People's Pilot, Volume 3, Number 49, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 May 1894 — WIND AND RAIN. [ARTICLE]

WIND AND RAIN.

Fearful Havoc Wrought in ManyParts of the Country. Storms in the Northwest—Terrible Effects Felt on Dake Michigan—Floods in Pennsylvania Equal Those of Five Years Ago. THE WORST FOR YEARS. St. Paul, Minn., May 18. —The great storm which swept over Minnesota and western Wisconsin Tuesday night was the most severe since the cyclone of April 14, 1886, crushed eighty-six lives at St. Cloud and Sauk Rapids. So far as reported only four people have been killed, but the loss to buildings, crops, bridges and railways by wind, hail, lightning and flood will foot up an enormous sum. The downpour of rain for a given period was the greatest ever known. Loss Will Reach 81,000,000. St. Paul, Minn., May 19. —Reports from the districts visited by storm and flood indicate that the loss was heavier than first reported and will reach at least $1,000,000. All the railway lines entering St. Paul except the Chicago Great Western and Minneapolis & St. Louis employed all the idle men they could find in repairing bridges and tracks washed awaj’ by the torrents which swept down every river and brook in this section on Tuesday and Wednesday. Every Bridge Gone. Maiden Rock; Wis., May 19. Rush river overflowed its banks during Wednesday night and the raging torrent carried everything before it. Every bridge from the headwater of Rush river to the outlet in the Mississippi has been swept away. Both flouring and sawmills were ruined and the total loss will reach $100,003 in this county. At least a dozen farmhouses along Rush river were washed away. Killed by a Cyclone. Kunkle, 0., May 19. A cyclone passed one-fourth mile west of here at 4:30 o'clock Thursday afternoon, killing five persons, fatally injuring two others and slightly wounding several more. The scene of the cyclone is a hard one to describe. Houses, fences, trees and obstructions of all kinds in the path of the storm have been carried away and nothing left to mark the spot where they stood except holes in the ground.

Much Damage lu Wisconsin. Ashland, Wis., May 21.—The old portions of Ashland’s breakwater are almost demolished, the sea breaking entirely through at three different places and wrecking it the entire length, so that it will have to be rebuilt The new portion stood well. Thedamage will probably reach 875,000. Kewaunee, Wis.. May 19.—The last of the heavy rainstorms ended Friday morning in a blizzard of snow and hail. No mail has arrived from the south since Thursday owing to the tracks of the Green Bay road being washed Out Farmers report the pea crop totally ruined. In lowa. Dubuque, la., May 21.—The spectacle of snow falling after the middle of May was seen Friday morning. After several days of extreme hot weather, resulting Thursday in prostrations by sunstroke, the mercury sunk from 90 degrees to 42 degrees inside of twelve hours. ON LAKE MICHIGAN. Ships Founder and Go Down with Their Crews in a Gale. Chicago, May 21.—The northeast gale which began with the change of weather Thursday night blew with increasing force all day Friday. The gale approached the dignity of a hurricane, blowing at intervals at 00 miles an hour. The beach in the neighborhood of Chicago was a “lee shore.” From Glencoe to South Chicago it was strewn with wreckage. , Thirty-Eight Perished. Chicago, May 22.—The latest estimate of the loss of life off the harbor of Chicago during the recent storm is twenty-eight. Add to this number the six members of the crew of the schooner Cummings, wrecked off Milwaukee on Friday, and the four life-savers off Port Huron, Mich., and the total loss at these three points alone is thirtyeight. The schooners Myrtle and Evening Star, wrecked at Twentyseventh street Friday evening, have gone to pieces, and the Jack Thompson is rapidly meeting the same fate. Life Savers Go Down. Port Huron. Mich., May 22.—1 n an effort to save the crew of the schooner William Shupe, which was waterlogged 14 miles out Friday night and drifted to shore, 5 miles north, Saturday, four volunteer life savers were drowned. The dead are: Augus King, Capt. Henry Little, William Lewis and Barney Mills. Capt. Daniel Lynn swam ashore and was saved. Great Loss to Farmers. Chicago, May 22.—8 y the frosts of Friday and Saturday nights incalculable damage was done to growing crops over an extensive range of territory. The effect of the cold wave was felt from the northern line of Dakota to the gulf. It also went well toward the At antic, especially in the southern states. Fruits, vegetables, wheat, corn and other cereals suffered severely from the remarkable weather. The Dakotas, Minnesota, lowa, Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri, Wisconsin, IHinois, Indiana, Texas, Kentucky and Tennessee sent reports of trouble from snow and ice. CITIES INUNDATED. DKutroua Floods tn Many Portions of Pennsylvania. Altoona, Pa., May 22.—The reservoif «t Kittanning point, 6 miles above here, broke at 2 a. m.'Monday morning. sweeping down upon Holidaystyjf. A locomotive was sent down to that place to warn the people who had already been put upon the lookout. Williamsport, Pa.. May 22.—The river continued to rise during the Bight aad nearly the entire business

