The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1894-01-21
MISSION AND POTRERO.

In the Potrero and Mission the rushing
waters have done their worst and piled on
sidewalk, street and car-track tons of rock
ana sand, broken sewers, flooded cellars,
lmpeded traffic and endangered human life.
On the brink of the PERCEPTIONS Ken
tucky-street cut, which so long has
threatened passers-by with The continuous
shifting and dropping of the loose rocks
from its side. a welI-inhabited house bids
fair from the washing of the storm to
tumble headlong TO the walk fifty feet
beneath.
In the very heart of the Mission on a
thoroughfare crossed by three lines of
streetcars the back water of sewer stood
from two to three feet in depth for several
hours yesterday holding the streetcars in
check and suDsiding only to leave the
cellars in the neighborhood filled with its
dirty and unhealthy substance.
On Fifteenth and Valencia streets thirty
feet OF sewer, top and bottom. took a fall
ana LETT gaping hole in the surface where
smooth macadam once had been.
On Channel street, between Ninth and
tenth. break was so extensive that tae
street will have to be torn up for a distance
OF 2cO feet IN order to effect repairs. Else-
where lt is the same, same story.
Lots of sand, lots of sand" said the
companies, when asked how the storm af-
iected his lines. 81 can give you stories of
sand without end" And sand with its re-
sultant damage was what the observer
could see in hundreds of places suf
Market street,
By far the most serious result OF the
twenty-four hours wash in this district
was that which undermined the dwelling
on the kentucky-street cut. There for a
length of three blocks on opposite sides of
the street stand high bluffs of 'bluestOne"
rock, which for three years the rain has
been gradually eroding and precipitating
to the street and sidewalk. A year ago, it
VIII be remem bered, the cars TO the PO-
trero were stalled by the sliding earth for
several days in succession. Dirt and heavy
powders piled up on the sidewalk for
depth OF from four to twenty feet,
where ii was left uuremoved for the
entiIe season, to be added TO and rendered
more unsightiy by the effects of the first
heavy storm OF this year. At about
o'clock yesterday morning down came the
mass. huge stones, powders and ali. Il
spread over the walk, it reached for the
street, 1t made rush for the car-track,
and there in the center of the course of
traffic rolled and effectuslly placed three
blocks OF stone. none of which could weigh
less than three tons. Fortunately the car
had just passed: No one was injured, but
the escape was by the merest chance.
The sliding rock on the west side of the
same street came Cor the most part from
directly in front of and underneath a
large twO-story frame dwelling, which
stands at the top of the cut, facing Ken
lucky street. By o'clock yesterday after
noon the foundation had been washed
from the outer corner OF the veraudah.
and crack made in the earth flush with
the foundation of the house itself. it is a
question of only a few hours when the
VeraDda will fall, AID of a continuance of
the present extraordinary rainfall when
the stability of the main dwelling will be
seriously menaced. When a fall does
come. human life may accompany it. for
the place is now used as a clearinghouse
and occupied by nearly a dozen persons,
some of them children. The Reese estate
is the owner.
The back water of the sewer In the
heart of the Mission was on Fourteenth
street from Howard 10 Harrison. Either
some one had tempered with the foodgate
or 1t had of its own fault got out of order
and stopped the flow. Tie sewer at the
corner of Harrison street makes sharp
turn from Fourteenth street, and to meet
just such an emergency as that of vester-
day the city had it reconstructed recently
and a floOdgate inserted. On Friday night,
however, the gate did not work properly,
some obstruction being piled against ii,
and the sewer blocked. Water spouted
out OF the manholes and spread itself east
and west over three blocks of street sur
face, depositing sand and slime on all