The daily morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1883-1899, 1894-06-24
AMID THE RESIDENCES
Sights Of Sickening Destruction
in the Home District.
HUNDREDS OF GARDENS RUINED.
For Miles There is not a Block of
Sidewalk but What is Wrecked
and Blown Over.
HUNDREDS OF GARDENS RUINED

OlueWdlk UuU w HAT Is uItOhOu
and Blown Over.
Special Correspondence of The Ast;ran.
Portland, Or, 22d June, 1S94.-There
was another scorching sun today, with
prospects of the hot weather continuing
for an indefinite period, and the heat
has already had it's effect. Tomorrows
Oregonian, am reliably informed, will
contain letter from George Bassett,"
whoever he may be, with certain sar-
castle editorial comments attached, con-
corning the "untruthfulness" of these
letters and their suggestions. Very
well. Not one statement in these re-
ports, you must allow me to say in JUS
tice to myself and The Astorian, has
been or will be overdrawn in any way;
not one statement has been or will be
made without perfect substantiatlon be-
forehand. Surely, instead of generalizinS
in his attacks, instead of quoting delib-
crate lies, things that The Astorian
never has said; instead of putting in
inverted commas statements supposed
to be culled from your paper, and
which have never appeared there or
been limited at, why doesn't Mr.. Scott
go about his denials in a manly way?
There are plenty Of facts and figures
There are plenty Of names and amounts
mentioned. Hundreds of them. Why
doesn't he give me the lie direct, when
l tell what people have suffered great
est and what money they have lost? /
will take Mr.. Scott 600 measured yards
from the Oregonian building and show
him the sights l am about to describe
in this communication. 1t would he
letting him down too easy to imagine
for moment that he does not know of
them. They are not hidden in cellars
or back lanes, but are above gro md and
proclaiming their presence only too
loudly by the terrible stencil that arises
on every side. The following descrip-
ton deals with a body Of buildings, all
with one or two exceptions privte resi-
dences, many of them handsome and
valuable, running in a solid, compact
mass about nine long blocks square,
from Aukeny street past Glisan, down
to the Union depot, in the north end.
About 5000 people live in this particular
locality. They go to work, to office, and
to bank, every day, and home again at
night Let one resident Of these streets
deny what / say, and add his testimony
to that of Mr.. Scott. There is not
workman of the street cleaning depart
ment that can be found there; there has
not been the shadow of an attempt so
far to fend off the evils that must nat
urally come from this enormous cess
pool, dotted thickly with long avenued
rows of dwellings.
Beginning from the fine, fve-story,
stone offices and warehouse Of the Smell,
Heitsher & Woodward Co.. from thence
to the Union depot, taking in the whole
rectangular space of which this is one
side, numbering nine blocks square, we
start with a fitting herald of what is to
come in the shape of a large pond Of
green, stagnant filth right in front of
and within twenty yards of the door of
the offices mentioned. Walking out
Sixth a horrible odor arises on every
side, amounting to almost putrefaction.
There are not ten yards of solid side
walks in the whole locality. They are
thrown on their beam ends, into the
middle of the road, right across veran-
das of residences and against the trees
Of the avenue. Not a fence is standing
All have either been thrown PROSTATE
into the Shiny hollow where the side
walks have once been, or deposited in
heaped up mass right in the middle Of
lawns and gardens, taking with them
every description Of plant including
thousands of rose trees and creepers Of
every variety Where Pine and Aukeny
converge there is a hollow in the road,
and here, not having drained of when
the flood subsided, is the largest Of the
filth pools in this district. 1t runs for
whole block along to Seventh, and this
is what it looks like. Imagine a lake
200 yards long, bordered on two straight
lines by thousand dollar cottages and
flowing in a dovetailed shape into every
yard and garden at It's edges. The whole
surface covered with thick, pale-green
slime, the monotOny of the color broken
by twenty-yard slices Of what have once
been sidewalks, floating around in an
aimless fashion near the centre Of the
water. Every few moments a slight
wind catching the side Of the lumber
ahoat, drifts It along half a dozen feet,
dragging a jagged break In the green
surface and revealing underneath n
savory collection Of all the filth ever
crowded together in so small a spot.
Gum boots. decayed vegetables and
every kind Of abominable offal that can
be described are disclosed by this tenn
porary windog. which in a moment or
l t--.,. frr,off..v