Rensselaer Republican, Volume 16, Number 18, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 January 1884 — A BROKEN DAM. [ARTICLE]

A BROKEN DAM.

Two Houses Wrecked and Six Persons Drowned at Houghton, Mich. [Houghton (Mich.) Dispatch.] Many years ago a dam covering several acres was built by the Huron Mining company to supply water to its stamp nfills. This dam has always been considered safe, but this morning it gave way, and the immense body of water rushed down through a narrcW valley, a distance of about a mile, to Portage lake. Uhe residences of Mr. Charles E. Raymond, Assistant Cashier of the First National Bank of Houghton, and of Mr. Stephen E. Cieves, proprietor of the Eureka Iron works, were situated near the lake In the direct conrse of the current. Mrs. Raymond, on the first sound of danger, seized two pf her little children and rushed through the snow, protected only by her night-dress, to the high land near the house. The rest of the family delayed for a moment and were swept away. The names of those lost are: Charles E, Raymond, Assistant Cashier of the First National bank of Houghton, his son and servant girl, and Howard Raymond, wife and son, of the Allouez mine. The family of Mr. Cloves remained in the upper story of their house and passed through the terrible ordeal safely. The buildings are still standing, but are filled with debris. In Mr. Cieves’ house the floors gave way and the cellar and lower floors are filled with trunks of trees and stones weighing tons, the remains of a piano, stoves, and other furniture, all frozen into a compact mass. The track of the torrent, which was covered tnjth a heavy growth of timber, is swept clean to the surface of the rock.