Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1904-10-05
HUNDREDS
HOMELESS
At Mora as Result Of Mighty
Flood Waters. Several
Lives Also Lost.
MANY BRIDGES OUT
On the Santa Fe ..WiII Take Weeks to
Make Repairs Between Shoemaker
and Watrous.

The Las Vegas Optic gives the fol
lowing particulars of the flood damage
in that portion of the Territory:
'Probably never before in the history
of New Mexico abs the might OF the
storm king done as much damage as II
the eight mile canon that stretches be
tween Shoemaker and Watrous. Ir
the whole distance, not more than two
miles of track is left The big iror
bridge, near Watrous, stands, but is
five hundred yards from the railroad
on the south and the changed channel
of the Mora River now throws the
current around the end of the bridge
1t will be three weeks at least before
trains can get through this canon and
it will be eight or ten days before the
gaps between Ration and Shoemaker
can be repaired. Then, but not before,
a transfer can be made.
"Just before the Optic representa-
tive left Watrous an old man whose
name was given as Francisco Aguilar,
came to Watrous from down the River
and reported that his wife and three
children had been swept away and no
trace of their bodies had been found.
Felix Villirael, digging here and
there in the mud along the banks OF
the Mora, hoping to find the bodies OF
his wife and child, his wife's mother
and grandmother, was pathetic sight.
The body of O. F. Porter has not been
recovered. The family of J. E. Stevens
consisting of three women and child.
were also drowned.
'sFor an hour or more some Of the
watchers who gazed out across the
flood saw a solitary light waving above
the flood where mile of impossible
current swept on either side. No help
could be sent to the individuals who
were cut off. Before the day broke the
lantern had ceased to wave. Whether
the tree, which, without doubt, had
been sought for safety, gave way, or
whether the imprisoned ones lost their
hold in the tree none can say Neither
can any clue to their identity be OBJ.
tanned. So weird and uncanny did the
light swinging above the awful flood
appear, that one or two alone saw 1t,
they might have been inclined to at
tribute the sight to a trick of an ex-
cited imagination. But many eyes be-
held the sight at intervals during more
than an hour. The general impression
is that some teamster was cut of by
the flood and -ascended the tree for
safety.
''The gangs building south from Las
Vegas have the road in excellent con-
dition to Lamy and are now busy at the
Ortiz gap. Below this the most serious
trouble is at Elota, where the Rio
Grande left its channel and cut out
four miles of track. The Bernalillo
bridge is gone, bridge over the Calls
teo is gone and several others are dam
aged
Indefinite reports from Mora tells
of terrible ruin. 1t is said that twenty
eight houses were washed away and
that 800 homeless people are at the
court house. These reports are doubt
less exaggerated. It is known that
Biernbaum,s store, at Weber, was near
ly destroyed and that considerable dam
age was inflicted at Cleveland. The
water rose to five feet at the La Cueva
buildings, but the latest reports deny
the destruction Of the ranch houses.
Alex Winans, who made the trip from
Mora to Watrous says the ravages OF
the flood all along the way were tre-
mendous. Groves have been swept
away. orchards filled with mud, many
buildings destroyed and much hand
under cultivation ruined.
"By o'clock Monday afternoon the
road between Watrous and the ap-
proach to the big iron bridge over the
Mora had been repaired and q train
: and repair gang had been sent over It,
For four hundred yards the track had
been swept away, and carried bodily
ties, rails and rock ballast some dis
tance to the right. For another nun
dred yards before the bridge is reach.
ed, the water, sweeps in its changed
course.
From number; Of men who waded
across the swollen stream and made
trip to Shoemaker, it is learned that
the destruction throughout the wnoie
length of the canon is dire. North o.
the bridge, at least four miles OF TRACK
is out, and the second bridge over tne
Mora, near Shoemaker, is gone, and II
q number Of places the roadbed has be
come the bed Of the river. In one place
the Mora flows through box canor
with high walls. The road had beer
built through this canon also, but some
distance above the ordinary level O
the stream. The whole track was lift
! ed bodily out Of this canon and hurled
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