St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-02-24
THE WALNUT GROVE HORROR
Little Additional News From the
Great Disaster.

PRESCOTT, AriZ., Feb. 23.-No def
mite news has yet reached here of the
loss OF life or the damage caused by the
break yesterday of the Walnut Grove
dam. Arthur Allen, formerly in the
the enterprise. and John Mcdonald,
owner of the Blue Dick mine, have Just
returned from the Dozoris divide, four
teen miles south of the town, from
The wash waterway could be plainly
seen with their powerful glasses high
up on the side of the cliff, while the
break in the stonework of the
Gam was also plainly seen.
The break in the dam is
sioped to the eastward, leaving the i'm
preston that the main break was on
the east side. There can be no estimate
yet of the loss of life or property, but
the latter will reach into millions, while
the loss of life will without doubt be
great, as many of the families were liy-
ing near the stream in the narrow cam
yons. The confirmation of the news of
the loss of the big dam has heightened
the excitement, and more definite news
is now anXiously awaited, but as the
wires are down near Prescott junction,
it is hardly probable that any additional
information will be received tonight.
A courier who brought telegrams
for the owners of the Walnut Grove
dam notifying them of their loss az
rived about 8 o'clock last night and left
Immediately after daylight this MORN
ing. He could give little particulars,
further than to report the number of
missing, five bodies having been recOv-
cred and identified when he left. The
distance TO the storage dam from Pres
cott by the shortest trail is forty miles,
while the service dam, where employees
were located, is fifteen miles further
down the stream. Immediately on the
receipt of the news here, Adjutant Gen.
eral O'Neii started for the scene
of the disaster with two sur
geons to care for the suffer-
ers and to superintend the burial
OF the dead. A representative of the
journal Miner, q local paper, accom-
panied by party who will send spe-
cial courier with particulars, left to-day,
but it will take twenty-four hours or
longer to make the round trip. Yester-
days courier came from the lower dam,
and, as the road does not come by the
upper dam. it was only surmised that it
had given away, on account of the i'm
mense quantity of water. A more
hopeful feeling exists this evening on
account of no news being received di-
rect that the upper dam has given away.
1t is now hoped that the reservoir is
still intact and the flood was caused by
the opening of the gates to relieve it
from the threatened danger.
sSAN FRANCISCO. Feb. 23.-Engineer
Luther Wagner to-day gave some de-
tails of the construction of the great
storage dam across Hassayampa river,
which shows that this disaster, like that
at JohnStown, Pa, was, according to
him, due to the carelessnesS and mean
ness of the New York corporation that
built it. Mr.. Wagner was called in
to report on the dam about q year
and half ago. 1t was to have
been faced with stone fourteen feet
thick at the base and four feet at the
top, and filled with loose rock, and
made water tight with wooden sheath
ing. 1t was about half done when Mr..
Wagner inspected it. He found that
the stone had been filled in carelessly
and was high in the center, making the
structure unstable. The junction of
sheathing and bed rock was intended to
be secured by thick layers of Portland
cement, but this work was not we'll
done because of the cost of get
ting cement to the works. Thus
a dangerous crevice was formed
at the dams base, and leakage was
ueaVy. Delng l.4l lncneS, with seventy
feet of water in the dam. In addition,
the lumber used was full of knot holes.
Mr.. Wagner advised the discharge of
the contractors and engineers. as he re-
garded them as worthless, but this was
not done. The company, however, act
ing on his advice, strengthened the
weak places Mr.. Wagner warned
them that the dam would be unsafe un-
less some of the work was gone over and
rectitied, but they would not listen to