Las Vegas daily optic. [volume] (Las Vegas, N.M.) 1880-1908, 1904-10-03
Terrible Devastation Shoemaker Canyon Miles Of Railroad
Become Bed Of the River. Three Weeks Required
to Repair Damage. Conditions North
Of Shoemaker.

The Optic staff made trip TO
Watrous to investigate the flood con-
ditions. The tale is deplorable
enough. Probably, never before in
the history OF the Santa Fe has the
might OF the storm king done as
much damage as in the eight suile
canyon that stretches between Shoe
maker and WatrOus. In the whole
distance, not more than two miles of
track Is left, The big iron bridge,
near Watrous, stands but it 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.
II will be three weeks at least before
trains can be got through this canyon
and it will be eight or ten days before
the gaps between Ration and Shoe
maker can be repaired Then. but
not before. transfer can be made.
Just before The Optic representa-
| tive left Watrons. an old man whose
name was given as Francisco Aguilar.
came to Watrous from down the
river and reported that his wife and
: olt "
and no trace of their bodies had been
found.
Felix Villirael, digging here and
there in the mud along tae banks of
the Mora. hoping to find the bodies
of his wife and child, his wife's moth
er and grandmother, was a pathetic
sight. The body of O. f. Porter has
not been recovered.
1t was difficult 10 realize, while the
"trip to Watrous was being made on
a work train. that disastrous flood
had swept with such tremendous loss
any part of this region. The sun
shone with summer brightness; the
skies were of dazzling blue; the wide
mesas. robed in brighter green than
usual in October, showed no trace OF
storm or flood. The mountains SHIN
, mering in faint blue haze. smiled in
the bright sunlight. The day, fair as
autumn can be in the west, was elo-
quent of peace That a raging tor.
rent. carrying railroad bridges. hous.
es and trees like toys on it's bosom
. could so short time before have
swept within a few miles was incred.
ible. But as Watrous was approach
ed, the traces of the flood began to
be noticeable. The lower reaches
still swan In water. and where gimp
| IS of the Mora and Sapello could be
caught. their outlying lands looked
more like an Acadian meadow late
| washed by the salt tide than a portion
Of the great American desert. The
fora still appeared wide, gray. hur
irving stream as big as the Mississippi
four hundred miles from its source
! Uprooted trees. parts of houses. de
/ bris of various kinds, including thous
ands OF tons OF the muddiest OF mud
covered the open country for miles
and as far up and down the stream
as the eye could carry. Those who
on the tirible Thursday morning
looked from the heights above Wat
| rous gazed over five miles of wild
| raging sea which threw columns oi
spray high into the air and whose
roaring would have silenced the sound
7 Of the most violent tempest OF tht
iron bound shores OF the Bay Of rnr,
dy. Past all imagination. or conG.p
ton OF belief, say those who witnes -
ed the spectacle was the fury of the
flood at the confluence OF the Mora
and Sapello rivers.
! For an hour or more some OF tn,
watchers who gazed out across ths
food saw a solitary light waving
above the flood where mile Of i'm