The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1892-11-20
CANOES RESCUE THOSE IN PERIL.
A Great Slide Carries House and
Farm Into Lake WhatcOm.
Tho Occupants Terribly IDjured-Big
Jams Endanger the Snohomish
BridGes-Wash on tho Lake shore
and Slides ON the Great Northern.


| Of communication all over the Sound
country. All the rivers are at flood tide
| and have overfiowed the lowlands, carried
out several bridges and endangered others.
| The food. as bad as, if not worse than,
that OF year ago.
Ne trains ran on the Northern Pacific
and Great Northern roads yesterday. and
all trains on the Lake Shore road were
more or less behind time. Telegraph
wires were Frustrated in ali directions by
falling trees, but during the day most of
the breaks were repaired. Along the
coast the Wes tern Union wires were in
working order last night, but the trans
continental wires were working very
slowly. The Postal wires south were un-
| touched, but toward the north they were
down in several places, although the COM
pany managed to keep a through wire
| working.
| Perhaps the worst disaster and the one
which caused the most inconvenience TO
| travellers was the damage on the Northern
Pacific between here and Tacoma and on
the Cascade division beyond Palmer. The
water in Green river is two feet higher
than last year. wnen the Indians said it
had not been SO high for thirty years be-
fore, and the washing out of the bridge
across it near Palmer will interrupt trans
continental traffic for two or three days.
Two culverts south of Kent were washed
ont, but were repaired during the day.
Five panels of the west approach to the
bridge at Stuck were washed out. A large
force of men are at work and it was
thought the structure would be repaired
so that trains could cross before morning.
A train was started out for Tacoma about
IL D. m, the first in thirty-sx hours, to
connect with the Portland train, and
made the connection all right. A wash
out ten feet wide occurred q mile west of
Black River junction soon after it had
passed and prevented the train from Ia
coma from getting in here. This washout
is in the new bank made by filling in the
long bridge last summer. Floods were also
| reported in the Cowlitz valley, but their
extent was unknown.
On the Lake Shore road no damage is
! reported along the Snoqualmie branch.
On the northern branch there were nu-
| merous small slides, trees blown across
/ the track. and considerable damage of
minor character. There were no wash
outs, but the bridge across the Stillagua-
mish at Arlington was in such an unsafe
condition that it was not deemed safe to
| cross it until the water had subsidized. Pas
| sengers from the North were transferred
| to the train from Seattle by walking across
| the bridge. Coming down to Pilchuck, six
miles above Snohomish, the tram was
again delayed, the track being six
inches under water at that place.
Laborers were at work all day
repairing the gap. and early this morn
| ing the train was finally got over, and ar
| rived a few hours later in this city. A
large gang of men were sent up the road
at 2 o'clock to make the road passable at
Pilchuck. A mile beyond Lake station.
where the road skirts the shore of Lake
Washington. there was a small slide, but
it was cleared away by few hours work.
The Great Northern lines suffered at
several places throughout their entire
length. Between here and Everett there
were two slides. One, at Edmonds, was
slight and was soon repaired, but the
! other, three miles this side of Everett, was
| more serious, and no trains came through.
large gang Of men are ut work, and the
slide will be cleared away today. The
Snohomish river bridge is endangered by
very large boom of logs, and as
| matter of precaution several loads
of steel were placed on the bridge. No
bridges have as yet been washed out. but
as the rivers are all rising, some may vet
60 out. No reports have been received of
any damage on the western end of the
main line, but owing to the softness of the
banks and the swiftness of the streams in
| the mountains, 1t is expected that the
damage will be considerable.
On the Columbia & Puget Sound road
there were two slides and one washout.
Between Renton and Cedar Mountain one
bent of the bridge over Cedar river and 100
feet of track was washed away. Superin-
tendent Bush is on the ground with a
large gang crhbing the track up, and this
gap will be repaired by tomorrow. At
Cedar Mountain there was slide near
the coal bunkers, but il is not of a serious
character. At Franklin there was large
slide, but as the wires above Renton are
down the particulars are not
known. At this place the track
is on hillside and con-
siderable dirt came down. On the New
castle branch there was no damage done.
Just below this city the track was OBJ
structed few hours by trees falling over
the track and dirt washing down.
No reports from the line of the Monte
| Cristo road have been received. bu. il is
tlou-ut the ualldpe tnefe 10 the freshly
! made grade will be considerable At tho
| further end of the line up in the noun
| tains there was five feet of snow on Thurs
| day night which renders further work tn g
/ season impractcabIe, and the sub-con-
| tractors are discharging their men.
| The Green, White and Black rivers are
! al! raging torrents and have flooded all
/ The lowlands. which resemble huge Jaka
! Families are being taking out Of dweIl,nos
| in canoes and the chances are that great
| damage will be done TO property. although
( no loss OF life has yet occurred. White
/ river IS much higher than las. wear AT this
| season, and that was the highes, known
for years, and vas rising four inches
| per hour last night. Were il no,
| for the fact that the city counciI
of Slaughter last year changed the chan
mel, throwing il TOW ards the east. the main
| waters of that stream would be nassi,g
| through the principal streets of that town
! Stuck river is also higher than for years
County Commissioner Fred Gasch went
yesterday afternoon 10 the Duwamish
| river bridge. which was threatened by a
Jam OF logs. He took a supply of dynam-
ite with him with which TO blow up the
| jam If necessary.
The Snoqualmie river was also . raging