The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1894-06-08
All the Rivers Receding From
Their Highest Point.
UNION PACIFIC CLOSES ss. 600. 600
The Great Northern Coast Line Hopes
to Resume Today.
Canadian Pacific Kspsets 90 ssass Pas
seagers To-day The sxagss nss Fallen
Three Feet. Frazer 10 susssaiag aud
Coaaneta's Tributaries Are Lover.

PoRrLsyp. June 7.-Thirty-three feet On
the government gauge nov marks the
food limit here. The river has been sta
tionary since midnight Wednesday. IL /.
expected 20 rcmain stationary to-
morrow. and wili probably fall
little tomorrow night During the
nast sorty-eight hours the atmospheric
conditions on the Upper Coiamhia and
Snake rivers have been favorable TO a
slight decrease in the food. Today's dis
patches gave the morning readings IT
Ripsria ~ twenty-oae feet eight inches.
showing a fall of three feet in the Snake At
that point since Q .. m Tuesday. The
Columbia is stationary at Umatilla and
has been % since 3 p. IN. today.
Business Was brisker today than il has
been for ten days past. Nearly all of the
big business houses have at las, succeed in
transferring their stock to places beyond
all possible danger Of food. They have
become settled in their new quarters
and notified customers where they can
be found. Many wholesale houses today
made regular shipments that have been
unable TO do 30 for several days. Goods
the steamers. and then either to
rail points or directly to their
destination. Floating docks have
been built at the easiest point OF
exit, and all shipments are made in boats.
In some First street stores that are still
open for business patrons are carried from
the sidewalks through the lower doors To
the stairways leading TO the second floors.
One Of the peculiar circumstances attend
ing the food is the total absence of
crime or even of petty misdemeanors. Not
a single robbery or attempted housebreak-
ing has been reported from any portion Of
the city. No serious accident has occurred
in the fioosied district or on the river since
the overfow commenced. This Is
wonderful when it II taken into
consideration that many flimsy crafts are
in use, the elevated Sidewalks are in many
places really unsafe, and the re-
moval Of goods from the whole
sale district has Caused men to
take risks that under other conditions
they would not think Of. Ii 10 true that
scores of people have tumplsd into the
water. some in places where IL 10 really
deep, but no one has suffered more than .
severe wetting.
The Union Pacific railway u without
doubt the heaviest loser on the Pacific
coast by the present food. Supsrinten-
dent Baxter says that the track for dis
tAnce of 100 miles east of Portland
10 almost totally destroyed. and to
rebuild and put il in irst-class
condition will cost in the vicinity Of
81, 000. .000 The loss to the com pany's
docks, shops. warehouses;. rolling stock and
the Interruption 20 business Is estimated at
or near 100000. II will probably
be thres months before the stretch Of road
Is fully rebuilt. Meantime every effort
will bs exsrted to secure water
service between Portland and Una
tiiia, from which point the road
Although the attempt to get the steamer
Harvest Queen up ovsr the rapids at the
Cascades proved failure. an effort will 10
made today TO gee the steamer Baker up
past the Cascades. The Harvest Queen
has been pumped oat. and 10 once more
anoat.
Fews from along the Columbia liver Is
that the food has net only inflicted seri-
Gus damage upon the merchants aud prop
erty holders Of Portland, but has also dam
aged farmers and the Inhabitants of the
small cities in the iowlands along the
river to an incalculabic extent. Sew
eral towns are completely and 9TH
ers partly submerged. Houses and
wharves have been wrenched from
their foundations and swept away by the
raging waters. From the banks of tire
highla nds in Oregon 10 those in Washing
ton the river extends. being in places
twenty miles wide. Remnants of build
ings mark parts Of the devastated region
and can plainly b seen from the decks Of
passing steamers
''Down along our route the people In
the iowlands have deserted their homes
and fled, to the hills for safety
said Capt. Gray, OF the Lewis River
Transportation Compapy's steamer Mas
cot. which plies between Portlaud
and the towns on the Lewis river. Wood
land town Of 400 or 500 inhabitants, IN
Cowlitz county, Wash. 10 completely sub
merged and has bsen deserted by all
but . few who remained TO save their
effects and are now living in the second
stories Of their homes. OF those who fed,
some are camping on the highlands and
Others are staying with friends. I could
r a