Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1899-08-09
WAS %CLOUDbURST
And Property in Town Suffered
Much Damage.
CAME DOWN SHEEP GULCH
Water FlOOdnd Easements and Brought
Down With it a Mass of Debris
Jail Was SWamped.

A cloudburst in the mountains of Sheep
gulch yesterday afternoon at 4 o'clock
caused a loco which swept through Ana
conda, making a loss which will not be
less than $50, 600 to houses and lots. A
short time after the cloudburst the water
came down from among the mountains
Ike a tidal wave, carrying stumps. trees
and logs. some of the latter being 20
feet long and two feet in diameter.
Stones weighing several hundred pounds
were washed down like chunks of cork.
The workingmen on the new court house
say it was a grand spectacle, but it was
damaging along the course Of the water.
which spread out over the streets and
through lots on a territory covering about
half of the city, or all that part east OF
Main street and south Of East Park ave
nue.. The water is said to have been six
feet deep in Sheep gulch. The new court
house is situated at the mouth of the
gulch, where the water broke the banks
Of the drain ditch leading from the gulch
and Hooded the material yards, dam
aging cut sandstone and other material
to the extent Of 81, 900. The cellar Of the
Jail building was flooded, and steam
filters who were working in the base
ment fed from their work when they saw
water pouring in on all sides.
Down through the eastern part of the
city the water rushed with terrible de-
struction to lawns and cellars. The
water on some streets was two feet deep
and actually ran into the windows Of
some houses. The food only lasted a
few moments and to this can be at
tribute the small average damage for
such a rainfall. Cross walks were washed
out and many green lawns covered with
several inches of mud and debris. That
part of the city which was flooded was
filled with an indignant people, who are
divided as to who is to blame, if any
one, for there not being improvements
made in the way of fumes to handle the
water. A visit to the mouth of Sheep
gulch above the new court house, at a
certain bridge which spans the drain
ditch, discloses the fact that the passage
way was completely choked up with
stone, stumps, small driftwood and big
logs, making a perfect dam across the
ditch. Some Of the aldermen argue that
the head Of an underground fume woul
become choked UP the same way.
County Commissioners A. NJ. Walker,
James NJ. Geary and 7. c. Davidson,
who We're in session as a board of equal
izatiOn, adjourned and went to the Gene.
They looked on the work of the f1ood with
horror, but would not suggest a remedy.
The aldermen who could absent them
selves from duty were on the ground and
We're taking in the situation for the benz
eft of the flood proposition, which will
come up in the council. Street Commits
sioner d. hovlin and all the men he
could command We're the first on the
scene and di what they could, which was
very little, except to tear up every cross
walk they could in the path of the flood.
The handling of the floods from Sheep
gulch has been one of Street Commits
sioner %shovlin's hobbies. He is not alone
IN his endeavors to adopt some scheme
whereby such a rush Of water can be
carried through the city without damage
to property, such as enSued Yesterday
and the day before, there being two
cloudbursts in Sheep gulch wiahin "a
hours.
Sheriff Jack Conley, who was on the
scene with the other county officers, said
he never saw anything as bad in west
ern Montana until last Monday at Phil
lpsburg. While he was over there there
was a cloudburSt in the mountains, caus-
ing a flood in the main street two feet
deep. Cellars We're flooded and a great
deal of damage done to merchandise
stored in easements.
Reports from many of the valleys, In
Guiding the Deer Lodge, Bitter Root. Ne
vada and Big Hole are to the effect that
they have not had much rain at all, while
Anaconda has been visited with numer-
Gus showers. and some Of them such as
deluges.