Eureka daily sentinel. [volume] (Eureka, Nev.) 1871-1887, 1878-08-20
Communicated
ABOUT CLOUD.BURsTs.

EprroR SENTINEL: Cloud-bursts and
floods seem to be the order of the day
lust now. Austin and Eureka having both
been flooded in the last few days, with
great damage 70 property and loss Of life
at Austin. makes it the general talk. These
foods are not a new thing: they have been
common for all time, and unmistakable
signs are seen all over the country; hence
what has occurred may occur again any
day, and fer more in bulk and terrible in
destruction than anything which has
transpired since the settlement by the
American people. All Of those rugged
canyons, Quilted to The very rocks, and
boulders weighing tons sent miles out into
the valleys, are sure signs OF heavy tor.
rents of water; and the few flats and
pleasant spots found in some Of the can
yons are only the deposits from above
which have been deposited by the block
ing up of the narrow gorges which for
many years have been gradually accumu-
lating with the sediment spreading over
the surface. There is a cause for all this,
and that cause is not solely what is known
as cloud-bursts, which in themselves are
fearful beyond description, seeming more
like the pouring of a large river on the
earth than like the falling Of the rain.
They almost always gather at or near the
highest peaks of the mountains and pass
from one high peak to another, washing
the peaks bare and deluging the valleys in
its course, The origin must have its con-
nection with the electrical current, they
occurring always succeeding very hot
weather. But there are other causes for
the flowing Of water in sudden floods.
There are unmistakabls signs of very heavy
falls of snow, such as we have never seen
during our stay in this country, and which
are liable to occur at any time during our
winter storms. Observing persons will
remember that all the older and UNDER
growth growing on high, level ranges, and
not in northern exposures, grow out for a
few feet horizontally, and then grow
straight up, demonstrating beyond ques-
ton very heavy SHOWS, perhaps many feet,
which covered them up, and thus pressed
them to the ground, keeping the earth
moist and warm, and thus, for seasons,
pressing them to the earth SO long that
they could not rise, and thus grown hori-
zontal for several feet, then have assumed
the perpendicular. Another sign is that
the fir trees, with spreading limbs, have
been pressed down by the burden of snow
until they generally grow downwards in
place Of being erect. These SHOWS have
lain in heaps, mountain high, until mid
summer, when, with the heated rays OF the
sun at great attitudes, and perhaps COM
bined with our summer cloud-burst storms,
have been ~precipitated to the valleys, car
rying in its course great boulders and
masses Of gravel and rocks, sometimes
stretching almost across wide valleys, and
in a few known cases have damned the
valleys and formed lakes. There are many
unerring signs of deep SHOWS and sudden
floods, and these faithful monitors ought
to cause a thinking, rational people to
avoid any Of these water courses for the
building Of even the most substantial
structures, and seek a good foundation, for
sand will not stand the floods, n moth
ing is secure against such floods as Ne
vada, and all this interior, dry, parched
country is subject to. The seasons seem
to be changing perceptibly, and who can
tell what they may very soon become?