Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1911-10-02
In this debris the people searched for
the bodies that had washed up with

whole houses were left on the banks
the bodies that had washed up with
the timber.
The dam was built two years age
and the water was turned into the basin
about a week ago. Behind the dan
was the pile of logs to be used by the
Goodyear Lumber Company and the
pulp mills. When the dam went out
tthe entire pile Of concrete seemed tc
go down at once and the water swept
along In a solid crest as high as the
dam had been. The logs riding the
crest Of the floor made a battering ram
that swept all before it. The pulp mill
half mile above Austin. was one OF
the first buildings to be wrecked and
its timbers were added to the burden
the food already carried At the out
skirts OF the town the great dam de-
molfshed the planning mill and the no
tel which stood near it,
Caught in Wire Fence.
The main stores. Nelson Brothers,
Higgins Brothers, silkes Clothing store.
Ball Clothing store, and Muschke's
furniture store, We're destroyed. The
school house is wreck. The Com
mercial hotel, Goodyear House and
Pelham House. all went down. The
churches We're left standing.
The escape of more than two score
who survived the first onslaught of
the food was cut off by a long barbed-
wire fence which ran along the creek.
When the flood passed. rescuing par.
ties found the bodies caught in the
wires and terribly torn. Many bodies
are being recovered along the banks
of the river. some having been swept
five miles below the city.
Only One Grocery Store Left.
Residences suffered because of their
construction, and. while no accurate
estimate of the real damage can be
made until tomorrow, it is stated that
there are not enough houses left in the
village to cover the survivors, The
railroad shops. where the debris is
piled high, and which resisted for a
time the force of the water, probably
will prove to be the death chamber of
the majority Of the men who were en-
ployed there. A rescuing party at
tempted to reach the interior Of the
ruins but were driven back by the
smell of burning flesh.
Strong men became towards. and
until help comes from the outside. lit
tie can be done to ascertain the loss
or succor the injured Those SO fortu-
nate as to live above the line Of food
were called to help the survivors of
the valley. and the food supply was
soon exhausted, as every grocery store
with the exception of one small estab-
,ishment was swept away.
Big Gas Pipe Bursts.
A dangerous situation developed i'm
mediately after the great wall of water
had passed. Austin was piped for
natural gas and the great force Of the
flood tore the mains from the streets
One of them. the largest pipe In the
town, burst in the business section. A
moment afterwards the gas rushed out
and in a twinkling it had taken fire.
There was no explosion, but the flames
leaped to a height of twenty feet or
more and. blown by strong wind were
communicated to the nearest house. In
ten minutes a dozen other gas pipes
had burst and were pouring their dead
ly infiammable 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. How
many perished at this point is not
known, but one estimate places it at
two score.
Austin had little fire protection. at
best, and. with this swept away by the
flood and no one left to man the little
apparatus the town possessed, the pro-
gress Of the flames was uninterrupted.
Rapidly they swept from house to
house. leaping streets and alleys nd,
fed by the continual supply of gas
from bursting mains, there was no
staying their progress. They licked up
what the water had left.
Many persons. crushed and helpless
in the wrecks of buildings, only partly
destroyed by water, were consumed in
the flames. Their shrieks could be
heard by the helpless ones, who. awak-
ened by the scenes about them. en-
deavored to save a life here and there
where it seemed possible. But they
were driven back by the deadly fumes
of the gas or the heat of the flames.
and half an hour after the flood had
passed they stood on the hillside, pitt
full in their inability to do anything
and bemoaning the fate Of their
friends.