Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1911-10-02

|
night which was rung down on the
Austin flood scarcely before its VIC
tins had all been claimed and it's sur
| viving spectators fully realized how
great q tragedy the elements of water
and fire had enacted in the natural
alnphitheater of the Allegheny noun
tains here was lifted by dawn Sunday
revealing CHASTITY scene of death and
| devastation.
! Austin itself. Saturday busy mill
ing town of 5000 persons, many of
whom We're enjoying fine autumn
! afternoon as a Saturday half holiday
| is a ghost OF a town today, Torn to
; pieces by water and eaten by fire, the
| wet and charred renlnantSsof its build
ings, believed 10 hold the remains of
500 or more persons. We're strewn along
the valley edge. piled in rows where
the main street business section was
| or swept in scattered masses far down
the ravine.
Spectators. many OF whom barely es-
capped being victims OF the disaster,
and hundreds of persons from sur
rounding towns, looked down from the
steep hll!sides on Austin and Costello
thru a Veil OF fog yesterday morning to
see the wreckage here of some 400
houses, q score of business blocks,
three churches and several large lun-
Der mills. and three miles farther down
the river at Costello the ruins OF more
than fifty buildings.
Loss 100000.
The flood Gid not spend it's force I'M
Ill il raced more than ten miles from
the reservoir. Wharton, still farther
on, suffered somewhat but is prac-
,icaliy intact. The loss Of life at Cos
tello, where the residents had more
warning, is believed to be but three.
The property loss in the valley is es-
rimared at upward of $4,000. 900
In Austin. out of the hundreds di-
rectly enyeloped in the deluge hardly
a dozen survives. The furious food LEI
loose when the Bayless Paper & Pulp
Conlpany's dam crum Dled Saturday af-
rernoon, picked up a huge battery Of
heavy rilIlbers in the mill yards at the
foot OF the dam and with these thou
sands of planks and logs raIrmed its
path with terrible havoc.
The immediate scene Of the oblitera
ton OF Austin covers an area three
eiehtfs Of q mile wide and one and
three quarters long. This comprised
the business section and the valley
residence portion and was bounded by
Main, Ruckaber and Thorn streets and
Costello avenue crossed by lesser thor
oughfares.
Nearly mile above stood the NAM
moth concrete dam Of the Bayless Pa
per & Pulp Company. 500 feet long.
fifty-two feet high and thirty feet
thick at the bottom, tapering to a
thickness OF three feet at the top.
Mile of Water.
Back of this dam Saturday lay a
reservoir OF water mile and a half
long and an average of thirry-fve feet
deep. Directly in front of the dam
stood The plant Of the Bayless COM
pany. with four main buildings. Stack
ed high nearby were 100000 cords of
fifty-inch wood and slabs, and also
portion OF the company's immense tim
Der stock totaiing in the Austin val
ley 100000 feet of hardwood and
250o0000 of henlock This was FIVE
year supply, practically the last large
cut of the region. 1t was valued ct
81 900 600
A mill stream. Four Mile run. flowed
CREEK, leading TO the Susquehanna
river. The town proper was a smart
little place Of comfortable frame
houses and more substantial business
buildings along the main street which
ran from side TO side across the raVine.
The principal business buildings "a
cluded the brick structures occupied
Jointly by the Austin bank and tne
r. Buck, the Goodyear hotel. and the
Commercial house and numerous gen
e-al stores.
Five minutes after the dam bu-s-,
this stage had been swept % its set
t.pes. Along the foothills were thrown
teiescoped houses. At either end OF
Main street. brick buildings acted as
buffers to the twenty FIVE foot wall OF
water which rushed downward with It's
mass of debris. Almost hill high, the
mixture Of the contents OF stores and
homes. and OF varied length timbers
and sticks.
The wrecka ge Of the dam had been
as complete as il vas sudden Two
immense sections from top to bottom.
$50 feet wide were thrown out bodily
the outward swing was more than nifty
feet and on either side the remaining
structure began gradually TO crumble
away. Repairs last spring had con-
sisted of 4 patch of cement fourteen
feet square. One of the several Sec
lions yesterday began at that patch.
Condemned by Experts.
The cause OF the breaking is a MAJ.
ter which the district attorney of POI,
ter county will investigate. The Bay
less dam vas examined by experts
more than a year go and Tecommen-
cations were mace looking TO lis SAFE
". The district attorney has secured
the names Of some OF the experts who
submitted the report and will summon
them to testify az an inquest to begin
this week.
Relief work has not been systenati
cally organized tonight. but it is hoped