Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1912-07-26
sIxTY.oNE DEAD OR MISSING
Heaviest Loss is at Superba Mine,
Where Fifteen Men Drown.
MANY WORKINGS ARE FLOODED
Will Be Months Before Some Of
Them Can Be Cleared.
PROPERTY DAMAGE ENORMOUS
Devastated Region Extends Far Up
Y0ughiosheny Valley Into
| West Virginia - Death
List StilI Incomplete.

PITTSBURGH. Pa, July 2S.-Death and
desolation spread broadcast over the
southwest counties yesterday and last
night through cloudbursts and overflow
ing streams. Three score or more lives
are the toll, while the damage to homes
and industries cannot be estimated.
Fifteen lives were lost in Superba Mine
No. ,, near Uniontown: seventy-five min
ers narrowly ercared death. while from
many other sections come reports Of lives
lost by the mountain torrents rushing
into mine slopes.
/ During the night meager reports I'll.
tered in that II later verified will run
the list Of fatalities up to sixty-one. The
places and number reported to have been
drowned at each are as follows:
Uniontown, Pa, fourteen drowned.
smock. Pa. located in Redstone valley.
fourteen reported drowned.
Grindstone. Pa. fourteen miners miss
Ing and reported drowned.
At Linn. Pa, two miners reported
drowned. 49,,
At Wheeling, w. Va. three drowned. /,
At Lemont. Pa, mine. four miners re.
ported drowned.
At Ellenwood Pa. H. l.. King wife and
child drowned.
At New Martinsville. six reported
drowned.
Monongah. w. Va, one drowned.
Fairmont. w. Va. two drowned.
OF this list OF sixty-one fatalities, IL
has been possible to account definitely
for twenty three. Those who are known
to have met death are at Uniontown.
Wheeling. Ellenwood. Fairmont ana
Monongah.
Admittedly the death list will not be
known for many days. It will take
months to clear up some Of the mines OF
water.
Hundfeds Are Homeless.
Hundreds Of families, deserting homes
In ~ mad rush for safety on the noun.
tain sides, sought shelter beneath i'm.
provised snacks ard tents, toward the
construction OF which every available
piece Of debris was turned to account.
At daybreak shivering women and chill
dren gazed oyer the scene OF desolation
in the upper Youghiogheny valley. and.
as the waters receded, upturned dwell.
ings. shattered buildings and crunbled
piles OF mortar were held in conglomer.
ate mass by railroad bridge or trestle.
or the progress Of the debris mad been
impeded by some larger and ataunchsr
building. aN f
Z 1t was long after midnight before the
waters began to recede. Rain had ceased
falling some hours earlier, but the heavy
precipitation soon made the usually dry
beds of mountain torrents veritable c.ta.
racts
Floods in these regions are OF annual
occurrence, for which preparations are
made and comparatively little damage is
done; freshets caused by heavy summer
rains occur several times season, but
the heavy waterfalls are carried away
with only little damage. The cloudburst
OF yesterday, however, came before the
district had recovered from more than
twenty-four hours of torrential rains on
Sunday and with every stream bankful.
This morning as the waters cleared
away, stricken community CAGES at the
power Of the elements. Heavy rocks have
been split, heavy railroad iron has been
lifted from almost solid beds and dropped
into rivers, while on ali sides deep scars
mark the surface Of the earth where the
crowding waters have made new courses
for themselves.
Dunbar. near Connellsville was inun.
dated. The waters ragged through the
main streets, upsetting massive struc-
lures and endangering the lives OF hum
dreds OF persons. A cleudburst was thu
cause. although it is thought a dam broke.
The Turtle Creek valley was visited
by a disastrous flood and the damage is
enormous. Crops were blotted from the
earth.
Railroad Traffic Impeded.
Railroad traffic through a great terri.
tory is demoralized. With four connec-
tions into Uniontown the Pennsylvania
was unable to get passengers into the
city early today. Several railroad bridges
of that system and the Baltimore & Ohio
were torn from foundations thought i'm
pregnable and hurled into the naaddened
waters.
Hundreds are homeless. Thousands