Rensselaer Union, Volume 5, Number 32, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 May 1873 — The Recent Great Storm in the West. [ARTICLE]

The Recent Great Storm in the West.

From Thomas Keys, Esq., and Mr. John F.vans, of the firm of Evans & Duraall, wir gather the following particulars of the damage done on tlic rine of the Union Pacific by the late storm. In company with <l. D. Clark. .parclntKing .agaut of the Union Pacific, and T. J. Staley, they left here last Monday for Gibbon to organize :m Odd Fellows' lodge. 7~~ Mr Evans represented the severity of the storm as being almost equal to that experienced here in 1850. At Gibbon, where they remained until the blockade was open, it raged with almost indescribable fury—the drifting snow in places heaping up to tlic proportion of mountains, while tlic wind swept over the plains at a velocity of about seventy miles an hour, carrying with it everything of a movable nature. Realizing the danger they would , incur by wandering ten step's from the house where they Were stopping they concluded to secure the doors, stop up the cracks, and have a good time in general until such time as they could safely return to Omaha. Enclosed by four dingy walls, in a room seven by nine feet, twen-ty-five men remained from Sunday night till Wednesday noon, nyt daring to open the door. Rut while they felt, themselves secure from the violent storm raging without, there were other persons in the vicinity of Gibbon suffering the agonizing torlures of death by the slow process of freezing and suffocation. __ ;. A man' and his wife, living a few miles from Gibbon, could not he found after the storm abated, and it was believed, at the time our informants left, that they remained buried beneath the ruins of the house, which had blown down during the storm, and. on which was heaped an immense snow-drift. Every effort was 1 icing made to recover the bodies. Three horses, owned by a resident of (tibhon, perished from suffocation. ’’Anotherin an had fifteen head Of fat cattle in a corral,out of which they succeeded in making their way, wandered oil’ to the river-and were all drowned. Five more in another corral met the same fate. A herd of caNtle, valued at SO,OOO, stampeded, and it is supposed all perished, as none of them had been found alive up to Wednesday evening. At W<aid River no lives are known to he lost, hut the loss in stock is-very great. The farmers were Organizing themselves into companies .for the purpose of scouting the country to ascertain the extent of damage done, and to render such assistance as may be necessary to those who survive and may require it. The river was completely bridged with snow, ranging in depth from fifteen to eighteen feet, and was paeked .iu betweeii thc hanks.so hard that a loaded wagon could pass over it with perfect safety. One mail picked iqi several prairie chickens that were alive, hut so benumbed they could not fly. ;At Lone Tree, a boy wlvo stepped outside the hotel to get some fuel was unable to retrace his steps, wandered a short distance from the house, and perished.,.While search was being made for him, the body of a trapper was found. It is thought more lives were'lost than those already, reported, as nothing can be heard'; of the immigrants that were camped, along the lino of the road, before the storm commenced. Two men are known to have perished near Grand Island, and a great deal of stock is also reported lost. Some of the hogs taken out of the freight train at Lone Tree, which was unable to side-track, were found to be entirely destitute of liair, and had the appearance of -having just been dragged from a vat of scalding water. This was caused probably by tile heat becoming so intense in - th'cir .endeavor.to kecp.on.iop of the snow. Rut very little stock was removed from this train alive. It will be some days yet before the full extent of the damage done is known. — Omaha Herald , April 10.

St. Joseph, Mo., April 21. Much anxiety has been felt here for the welfare of the citizens of the border 200 miles west.of here during the late, storm. Me have had no communication with themuntil to-day, when,we learn of their terrible suffering and loss of life, unnaralleled in the annals of our histony. For three days the people did not dare to leave their houses, ami they became terrified at having to stay in theniy as many were blown down.' Saturday nighty before the storm, the house of a man named Crain, near Belleville, was burned down, and the family went to the house of Mr. Burnett, a neighbor, for shelter. On Sunday night "house was blown down by the.

storm, and Mrs. Crain and two children and Mrs. Rurnett and four children perished. Mr. Rurnett survived, and escaped to shelter with one of Mrs. Crain’s children, Mr. Crain .was in Atchison, and did not know- ol the fearful catastrophe until yesterday. The office of the Sentinel , at Cawker, was blown down. Four persons were brought into that place and many others are supposed to have died from exposure in that region. At Belleville a mill and a daguerrean gallery were blown down. The store of Chpman & Rrother, a large building forty by sixty feet, two stories high, was badly clahiagea. At New Scandanavitt the roof of a stone stable was blown into a mail coach, which was crushed, as also one of the stone walls of the stable. A large flouring mill. was carried bodily two or three feet from its foundation. The engine house was Completely blown away, The ferry-boat across the Republican River was sunk. Three dead bodies Were brought into the place Wednesday. Mr. Morgan says that for two days one could not reach the hitching post in front of the hotel where he was stopping, the snow was so - thick, and that men who lived in the town and happened to be at the hotel when the storm came up could not get home, although several attempts were -made. The town is supplied with water from a cistern in the public square, and whenever a lull occurred in the storm men could he seen approaching it from all directions to procure water, hut could hot get back to their houses With any quantity. Water was obtained by melting snow. Stock was-nok-fod—or wittered- faaWbpee days, and in some instances, where snow had drifted against the stables, the stock had not been reached up to Thursday. The loss of stock which was not sheltered-, it is estimated, will reach one-lialf of all in that section. Those who have lived in that country for years say they never saw anything like the recent, storm. The worst is that the half has not yet been learned.