Lives Lost In a Sudden Flood.

Patlock [sic] River at Kendrick, Idaho, Transformed into a Raging Flood of Waters.

Kendrick, Idaho, Jan. 13.--As a result of the sudden flood in the Potlock [sic] river, three lives are known to have been lost, and fears are expressed for others. Twenty houses have been swept away; stores are flooded; railroad tracks and bridges have been swept away and many people have fled to adjacent hills.

Street Commissioner Hamlin tried to escape from the flooded district in a buggy. The vehicle was overturned and three children were drowned. Mr. Hamlin was found this morning on the top of a dwelling, half dead from exposure and anguish. The flood carried away half the warehouse of the Kendrick grain company, in which was stored 50,000 bushels of wheat.

At midnight the flood began to recede slowly, but there is still three feet of water in the stores and the telephone operator who is sending this message is standing waist deep in the cold water.

The Columbus Enquirer-Sun, Columbus, GA 14 Jan 1900

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A special from Kendrick, Idaho, states that three children of Charles Hamblin and two Chinamen are reported to been drowned there.

A Northern Pacific freight train was caught by the rushing waters in the canyon below Moscow and Kendrick, and swept into the raging torrent. The train crew escaped. A passenger train is reported caught between the floods below Kendrick.

Kendrick, a town of about 600 people, situated on the flat where the Potlatch and Bear rivers converge in a narrow canyon, suffered the greatest. With a rush the waters engulfed the town, and 30 framed houses and a number of dwellings were soon floating down the Potlatch river. So rapid was the rise of the water that many people were caught in the flood and rescued with difficulty. Communication with the flooded district by wire or rail has been completely cut off and details as to loss of life are unobtainable.

The Duluth News Tribune, Duluth, MN 15 Jan 1900

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