The San Francisco call., 1899-03-24
HIS OFFICE
WAS WASHED
INTO THE CREEK
Storm Floods Many
Highways.
A MASSACRE OF G0PHERS
MANY DRIVEN FROM THEIR
HOLES BY WATER.
Mr.. Watkinson Smiles as he Thinks
of the Accommodating Nature
of the Heavy
Rains.
MANY DRIVEN FROM THEIR
HOLES BY WATER.
Oakland ONCE San Francisco Call,
4 q rnl "

| 9OS Broadway, March 23.
Thirty-six hours of continuous down
pour and still raining. Such is the record
| of Oakland for the past day and half
When H. A. Pleitner, real estate
| dealer of Fruitvale, went to his office TINS
| morning the office was gone. A little
| search revealed the missing house IN the
! middle Of Fruitvale Creek, and against II
! a torrent of waters was beating. Inc con
| tents had been washed out ana deeos'
! transcripts, maps and other parapherhd-
/ liza had landed IN the estuary long before
/ Mr. Pleitner came down to business.
The building-a substantial little struc-
! trre-was built near the edge of the creek
/ This creek has been dry so long that no
body anticipated any danger, but the
mighty torrent that started to rush down
! the creek last night gradually washed the
earth from under Mr.. Pleitner's Office ana
! the laws of gravitatiOn did the rest
During the recent campaign City Eng1-
neer Clement, who is a good engineer but
! a poor politician and a worse orator, reau
! q little speech in which he referred TO the
streets of this city as "a monument OF
engineering skill" Mr. Clement intended
of course to compliment the monument,
and not the engineer or the skill, but at
this time this unfortunate remark IS be
ing frequently quoted, especially IN the
nelghborhood of TWenty-seVenth and San
Pablo Sixth and Broadway and Fourth
avenue and East Eighteenth street, where
the monuments are several IeSI out Oh
sight and only the skill remains.
At Fourth avenue and East Eighteenth
street the electric cars have not been
able to run for two days, as there are
several feet Of water on the track. At
Sixth and Broadway some wag waded
into the lake and stuck up a sign stating
that fishing lines could be hired on the
banks. The farmers are beginning TO
think that there can be too much OF a
good thing. Like Macbeth they are cry
ing, Hold, enough but so far their cry
has been unheeded.
The luckiest man in town is ]. II. T.
Watkinson, the general manager of the
Contra Costa Water company. Two weeks
ago Mr.. Watkinson, with face two feet
long, went before the Council and told Of
the drought and of the scarcity of water
in the San Leandro Lake, and argued that
all kinds of means would have to be de-
! vised TO guarantee q Sufficiency of fresh
/ water for Oakland for the next year. Mr..
/ WatkinSon was even dramatic. He point
! ed to the clear, dry sky and said, Cen
/ tlemen, is there any evidence there that
we shall have any rain this year?" and
! the Council said no and passed a water
rate which, it was hoped, would satisfy
the demands Of the people and corporation
alike.
! Now Mr.. Watkinson is constantly tele-
! phoning to the San Leandro Lake and the
! precautiOn has been taken to see that
! the safety gates are in working order. SC
that If 1t rains much longer the surplus
! supply can be run off. Mr.. Watkinson s
! face to-day was about two feet broad
and the old Council is out of office.
Health officer Dunn and City Bacter-
iologist Ryfkogel were at the City Hall
! to-day, computing how many microbes
| bacilli and other things had been washed
| out of the sewers and off the sidewalks
| by the rain. Their rows Of figures
reached back and forth across the page
many times, and the experts said they
! had not yet finished.
One of the greatest benefits done to the
| farmers in the vicinity of Alvarado by
the storm is the driving out of the thou
! sands of gophers which infest the region
! in and about Alvarado. Every farmer
| is jubiant over the killing of these pests
! for they do great damage to the beet
| and grain fields. The gophers had en-
! croached more generally upon the bot
! tom lands OF late, owing to the recent
| dry years.
The killing of the gophers is due to the
! flooding Of the country. In some places
! the water stands eight and ten inches
/ deep and has even covered a section OF
! the narrow gauge track 400 yards from
! the station at Alvarado.