Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-04-28
AN OREGON CLoUDBURsT.
For That section. a Mere Incfden
Hardly Worth Mentioning.

From the Detroit Free Press.
when you talk Of rain said Maj. Wharf
ton, who built most Of the snow sheds or|
the Union Pacific road, and who runs hall
dozen saw mills on the Falls river ID
Oregon-'when you talk of rain in the eas|
You simply never saw anything more thar
sprinkle. I've been out all day I'm wha|
you probably call a downpour. but IL 4
drop or two hadn't hit my sore ear
shouldn't have known it was raining"
What's your idea of a rain storm, NAL
jor?' asked the interviewer as the two sol
seated after the usual preliminary.
why, water, of coursei" he answered
This drizzle can't be called real water
you know. It's just fog and smoke and
evaporation from mud puddles which went
up to come down again. Say, young mani
you ought to have been out to mill No.
one night last August and witnessed whal
We call a genuine rain STORM 1t WASN'T
the biggest and latest ever saw, but II
would have given you a pretty fair idea ol
what we can do out there on short notice. 1
Was it a cloudburst?"
Some folks call 'em by that name but
It's defamation of character. A cloudbursj
/ is simply an effort on the part of tho
weather to get about half a million barr I'd
| Of rain water together in some particulal
locality and then knock in all the heads q
the barrels at once. The object is 70 cleal
the driftwood of the banks OF streams and
| discourage the umbrella trade. AS a sid{
issue a cloudburst usually browns about
\ half tribe of Indians and starts the topz
OF three or four mountains to sliding down
hill to fill up some valley"
About this particular rain storm, MAJ
jor?'
oh yes. Well. about 8 O'Clock one after
/ noon the barrels began to gather over the
! Cascade range, to the west of us. They
snuSgled together between two peaks, and
| judged there was water enough up there
I TO down half the Ia Wv Had
just three feet of water In IL that after
noon, and the ground for fifteen miles Il
the west was valley-land on which a lo'
OF cattle and horses were grazing. i hak
! four buildings beside the saw mill, and IN
the river and around the mill Were 500
saw logs When 1 saw that IL was going I.
| rain-that we were in for a genuine rair
storn nj called all hands and We made FOL
hill half a mile away"
And the rain descended, did ftg" Queries
| the interviewer as the major seemed Z,
have stopped short.
| THE rain, Oh certainly Yes, sir, tn
! rain descended in due time. When every
thing was all ready the heads of the bar
| rels were busted in and down poured IN,
water. A food seven feet deep and tw,
miles long came swishing across the vale,
and poured into Falls river. In about tire
| jerks of deer's tail the mill. building
and logs went on a voyage, and haven
seen a splinter Of 'em since. The foo,
! brought along about 100 head of horse
/
! are in the tree tops around there today"
| And what did you do?'
Began getting out timber for a new mil
next morning. Of course. We don't let
! little cloudburst knock the sand out of n
| in Oregon, you know. Had a new mil
! humming away inside of thirty days. Dom
write ii up in a sensational way, or GU
people will give me the laugh. Ii was sim
/ ply one of our summer showers. A reporte
/ from Portland happened to be down tina
way, and how much space do you suppos
! he gave IL? Just five linesi A hundre.
/ thousand tons Of mountain slid into tn
valley. a dozen people were drowned an,
\ everything on the river swept clear for ,
distance of thirty miles, but five lines GOV
cred IL all. Sorry that j can't make a bi,
( thing for you, but see me again-see M
next winter-and I'll tell you about som,
/ OF our snowdrifts which have been bore,
distance OF 40 feet without striking bot
! TOM"