El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1897-06-02

Heretofore it has been almost i'm
possible to tell just how much damage
has been done by the high water, but
this morning the water in the secoud
ward bad fallen enough for a HERALD
reporter to pass through the hooded
district and see the devastation caused
by the high waters. While the dam
age is bad, it is not near SO bad as it
has been pictured in many of the
eastern papers by correspondents in
this city. Many of the houses that
have been reported as fallen are high
and dry and the water has not come
within one hundred feet Of the build
Jugs. That part of the city between
First and Sixth streets and St Vraln
and Tornillo, known as Forrestviile,
has suffered very little from the very
! high water, with the exception of
those who live south and east of the
levee thrown up from Gaennie's cor
ner. Of course all the buildings out
side of the levee have fallen with the
single exception of One-a frame build
ing south of Waters place. No
houses have fallen within the levee at
FOrrestvllle, except some ironing on
First street aud numb Der of houses IN
| the block between First ard Second
and Hill and ST. Vrain streets. This
block of houses were all more or less
ip jured by the water and many have
fallen. In fact the water between the
L. & P. track and the residences on
First street seems to have been higher
than any other place in the south
eastern part of town within the levee
limits.
Chihuahuita suffered more from the
flood than any other part uf town north
of Sixth street. In that part the
houses were almost entirely built of
adobe and they nave fallen in every
dire ion, but sill ia many places The
houses are high and dry anu The water
came no where near the buildings.
Tn; people of that section al moved
out, but many are returning to their
homes. In some cases one part of an
adobe has fallen while another part OF
the house is intact. The money value
lost there Is no. so great. but there l.
where the most people were made
homeless. Since the waters have been
cut off by levee from this part OF Town
people are returning aud picking out
pieces of lumber preparatory to re-
building at an early date.
All The houses south of Seventh
street are gone except three near the
canal near the corner OF Seventh and
Stanton. The water In that section
is now several feet deep anu east of
Stanton street it runs in a strong cur
rent. All the houses south Of the
canal from Stanton street to the Santa
Fe levee back of the base ball grounds
nave either ia len or been under water,
except few aoobes between the Cen
trail track and Santa Fe street. Tue
people in there built a levee that held
the water back and saved their prop
erty.
All that part of town between Stan
ton and ST. VrdIn street -four blocks
east and vest and north of Fourth to
San Antonio streets has been under wa
ter, with the exception OF the block In
which the county jail is located. All
the adobe houses there have fallen and
one or two bricks have caved in, but
no serious damage has been done 10
there are some pretty res
ldences in there. There should have
beeo excepted in this district some
houses standing south OF Second street
that the water did not reach as they
were located on high land, but the lots
were entirely surrounded by water
Along the south side of San Anton 10
street from Murry's store east the high
wafer was in the yard of every resident
to Virginia street and from that east,
the wafer reached the houses fronting
on San Antonio, and In some ms anceS
it entirely surrounded the houses and
where there were Easements or Cellars
they were filled with water, and fur
| Their east still on the street the water
crossed the street and formed lake,
with only a snail outlet for the water
to escape. Noyes Rand's house is sur
rounded and SO are all OF the L. " L.
shops and offices, and one part OF
Rand'S house has fallen. The water
today west and north OF the Texas u
Pacific track is running OFF as fast as 1t
can get through the eastern outlet I'M
der the track. The water is an lncn
or so higher north of the track than 1T
Is south. This is because there Is
better outlet for it to escape south of
the track.
The levees are all up today and ali
the water coming in is through seepage
and this is beng stopped as fast as pos
slble. The dam across The Canal at the
head gate was completed yesterday
evening, but the water seeplng through
caused 1t to beg n to undermine and 1t
came near washing out, but the street
commissioner and chief OF police put
d large force of men 10 work and they
were kept there all night and succeed
ed in saving the dam. Work Will be
continued on the dam until the seepage
is stopped and the bank Is raised mig
enough to prevent further overflow
from that source OF danger.
The levee along SIKH street was
completed this morning at ) o'clock
and now all the water is cut off of the
second ward north of Sixth street and
nearly all the water has run off there.
There was considerable trouble yester-
day on Florence street where the levee
was being connected up from east to
west and just as the levte had been
raised above the water a break occurr-
ed and the water rushing IN through
the gap tore out all the work Of the
day. This caused delay, but the
men were kept at work steadily
until three o'clock this morning when
the gap was stopped and the CURRENT