The Hot Springs star. (Hot Spings [Hot Springs], Dakota [Dakota Territory, i.e. S.D.]) 1886-189?, 1889-06-14
THE BREAK IN THE DAM.
An I~snginee,'. story Of tho rerrlb,e ma,

An Engineers Story of the Terrible Flood.
Mr. Fred Il. Giles. the special correspond.
ent 81 the Chicago Daily Netcs Mt the scene
OF the calamity. tclegraphs that journal as
I%nsccndetl the valley to inspect the countrv
aud investigate the cause Of the disaster. Tia
rich iittsburgcrs who maintained the iil-stsrred
e c,aae , naye sgen p rom Q pe to deny the he cause. They
TACT is evident. 1t Is eighteen miles to the lake
ny the devious course Of the valley down which
INC torrent descended. No harm was done to the
DuI the transformation worked by the flood il
cyen more striking there than anywhere else.
me hnIse formerly stood by the shores Of q
aDovea Wide ravinc, seventy-fiye feet deeD. At
the bottom of which rolls a muddy stream. The
niclar.s'iue beauty of the place WAS extracted
grtas elnbHnkinent.
j. Wne! one exa4lmines the breach in the dam the
n Ieeii,g II one Of great surprise. There Is none
expect from a rending force. but, on tho contra.
ry: me aperture has q sylmlnetry that suggests
art rather than accident. The middle 81 the
Oh US helght., The lower portion of this is again
cut out. and this latter excavation extends to
= t;s, nn1.omi q tho dani. making IN opening that
niltiGs ample space for the stream now running
through II. A
me lam was an embankment of earth faced ON
pom sides with loose stone in the style called
a.out three hundred feet ON each side al Era
gap. On the east end close to the shore the dam
ID Groove9 Dy g wier over seventy-iive feet wide.
ana aoont ten feet deep. which was the outlet by
when the stream below was fed from the lake.
On tie west end of the dam is now o sluicewsy
S M; u. twenty ieet. wide and three feet deep.
the dam, but failed to save It. y"
II SO happened that at the time Of the food
thete Was q civti engineer present in charge Of
the construction OF sewer aud water worEs ON
the CLUB grounds:. This gentleman, Mr.. John q.
ratke' r.. Jaw the catastrophe from first to
"On Thursday night the dam was In perfect
let Of. The top. At that stage the the LAKE, .iaa IL h ssss9
a da,ea ni %flsa W 'Sng; + raj 1stn nd very hard Thur;
could SEQ SEQ there ass was = 90 so % Tor sa.d tSe % wsss4 %. .
over the drive In front Of the club-house, and
until II was only four feet below the tor Of !' ~
dam. I role up to the head Of the lake. and
saw ses. that eth the woods were boiling full Of water.
into the lake. were fetching down tree. locs.
and cut timber from . saw-mill that ma I'M IA
the woods In that direction. Aplow was run
IN the face of the dam to strengthen n. "a ~
same t me y channel was dug on the west end to
maze q slaieewsy there: There was about
l~ossible to cut. but then We struck bedfooE ths4
1t was impossible to get into without bIsstinr..
When we got the channel opened The water
twenty feet vide aud three deep ruahsd ont al
tnat end OF the dam. while the fiyer wa LETTING
Sss Sa saSsmoa' t; Sassnt dsy,s q t e. other snd:
rising g. The rate Of about ten inches IN hour,
By II ;so I had made up my mind thSs It Wa
iaarssf I ssii 10 az se eas df e. 1 andl getting sas. Sn mXl
TO warn the people OF their danger. The tsie.
graph tower 70 : mile from tie town, and 1
: sSSs s%o n snd there ntret 70 hAye messages sent to
sast tt@ae IL 4ady oper!tor tainted when shs had
a une y pSsG agS vr Of South ne Fo r.. hsd smgle time to