The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1921-10-07
DREDGER WAS sunk
Expensive Accident Occur
red At Ditch No. So
WILL DELAY THE WORK
Two Large Barns On the Tom
Williams Farm Were De-
stroyed BY Fire


Lake Crystal, October tS,-The
floating dredger working on ditch No.
Sc sank to the bottom in about nine
feet of water Friday evening. A bolt
broke on one of the supporting arms
when the machine was in operation.
and before the heavy bucket could
be let down the front Of the dredger
had been drawn under water. The
boat filed with water instantly and
1t was only a few minutes
before, the dredger was resting
on the bottom of the ditch with only
the upper half of the cabin in sight.
1t Is not known just yet how Mr..
Barr, the owner, will proceed to raise
the dredger as 1t Is heavy affair
weighing In the neighborhood of one
hundred tons. The first attempt will
be to build a Golfer dam around the
machine. and pump the water out OF
the dredger then after the necessary
repairs are made to let the water In
at the bottom of the dam, and as the
water raised within the Golfer dam
the dredger will float. 1t is not known
as yet whether the boat part of the
sudden contact with the bottom of
the ditch, but the writer noticed by
inspection of the wreck that large
steel supporting cable that passes
over the top of the dredger is much
looser than 1t should be, which
might show the long toat has been
sprung by one end hitting the bottom
first. The dredger worked night and
day and had their own electric light.
ing plant, and as all this electrical
machinery is under water, no doubt
there will be considerable damage to
this machinery at least.
Mr.. Barr, ownr Of this dredger, es-
Inmates it will take about six weeks
and probably longer before the
dredger can be floated and put into
working order again. This bit of
hard luck will delay the completion
Of this ditch, which they had hoped
to finish before Christmas.
The other smaller machine owned
by Mr.. Barr, and working on the
same ditch will continue to work up
as long as the ditch remains within
the capacity of the machine. This
machine can only dig to a certain
depth and width when they come to
deeper digging they will have to quit
Barns Were Burned
a
fire destroyed two large barns on the
Tom Williams farm a.out two miles
north Of the city. Mr.. Williams had
been doing chores in the basement OF
the cattle barn and had stepped out
side when he noticed flames shooting
out of the coupla and north window
near the roof, he ran upstairs but the
whole north end of the barn was In
names. The alarm was spread by
phone and 1t was hut short time
before there were from forty to fifty
cars there with help, but by this time
the barn was mass of flames and
two straw stacks and horse barn
near by had caught fire. ,Nothine
water supply was low, so all the
hands turned their efforts to save the
other out buildings and house. Mr.
Williams had turned the horses out
and saved all the harnesses from the
horse barn. but he could not get to
the buck sheep that was In the cat
tie barn. His entire hay crop of the
season was in the two barns and was
destroyed. The fire burned verv fast
and by ten O'Clock the walls of 10th
harms had fallen in. Mr.. Williams Is
at a loss to account for the fire un-
less 1t was caused by SPONTANEOUS
was In the north end Of the cattle
barn. There were no electric light
wires near the end Of the harm where
the fire started SO it could not have
originated from defective wiring
The loss viii amount to from eight to
ten thousand dollars with only a
small part OF 1t covered bv insurance
With all HIS hay and straw crop
burned in addition to the loss Of two
large harms will make It hard and
serious proposition to care for his
stock this winter This Is the Sec
ond large fire DESTROYING farm prom
a week. It might lead one to believe
that there are fire bugs working.
Misses Helweg. and Wilson. Pro-
lessor Keller. Professor and Mrs
SNYDER and, little darohter motored
to Fuida, MINI Friday evening to
spend the week end
Mrs. W. D. Harris and danehter
Alma. Of Mankato end Mr. and Mrs
Leslie Evans and dauohter VIRGINIA
~ wadena MINI. visited at the r. T.
Thomas and John L. Evans homes
Saturday
Fd-ard Lewis and son RAYMOND Of
relatives and friends. Mr.. lewis
states that the crnns were not verv
good around, whe~e he was az the
hot winds dried them nm consider
able hut the rotafo cron IL oond.
Oscar Christensen ard chiid-en of
st. Tamas visited with his brother G.
" Christensen and family of this
CITY.
Mr.. and Mrs. Poht p. williams re-
turned home last evening from a
several weeks visit and auto tour in
North Dakota.