The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1894-11-30
SANK INTO THE BAY
DISAPPEARANCE OF PART OF THE
CITY OF TACoMA,s DOCKS.
Six Feet of Wharves swaI-
lowed by What Was ut First Said
to BE n Tidal Wave.

TACOMA, Wash, Nov. 2.-Amid the
roar of an immense tidal wave beating
against the shores of Puget sound. six hun
dred feet OF Tacoma's ocean docks plunged
into Commencement bay at IL o'clock last
night. Half a dozen steamers were tossed
about like chips and two were disabled. H.
H. Ayers boathouse. containing himself.
wife and six children, was turned upside
down. spilling the children out of their
hunks INTO the icy waters, n it is feared
one Of his daughters has been drowned-
John Hanson, a Waterman at the North
ern Pacific hydraulic pump, went down In
the debris. and cannot be found For a
distance OF 1900 feet the ocean dock had
settled, and it was feared the big wheat
elevators and coal bunkers would pitch
into the bay. Several times, when the
ground settled from six inches to a foot. a
panic resulted among the people who had
assembled, and there was a wild rush for
places Of safety. All the cattle pens of the
Northern Pacific, together with the ofice
and that company's fou~r-hundred-foot
freight house, went down TO the ground.
Fire at once broke out and the pump sta
ton soon disappeared in the debris.
Nearly all of the dock which fell into the
80 @@N~ ~ IA tAS 8
which the city Of Tacoma has been en-
deavoring to secure from the railroad and
the Tacoma Land Company. The damage
is estimated at $4,000. Steamboat mer
claim a tidal wave twenty-five feet high
washed up the sound and tore the dock
away. Employees at the wharf believe thai
there has been a great subterranean land
slide, or that a great assure or hole has
been formed in the bay, causing the dool
to be swallowed. 1t is not positively known
whether the plunging of the docks into tbs
bay caused the heavy sea which overturned
Ayers boathouse and tore the steamers
away from their fastenings. or whether IL
was in fact a tidal wave.
Not . Tidal wave.
TACOMA. Wash, Nov. ADMINISTRATION
proves conclusively that last nights greal
landslide was caused by neither tidal wav,
nor earthquakes. Puget sound has yer,
steep shores. Outside the Northern Pacin.
dock the bank slopes into deep water at al
angle Of forty-fve degrees. Fifty feet from
the dock the water is $50 to 200 feet deep
At great expense the railroad has put II
solid docks OF made land, supported on tn,
water side by a rock wall built againsf
piling driven into the mud. This was no
strong enough to bear the immense pres
sure, and when the high bank further vi
had been made slippery and loose by re
cent rains the outer edge Of the dock bsgal
to divide and finally gave way, precipitatins
into deep water one Of the most valuable
portions of the water front The submerges
strip is 1,S00 feet long and 200 feet in width
Two persons were klled-Emma Stubs, tn
f1-fteen-year-old step-daughter OF H H Al
ger, a boat-house proprietor, and JOIN
Hanson, the night Waterman, who was car
ried down with the engine house. contain
ing the boiler and pumps which furnishes
the power with which the bluf side wa
being washed down by hydraulic pressur
and the remainder OF the wharf filled be
meath.
Superintendent McCabe says the perms
not amount to over 5000. The work of re
pairing the dock will m at once
but the rebuilding of the sea wall for 1.s
feet will be deferred until the chief er
gineers at st. Paul decide what plan sha
be adopted to insure future permanent,
The south end OF the sound freight ware
house, in which were the Offices Of til
cashier and twenty freight clerks, wer
down in the crash. The safe contains $2.4
supposed the safe and the valuable freigl
records had been sunk in 200 feet OF watel
but this evening the two-story building i
which the Offices were located was foun
partly submerged on the beach at Big hal
Dor, eight miles away. The safe and rec
ords are now supposed to be safe. A dive
has been telegraphed for to come an
search for them. The damage to shippin
and other losses is at $1,000.