Los Angeles daily herald., 1889-10-21
THE RAIN.
The Water POurs into the
Power Houses,
1T STOPS THE CABLE ROADS
Comparisons With the Rainfall of
Other Years-An Unusually
Heavy Fall.

OuASA 4O0A IL OAACuQl1I
Heavy Fall.
Hereafter when superintendent Rob
inson, of the cable company, engages
men to work as engineers or firemen in
the power houses he will ask them this
question: "Can you swim ?"
Yesterday was black day for the COM
pany. The two cables operated from the
power-house shut down at
noon and did not move again. The
Boyle Heights cables struck at O'Clock
and did not resume work until A. On
the East Side, although the state of things
at the power-house was even more chaotic
than at the other two, the engines we're
kept in motion to the end, but only by
the most heroic exertion of the men.
At the Grand-avenue power house
everything was all right until about half
past IL, when streams of muddy water
began to pour through the culverts which
conduct the cable from the street into
the engine house. In q few moments
these streams developed into mighty tor
rents which carried everything before
them, the water apparently coming down
from both directions Of Seventh street
and Grand avenue to common outlet at
this place. For some time this deluge
poured into the engine house as if three
huge sluices had just been opened in q
canal, and it was estimated that about
$4,000 gallons per minute were being
emptied into the basement. By actual
upon the wall of the engine
room it was found that the water rose
fourteen inches in less than twenty
minutes. At O'Clock the en-
gines were almost entirely sub
and the water in the boiler
house was from four to five feet deep.
Every effort was then directed towards
keeping the food from putting out the
fires in the boiler, so that the pumps
could be kept going. A huge barricade
OF coal was built round the boiler to serve
as sort of Golfer. dam; the water that
leaked through this was pumped and
bailed out fast enough to keep the fires
untouched. As the waters in the engine
room increased in depth the barricade of
coal was raised higher and higher, and
at times the fight grew very exciting.
Although the company's pumps
handled about 1000 gallons minute, it
was plain that the water was going to
win, and would presently put out the
fires. Mr.. Robinson feared that when
this catastrophe took place and the pump
ing ceased that the water would rice to
the level of the sidewalk, and utterly
ruin the machinery. Nor was this all
that might happen. The foundations Of
the building might be so weakened and
the walls 80 heavily strained by the bulk
of water that the building would fall.
Word was sent to the Fire Department,
and Chief Strohm was promptly on hand.
He declared that he had no authority to
order out an engine for any such pur-
pose. Mr.. Robinson explained the pos
sibility of the falling of the building, and
the Chief then went off to consult with
the members of the Fire Commission.
He received from them instructions to
go ahead, and at half past three engine
No. 5 was at work pumping. When it
failed to make any gain against the food
of water, No. 3 was substituted, which is
the strongest engine in the department.
About this time the rain ceased, and
nothing then remained but to pump out
the water which had accumulated. By
8 o'clock in the evening the men were
ready 10 60 to work at cleaning the mud
from the machinery and getting every
thing ready to start up the cable again.
1t will be several days, however, before
the cable will be ingood shape again,
as the flood of water tearing
through the tunnels has washed it clean
of the coating of tar and grease which il
is necessary that it should have upon it,
The Boyle Heights power-house is
situated high upon an emine nee at the
corner of First and Cummings streets
There are good sewer come ctions around
the building, and no one even imagined
that there was any possibility that il
should be flooded. When the rainwatel
tegan to wash down the hills in torrents
it brought with it fragments of sticks ant
sod and presently damned up the graf
ing at the mouth of the sewer. Then
the water turned and began to pour into
the engine-room of the power-house.
By o'clock it had reached the height
of five feet in the engine-room and foul
feet in the boiler-room. The furnace
went out and the cable stopped. Al
soon as the rain was over, at 8 o'clock
the process of clearing up was begun anC
by O'Clock the cable was running again
Of the three engine houses, that one
situated at the corner of Downey avenue
and Workman street Jared the worst
About 10 o'clock the intersection of these
streets was vast sheet of water, which
rising to the level Of the sidewalk found
an outlet in wooden trap door 3 feel
by feet which led to the conduit through
which the cables passed from the road.
way to the engines. Almost stimuli.
taneously the water commenced pouring
down the track into the street end
Of this conduit and in a very few
minutes the engine room was deluged.
In short time the engines we're entirely
submerged, and the water was twelve
feet deep in tho basement. At O'Clock
Engineer Chas. Groves, who is in charge
of the building, discovered that the water
was still pouring in through 4-inch pipe
at the end of the conduit from the street,
but it was found impossible to reach
it except by going the whole length of the
passage from the engine house, dis
tance Of sixty feet. As at the time the
conduit was full of water, Groves deter
mined to mako an attempt to stop the
pipe by swimming this distance and
putting a wooden cap in the mouth. Ac
cordingly he dived down the trap
door, and swimming under water managed
to tear off the wire grid over the mouth
Of the pipe, but was obliged to return fo
cir before stopping it. After a few
minutes rest he again took a header int,
the muddy water, but only succeeded il
getting the wooden block nartislIv in thl