Las Vegas daily optic. [volume] (Las Vegas, N.M.) 1880-1908, 1904-10-08
Story Of Flood
Sufferers
CONTINUED from Page one,)

rain which fell on a great watershed
was rushing into the narrow valleys
The result was appalling. The ire
mendous volume of almost amor
phous liquid hurled itself with re-
s~istless fury against everything in its
wide path. Nothing but the iron
hills could turn its course and these
could not stay its progress. Great
iron railroad bridges were tossed like
toys on the breast of the flood,
Houses cracked and collapsed like
egg shells. In dozens Of places the
rock ballasted railroad bed which
had ever before served as an unpass'
able barrier was swept clean to the
ground rock and in its place coursed
the muddy waters of new rivers.
Whole valleys were swept clean OF
houses and orchards and crops
which had been harvested and housed
or stacked. Mighty trees that would
have withstood the storms OF ages
were bowled over like ten pins. Many
thousands of acres of land was ruin
dest of all many lives were sacriilced
to the fury Of the resistless waters.
Extent of Storm.
From Central Colorado to the Dor
ders of Texas, from Syracuse, Kans.,
to Flagstaff, Arizona, within the linn
its Of a great circle 1900 miles in
circumference, the storm ragged, its
center being almost at Las Vegas.
For an even greater distance the
ayage OF the flood were experi-
enced, for far south in Texas and
Oklahoma and Indian Territory,
where the skies had remained cloud
less, the turbid waters swept with
destroying force.
Word was received long in advance
that a destructive flood was coming,
but no power on earth could stay its
fell power. Homes were abandoned
and household goods moved. The
property loss was great and all the
railroads suffered, but no such tales
of loss Of life come from the south as
are still borne in from the isolated
villages in northern New Mexico.
Lives Lost.
The death list cannot yet be made
complete. AS far as can be ascertain.
ed, eight lives were lost in the Red
River at Springer. Eleven were
drowned in the Mora, several OF the
bodies being still missing. The loss
in the Mora includes, +. o. Porter,
of Shoemaker, four members of the
Villarael family below Watrous and
two children Of j. II. Stephens. From
Rayado comes report of eight deaths,
from Chaperito four and from the
valley of the Upper Cimmaron an in.
definite number.
The terrible night of the flood Is
frightened by tales of heroic work
of rescuers, who prevented a much
larger loss of life. At Watrous the
work done by eight or nine intrepid
men was especially meritorious. At
imminent risk of their own lives they
rescued one family from a stone
fence at the old Moore place, took
another family from a cottonwood
tree and after tearing a hole in an
adobe wall and tin and wood roof
with their bare hands, entered the
crumbling house and carried out Mr.,
and Mrs. Stephens and one child
alive and the bodies of two children
who had persisted.
Railroad Damage.
Never in the history of the Santa
Fe railroad has the Santa Fe suffered
such damage by flood. General Man
ager Nudge is responsible for this
statement and no man is more famil
lar with the flood history of the sys
TEN.
From Byron, Colorado, to Eel Paso
Texas, more than fifty miles of track
and thirty bridges were swept away
In many other places the track was
damaged and bridges were under
mined. The most serious damage
was in Shoemaker canyon which was
swept from end to end throughout
its nine miles. Five miles of track
went out and the approaches to two
great iron bridges were swept away
1t was found necessary to blast a way
into the solid rock to find a road
bed.
While the Santa Fe has been the
worst sufferer, other western roads
have sustained heavy loss. On the
Rock Island, the Frisco, the d. & X
G. and the Santa Fe Central track
was washed out and bridges destroy
ed. All these roads are utilizing all
their lines again, except the Rock Is
land which still has some track out
east of Santa Rosa.