The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1896-11-22

Sx.n;sh fats wsrs srssss about threa feet
OF water on the average Even the Oiysa-
paa mnrph. which Wzs shcugn. to be be-
yond the reach of high wafer. .recelveG
enough no Aost . steamboat over two
tfsrda OF fhe ranches In tha; district X
n impossible 10 estimate accurately the
amount Of damage done
The county Is large loser. or account
OF bridges being swept away. sad roads
washed TITO the river requiring In many
instances the rgtt-os-w2y TO be secured
anew. while large secsiocs OF wing dams
and plank rsp-rap were carried away. The
dikirsg districts And road districts are
damaged 10 the sxtent % many thousands
OF dcisars II viii be necessary to replace
many expenssys sskex and dams and raise
all OF the ievess along the river much high
er shan they are AZ present. Roads wilt
have 10 De cleared OF debris and repaired
and plank ros<is rsosacsd.
The greatest loss falls upon the farmers
individually. s<vefRl farmers had grain
DESTROYED IN their 8ranaries. I'm some IN
stances IS high as Apea bushels. while sew
efai thousand tons of hay were damaged.
Considerable stock wss drowned, feares
were swept sHay. farms covered with
floating timber ard debris. and In some
cases buildings we're destroyed
what l. especially diEcourarinx is the
uncertainty OF projection against future
loss. No matter h0w high the dikes and
leyees are made the river thereby confined
will rise until IL breaks through and inds
its way 10 the sea-
II would seens thai until In. general gov
eminent takes F1Id9of the matter AMI re-
moves The Janr ii the mouth OF the south
fork. ali the farmers Of Skagit county will
Re living under the constant msna-e of
having all their possessions wepf away iy
floods II narieabie channels were kept
open through ali ofthe half dozen mouths
OF the river, the,r might afford sufficient
vent for the water during freshsts, and
thus they might be kept within the levees-
But as IL ~. only one narrow channel.
Steamboat slough. Scar Fir. Is kept open
tire length As sHatural consequence.
during freshes this channel csnnot dis
charge the immense volume OF water that
comes from the mountain nearly as fast
as a horwe car runs. nor can the other
natural channels. Forth Fork Brown
slough. Halls slough. Dry slough and
South Fork. impeded as they are by jams
OF logs, stumps. snaxs ana trees. take care
OF the accumulated waters
II Is the belief CT 1evel-headed men that
IL systematic plan were adopted where
by every one of the natural mouths OF
Skagit river were cleaned out from one
end TO the ather and rendered suitable
for navigation. the danger OF overflow
would be reduced to minimum.
But no plan seems feasible and practical
bic unless the United States government
viii commence the work under the diirec-
ton of it's engineers. Petition after petit
ton and memorial after memorial have
been sent To congress-. but 50 far without
substantial Result.
The people Ia this section are hoping that
a successful effort will be made al the
coming session Of congress TO have this
Improvement of the largest river of Puget
sound undertaken The people OF SkaGit
do not ask congress for an appropriation
through msrcenesy motives. They are able
and would be willing to undertake this
work themselves. but they have no power
tax sufficient 10 set the necessary ma
chinery could not BE- levied for that pur-
pose. and voluntary subscriptions would
be worse than useless. The only intelli-
gent way l. TO, have the work done under
the direction of government engineers