Rensselaer Republican, Volume 19, Number 12, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 November 1886 — THE WEST. [ARTICLE]

THE WEST.

A FURIOUS, snow-storm, accompanied by a high wind, swept over the Northwest and the far West plains on the 10th, 17th, and 18th of November, seriously interfering with railway traffic. The storm seems to have been severest in Southern Dakota, where more than a foot of snow fell. In lowa and Minnesota all trains were from three to ten hours behind time, and some were even abandoned altogether. The blizzard extended southward to Texas, where the coldest November weather for twenty-five years was reported. Eight lives were lost by the foundering of the barges Dixon and Emerald in Luke Michigan, off Kewaunee, Wis. A Green Bay dispatch furnishes the following particulars of the disaster; “The steam-bargo Justice Field, with four sail-barges, the Dixon and Emerald, coal laden, for Manitowoc, and Bessie and Lillie May, coal laden, for Milwaukee, were driven into Kewaunee, where the Dixon struck' about three o'clock and foundered five hours later. Three of the seven men in her crew went down with her. Shortly afterward, tho next barge, the Emerald, was in the breakers, and went on the beach about noon. Her crew of five men took to the yawl-boat, but only the mate reached shore alive, and it is thought he can not recover from his injuries. The life-saring crew at Two Rivers were sent for, but had all they could attend to at home. Of the eight men lost tbreo are said to hail from Green Hay. among them being Capt. Gorham, of the’Emerald. Capt. Robinson, of the Dixon, got ashore alive.” The gale that swept over the great lakes on the 18th of November was one of the must violent and destructive experienced in years. Numerous wrecks, accompanied by serious loss of human life, are reported, and the money loss to vessel-owners will reach many thousands of dollars. Two tow-barges, the Menekannee and Marinette, lumber laden from Oscoda to Chicago, were wrecked four miles south of Frankfort, Mich., and fourteen lives lost. Every soul who shipped aboard the Menekaunee found a watery grave. One solitary sailor survived the wreck of tho Marinette—CT AY. Anfiis, of Port Huron, a sailor on his first trip wno tells a distressing story of the disaster: At midnight, while ttnreaefc of I.udinfjton. six miles oat, tne gal t Increased Ad almost a hurricane. Th ■ tow broke, and the steamer 1 'ft ns to our fate. Ti e Ma in vt? pitch d and rolled terribly, so that we could scarcely keep a fix tbold. She t.n hipped her redder, upcoming unmanageable* t.ieu sprung a lent and wateilogged. Shi lolled her- .bvkload olt, taking botV'rails and b.il—wmata— with it. She also rolled her mainmast out. which, in fading, took the foremast and mtzxenhead. We w ere hu idled in the cabin, where we huilt'a teihpo'arv d.*or over the water. At ‘2 sj'clock p. in. of Thursday the Captain was washed o.erooar 1 and drowned. Some hours after this we lowered a boat and ut- " tempted to reach land, but in lowering it she ■prang a leak, rendering her useless, and wo let her go adrift. At IU:SJ o'clock Thursday night the barge struck the beach broadsi Je and swung / head to. We rushed out of th? cabin. Ourc ow was eight, all told. Mane huddled tinder the lee of the cabin. Clinging to lijn >er-hea Is I to itthe mitten riggin.'. tne stewardess, M4ry, clinging to me. crying ptt >»usl\ ; ‘riareme. .oh. save me! I helped her up in the shrouds,- and she clung with tier little white h inds while I •ought to fasten her. She could u6t stand the cold, and suddenly gave her hod and felt down across me, nearly carrying me along. She fell into the boiling •ea beneath us. Her daiigntsr Minnie o.ir )>et. never left tue cabin, but drowned there! she was thirteen years o:d. iTiugiiig to the rigging with me were ‘French J>dm and Mr. Ciimfrev. Soon the mast fell across the cabin. We then clung to the davits on her,*tern, tne sea dashing over us. The others. I think, gradually washed off one after the other. Camfrey and John tried to roach the shore, eacn taking a plank to buoy him. Tbcv were overwhelmed by the heavy, sea an.l went to the bottom. A heavy sea-swept ijver the vessel, carrying me aloin -. I grappled a mlis.ll piee; of deck plank, and after a terrible experience «ai flung upon the shore. Tne crew consisted, of eight, all of whom w ith ill - except.on of myself lie At the bottom Of the lake. The Lucerne, a three-masted schooner, ore-laden from Ashland to Cleveland, foundered and sunk near Washburn, Wis.. in sixteen feet of water. Three sailors were found frozen in the rigging, and it is supposed that the men comprising the rest of the crew were drowned. The crews of the steajnbarge Robert WaUaee and of her consort, the David Wallace, ashore on Choeolay beach, near Marquette, were rescued by -the Houghton life-saving crew. The cargoes of both vessels, 104.000 bushels of wheat, are a total loss, but it is believed the craft can be saved. The schooner Unadilla, valued nt SIn.GQG. was lost iu the . Straits of Mackinaw. A number of other disasters to shipping are reported. There have beeu filed at Keokuk articles of incorporation of the Chicago, Kansas City and Western Railway, with a capital stock of $31,500,000, which pro? poses to build from the Mississippi River in Lee County, lowa, in a southwesterly direction to Kansas City, as a Chicago connection of the Atchison. Topeka and Santa Fe. .Cincinnati was visited with a disastrous lire which consumed two large clothing houses, causing a loss of $700,000.