The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1892-11-28
WATERS EVIL WORK.
Particulars of the Damage to
the Great Northern.
LEVEL OF TRACK TO BE RAISED.
Damage Will lie Repaired in Two
Weeks-Switchbsck Ready for Rails
"A Fortune in . Ferry.

A man who has just come down along
the Great Northern main line and made
careful notes of the damage done by the
floods gave a summary OF his observations
to Posi- INTELLiGENcER reporter yester-
day, which gives a tolerably complete view
OF the condition OF affairs.
From Snohomish to Lowell the track
was under. water to a depth of about two
feet, but was very little damaged, as the
bank merely settled here and there. At
Snohomish the jam against the bridge
was expected to go out yesterday, but
owing to the rapid fall of the water it has
grounded and is likely to hold together for
a couple of days more. II has been reduced
by the use OF dynamite to length OF
800 and width of 400 feet and is about 20
feet deep. In spite Of the great pressure
which it had to resist, the temporary
bridge stands firm and the engineers think
this sufficient answer to the criticisms OF
the Snohomish Eye on their wisdom in
building it. All along the rest of the line
the grade has been damaged at intervals
by washouts and settling as far as Miller
river. and at Foss river there is quite
washout. The worst damage in the way
OF washouts, however, is at Canyon Falls,
where the great rock fill is washed out for
300 to 400 feet and will take some time to
replace. At the south fork two piers of
the bridge were washed out; at the north
fork the contractors had the cords
OF one span in and had
started to take them out again to
escape the flood when the water came and
swept them away, as we'll as two of the
piers: jam carried out all but three feet
Of the span at the first crossing of Wallace
creek: the wagon bridges at the forks were
also washed out.
The contractors on the small amount of
work remaining to be done at the summit
have plenty of supplies for three weeks to
come, but the men are anxious to get out.
The switchback is finished, all but the
tracklaying, and most of the men who are
coming down the road now are from this
part of the work. There are only a few
rock cuts to finish and very little earth
work; the open cut to take the place of
Hastings tunnel is almost completed, and
the whole of the line can be made ready
for track by December 10. There was
about three feet Of snow on the summit on
Friday night, and snow lay in the valley
as far down as Foss river. Snow tell on
Saturday, which would somewhat increase
the depth.
Repairs of the damage are being pushed
all along the line. Bridge carpenters were
sent to the forks on Saturday with orders
to put up only as much false work as is
necessary to put in the span at the north
fork, so track will not be laid across until
the span is in. Work is also going on all
along the line from Lowell to Snohomish,
and from Sultan down, repairing the
grade where it has settled. Ultimately
the whole track from Lowell to Woods
creek will be raised three feet three
inches higher, the recent flood having
been that much higher than the freshet of
last May, which was supposed to be the
highest ever known. 1t is estimated that
all the damage west of Foss river will be
repaired in twelve to fourteen days SO that
trains can run, and as the need of the
wagon road has passed away, it will not
be rebuilt.
The flood has been bonanza to Gum,
the man who owns the cable ferry at the
Forks. His apparatus consists OF a cable
swung across the river between two
stumps and platform which is hauled
across by rope and on which the passen-
gers sit straddle. Gum has not made
anything by it until the present time, but
his ferry is now the only means of cross
ing, and there is a crowd constantly wait
ing to ride on it. He charges 80 cents to
take man across and is said to be making
$500 day.