portion of the city is under water. The Western Union Telegraph office, which is situated on comp ratively high ground, has 6 inches of water on its floor. There has been no telegraphic communication with Lock Haven since 5 o’clock Sunday afternoon, at which hour the telegraph operator was driven from his office by the rising flood. Four miles of track of the Glen Allen Lumber company have been swept away. The boom at Lock Haven has broken and 15,000,000 feet of logs have been lost. The Upper Linden boom also broke at 5:30 Sunday afternoon. It contained 10,000,000 feet of logs and they have gone down. Driven from Their Homes. Bradford, Pa.. May 22. —The worst flood in Bradford’s history is rushing through Tuna valley. Twenty streets contiguous to the creek are inundated and hundreds of families are driven from their homes. The east and west branches of the Tuna are both transformed into good-sized rivers. Below Foreman street, at the confluence of the two streams, the flood is a quarter of a mile wide and is high enough to ruin all the carpets in the houses on Hilton and other streets in the lower part of the Sixth ward. Imprisoned in Their Homes. Huntingdon, Pa., Maj’ 22.—Within the last forty-eight hours the Juniata and the Raystown branch have risen 22 feet, flooding the low farms and imprisoning whole families in their homes. Portstown, a suburb of this town, was flooded to the second floors of the houses, and Allegheny street in this city was under water. The gas company’s works here have been abandoned to the rising waters, and many residences and business houses are flooded to the second floors. Buffalo Does Not Escape. Buffalo, N. ¥., May 22.—A1l the lower portions of the city are flooded. At Portville the streets are submerged and people are being driven from their houses. Merchants have been forced to take their goods off the floor and pile them on the counters and upon boxes and barrels.

Ten Lives Lost. Pittsburgh. Pa., May 23.—A1l the rivers and streams of western Pennsylvania had been swollen by Monday to floodtides, and were still rising. I Ten lives were reported lost. The greatest damage done is along the line of the Pennsylvania railroad between Altoona and Johnstown. The loss to the company will amount to 81,000.000. Bridge No. 6, which was washed away during the Johnstown flood of 1889, was swept down again. Several miles of roadbed and track ' were washed away, part of it being the eastern approach of the stone bridge at Johnstown. Three buildings were carried away in the central part of the city and a large nuinberof others badly damaged. The store of Anthony George was submerged, and, although anchored with ropes, the water swept it away. The residences of Emanuel James and Charles Statler also went downstream. At midnight, Monday, the Monongahela, Allegheny and Ohio rivers were still rising and flooding all the cellars in the lower part of Pittsburgh and Allegheny. In Johnstown. Several bridges and wooden houses below Conemaugh were badly damaged, but the greatest damage was in Johnstown. In the Eleventh ward an Oklahoma house, owned by Peter Seymour, was caught by the raging waters and swept to destruction. A threestory building of Philip Brown was torn from its foundation and greatly damaged. The iron bridge at this place was badly wrecked. Fully sls,- , 000 damage was done to property within 100 yards of the Pennsylvania passenger station here. A Cloudburst. Near Edensburg on Sunday night occurred a cloudburst which swelled the Conemaugh river to many times its normal size. The volume of water reached Johnstown about 3 o'clock in the morning and was accompanied by wholesale destruction. The flood was first felt at Southfork, where numerous small buildings were swept away. The Schuylkill River Rises. Philadelphia, May 23.—The Schuyl- ’ kill river began to rise rapidly Sun- ' day, and by Monday night the city fronts on both sides the river were over flowed. The B. &O. tracks were nearly 5 feet under water for some distance. The Delaware and Lehigh rivers were also considerably swollen. Farmers Suffer. The storm has been a bad one on the farmers, many cornfields have been ruined, the corn' being washed from the ground. Throughout the city trees were blown down, cellars flooded and. Many washouts occurred. A dozen or more families in South Pottstown have been driven out of their houses. At Schuylkill Haven a number of families living in the lowlands were compelled to flee from their homes. All the factories along the Lehigh river are closing down. At Easton and Bethlehem the factories are flooded with 8 feet of water. Three bridges have been carried away on the Pine Creek division of the Reading railroad at Suedburg, Stony Creek and Dauphin and traffic is completely checked. In the Genesee Valley. Dansville, N. Y., May 23. —The worst flood in years in the Genesee valley has just been experienced. The valley is one vast expanse of water. The destruction to growing and newly planted crops is complete. The Bradner creek at Cummingsville has swept everything along its banks, carrying down acres of rich farming land and depositing the soil in the creeks in the valley below. The Canaseraga valley has suffered terribly. Worse Than in ’B9. Williamsport, Pa., May 23. —At Ip. m. Monday the river reached a point 1 foot higher than it did in ’B9. The entire city was under from 4 to 20 feet of water. All the logs at the boom were swept away. The loss to property will I exceed $1,000,000.