The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1902-02-26
BAY CHANGED
To RAGING SEA
Storm on the Pacific Coast Wor-
rieS the Mariners.
PREDICTED A DISASTER
CONDITION OF BAROMETER
SHOWED HIGH GALES DUE.
PREDICTED A DISASTER

OAN FRANCISCO. Feb. 25.-One of
the heaviest southwest storms that
has been experienced in many
years struck this city this morning.
The wind attained great velocity,
blowing forty-five miles in the city,
while at Point Reyes it reached sixty
miles at 7:30 O'Clock Ships dragged
their anchors or broke their mornings
at their docks a fishing boat was cap
sized the telephone and electric light
wires were down and awnings, shade
trees and fences We're wrecked and pc
destrians We're greatly Inconvenience.
Telegraphic communication with the
outside world was cut off. The full
force OF the storm was felt on the bay
and the bar was so rough that vessels
were unable to leave port. North of the
ferries craft of all sorts were tossed
about like egg shells. The violent south
wind stirred the bay into a rolling,
tempestuOus sea. against which
anchors were almost futile.
Swell after swell. each apparently
heavier than the one preceding,
pounded the vessels from the sOutherly
direction and sent them drifting in
dangerous proximity to one another,
drove them close to the piers and to
the islands and kept the tOwboats bus
lily engaged in efforts to prevent dis
aster
The transport SOlace. with nothing
but 300 tons of coal to keep her down,
broke from her anchorage off BeaIe
street and careened about the bay like
a drunken sailor. She drifted broad
side on unt4 collision with the gov
eminent steamer AlbatrOss seemed i'm
minent, but size Veered off in the nick
of time.
The wind and the swell caused her to
drift helplessly, sending her finally to-
ward the transport wharf at Folsom
street. The officers of the service gath
cred on the pier. fully expecting the
SOlace to crash into the wharf. For
tUnately the direction of the swell
carried the transport around until she
just cleared the buffer and swung out
into the stream.
Stay Out in the Stream.
The transports Hancock and Rose
Grams, which arrived from Manila last
night. remained in the stream. No eff
fort was made to land their passen-
gers.
The San Francisco lightship No TO-
located seven miles from Point Lobos,
parted her mornings during the height
OF the storm and was soon drifting
toward the harbor, which she finally
made.
AT the time she went astray the
wind was blowing down at the rate of
seventy miles an hour. Three three
story houses were blown down in the
Mission district.
The gale. as it swept over the Pre-
sidto reservation left in it's trail wreck
and ruin. The signal officers of the
reservation say that at one tiT1e dur
ing the morning tn wind was blowing
al the rate of sixty miles an hour.
Dozens Of tents were wrenched from
their positions and after being car
ried high in the air, were landed yards
away, where they We're afterwards
gathered up by the rain soaked sol
diers, who had fought so hard to save
them. The majority of the tents sim
ply collapsed under the pressure OF the
wind.
To the soldiers the wreck of the
tents was a serious affair for the ma
jority of them had all their possessions
under the tents and before they could
collect their belongings, they We're
thoroughly soaked by the rain.
In the residence portion of the city
bordering on the military reservation.
much damage was done to high fences
and lofty chimneys.
Warnings From Barometer.
professor A. c. MacAdie of the
weather bureau. made the following
statement: AT > a. m. the pressure
at Neah bay was twenty-nine inches,
which is the lowest recorded this wear.
The pressure as far south as Rose
burg, Ore, was 29.10. thus showing for
over 400 miles along the northern coast
a pressure seldom indicated on the
barOmetric map. At $40, at the
weather bureau the barometer read
29.35 inches, which reduced TO sea level
gives Pol inches the lowest noted
here Tor a long time. The low est pres
sure previously recorded at the
weather bureau was thirty-one years
ago. a pressure of 29.10 inches beng
recorded on Ieb. -. 1871.
'Today's recorded pressure is barely
one inch more than that at the time
of the Galveston storm. a year ago.
The pressure at that time was 2S.4S
which IS the lowest ever recorded in
the United States.
The wind at 9:45 this morning was
blowing at the rate Of forty-four miles
an hour and the direction was from the
southeast. The storm will extend over
the entire country west of the Rocky
mountains. Southeast storm warnings
We're lOisted this morning along the
entire coast from Eureka to San
Diego. I am afraid that the storm
viii dc considerable mischief at sea.
There may be danger also along the
rising rivers. The river at MarysI lille
is 15.4 feet. at Sacramento it is 236
feet and at Red Bluff it is 25.S feet
The heavy showers of last night and
this morning will send the rivers
higher"