Albuquerque daily citizen. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1895-1903, 1902-09-03
MIMBRES FLOOD.
Pretty Valley in Grant County Almost
Ruined.
LOSS IS lRRePARABlE AND HEAVY.
From Silver City Independent.

co swept down the fertile Mimbres
river valley. in the eastern part of
Grant county, Friday night. 1t was at.
tended with one fatality, and the total
loss. taking everything into considera.
ton. is estimated to be about $3.50. 900.
Fully $50 people are destitute. and
temporary measures are being devised
for their relief. AS in the Ease of the
Silver City food. a large proportion of
the loss is irreparable, or practically
so.
1t was more of a %cloudburst than
anything else. Friday afternoon black
storm clouds gathered on each side of
the river, in the upper section, and
about 4 O'Clock met at a point almost
directly over the valley. A terrific
%downpour of rain followed and a large
body of water commenced running.
The storm was general in character
and extended over a wide area of coun
try. Later on the different canyons
and water courses emptying into the
Mimbres, swelled that already over.
burdened stream to such an extent
as to far exceed all previous high wa
ter mark records.
1t was about s o'clock in the evenin,
when the main body of water com
menced to come down and from that
time on during the greater part of the
night the liver was a raging torrent.
sweeping before it everything with
which it came in contact and creating
a scene of desolation.
The ranchers living along the river
were on their guard as a result of the
preliminary food and when it became
apparent that it was 10 longer safe to
remain in their homes, most of them
sought refuge on high ground. where
they remained until morning. AS it
vas n life was lost. j. d. Ander-
son, father-in-law of Oscar McCarty,
who has a lease on a part of the Gooch
ranch, was drowned in an effort to
save some of his property. He had
waded down into comparatively deep
water, when a huge a swept down
upon him, carrying him to his death.
The body was recovered the following
morning.
The valley in question extends for o
distance of about thirty miles along
the entire eastern portion of the Il
ty. On both sides of the stream during
almost its entire course are ranches
and farms, about 90, 900 acres in all be
ing under cultivation. 1t is the best
farming section in the county. There
are perhaps fifty different ranch prop
critics in the valley, and out of this
number not a single owner escaped
without loss.
Prior to Friday the most severe flood
which has ever been known on the
river occurred September I, 1900. The
losses sustained at that time We're
heavy, and practically destroyed all
the crops for that year, besides DOING
much damage to property. Fridays
disaster was much greater than that of
1900. Water marks show that the tor
rent was from eight to ten feet higher
all along the valley, and the river was
out of its banks or an average of half
a mile on both sides.
The trouble could not have occurred
at a worse time of the year. The crops
were just on the eve of harvesting and
were bountiful. Corn, beans, chilli and
alfalfa, the principal products, We're
just maturing and the late fruit had
! Just commenced to ripen. Small gar
den produce was in the same state.
While some of the orchards escaped
| serious injury, the food products were
almost without exception totally ruin
ed, and the loss not only falls heavily
upon the individual owners, but upon
Grant county as a whole. Many of the
Ianchers were MeXicans, and the re-
| suits IF their years labor were ruined
in a few hours. leaving them without
| sufficient means for their immediate
necessities.
In many places the force of the cur
rent completely changed the bed of the
river and cut out new channels over
what was before valuable agricultural
land. Large portions of the banks were
cut away and churned into loose soil.
Thousands of valuable fruit trees were
torn up by roots and scattered along
the stream.
Persons from the valley say that the
scene beggars description. What were
golden fields of grain and corn are now
waste deposits of mud and sand, with
not a spear Of vegetation in sight.
Huge boulders. ]uprooted trees and all
kinds of debris are scattered along in
Discriminatory and everywhere is to be
seen the force and quantity OF the
food waters. 1t will require a tremen-
dous amount of labor and a large ex-
penditure of money to even partially
restore the valley to its former pros.
porous condition, and it will be years
before the evidences Of Fridays disas-
ter are completely e~radicated.
Foley's Kidney Cure makes the dis
eased kidneys sound so they will
eliminate the DOisOns from the blood.