paper mill.
The mill and what is left of 1t stands
on the north end of the town, a mile
from the main street. A quarter of mile
north of the mill was the dam that sup
piled the water for the manufacture OF
paper and pulp.
Nature had been lavish in her gifts. A
natural lake stood on the level of the mill.
He lillS SURROUNDING llle ldhS NIO'oNN 4tt
so that save for a few hundred feet 1t
was landlocked.
Becomes Large Lake.
When the Bayless company built its
plant it constructed a dam fifty feet
high and 800 feet long. From a small
pond the reservoir thus created for the
manufacture of paper. dollars, and death
became a lake two miles long, half a mile
irrtNt foot
deep.
Below, in the valley, a mile and a quar-
ter away. nestled the village of Austin,
a little Johnstown.
II some architect had desired tc build
a miniature of JohnstOwn he could not
have found 4 better model than the little
village in tie Sinnemahoning Valley.
Although in the peril of the dam, it
grew and prOspered. The Goodyear Lum-
ber Company followed the paper COM
pany and built plant; other mills that
handled lumber came. Also the town was
the center of a farming community.
To the east of the village a little stream,
known as Freemans Run, fed by the
overflow Of the dam, flowed south to
Costello, a hamlet three miles below. 1t
ran into the Sinnemahoning, found its
way into the west branch of the Susque-
hanna, and continued on TO the sea.
Town in Deep Valley.
TO the east of Freemans Run the hills
rise and cottages fringe them. Austin s
principal thoroughfare, Main street,
paralleled the stream. To the west the
ground rs level for a distance of 500
yards. The hills rise again on the east.
so that the town proper was in the fiat
Of a deep valley
The hill to the west is a horseshoe in
shape. Back of it is another level
stretch. This stretch is the part of
the town that was saved. BY counting
the houses here and those that dot the
hills, the number destroyed becomes
largely a matter of subtraction. Those
who knew the town say that 500 of them
are gone and their estimate of the dead
is based upon this calculation. When
the dam began to leak and Austin was
threatened two years ago, some of the
wealthier residents moved with their
Valuables to the higher ground. The dam
was repaired and they moved back
again. On several occasions since warn
ings have come and preparations made
for flight. Protests to the mill people
and to the constituted authorities re-
suited in nothing except assurances that
the dam was safe.
Havoc Soon Wrought.
The story of the havoc wrought yes
teTday could nave been reCOrQeQ on
camera in five minutes. From the sec
ond the dam gave way until the great
wave of water had passed over Austin
only that small space of time elapsed.
At 2:3O o'clock the main street of Aus
tin was filled with women doing their
weekly shopping. Scores of persons had
driven in from the surrounding country.
The hitChing rods along the principal
thoToughfare were lined with horses
Four hundred employees were at work
in the pulp mill. while $50 more men
stacked lumber in the yards.
There was a report like a cannon. Then
came another. There was no need 10 tell
any one who heard it what had hap
pened.
Warns All to Flee.
The engineer at the mill seized the tele-
phone and called to the central operator
at Austin that the dam had broken.
Then he threw the receiver down and
climbed for safety. In a second the wa
ter was about him, but he escaped Two
minutes after the operator at Austin re-
ceived the mesa ge-''the dam gone out
a wall of water fifty feet high was upon
II.
Fifty feet high for the first half mile,
it fell to a height of forty feet. 1t car