Los Angeles herald., 1905-02-24
BURSTING MAIN
FLOODS STREET
WATER P0URS IN TORRENTS
OVER TRACKS
Cars Of Several Lines Tied Up by
Washouts, and Damage Done
to Asphalt Pave
r1ents

The twelve-inch water main running
down Main street broke last night at a
point midway between Second and
Third and before the water could be
shut off and diverted the street had
been undermined for q distance Of
seventy feet, the hole or guch dug by
the force of the water reaching en-
tirely across the street in places.
The break occurred just before mid
night and at a point where a lateral
pipe running to a two way fire plug is
connected into the main.
1t was more than an hour and a
half before the water was finally cut
off and by that time a great deal Of
damage had been done. Fire Chief
Strohm was early on the scene and
directed force of fifty men which had
been hurried to the point by the water
department
Strohm had the water cut off above
and below the break and then conveyed
around the break by means of the
mains in the other down town streets
The fire department captains were all
notified of the change and directed
where to couple should a fire break out
in the business district.
Water Appears Along Tracks
AT the point where the break oc-
Cured the water dug hole 20 feet
square and Is feet deep, while the
foundation of the entire street Is
washed away for some distance on both
sides The pavement will have to be
removed and the tremendous hole
which is more than 70 feet long filled ir.
Whether the foundations of the build
ings adjoining the street at this point
were affected has not as yet been de-
termined.
Shortly before midnight water began
to bubble UP out of the groove beside
the car tracks, the stone casing of
the tracks going entirely through the
asphalt paving and thus forming an
avenue of escape for the water that
had risen from the break in the pipe.
The force beneath the pavement
| grew greater every moment and the
asphalt sheeting began to puff up or
| swell in spots. These spots gradually
| spread until for many yards the as
phalt had been forced UP a foot or
more the pavement at the gutter being
| in several places raised to a level with
the sidewalk.
After about half an hour there was a
slight cracking sound and a section OF
| the asphalt some ten feet long next the
| car track was broken off. Through the
hole thus created the water poured like
a mill sluice.
For a hundred feet on both sides of
the original break the water poured
| through every crack in the pavement
and spouted up between the curb and
sidewalk. In some places small holes
in the sidewalks formed the craters of
miniature geysers. The distance some
of these springs or artesian wells were
from the place where the water first
showed indicated that the entire street
had been undermined for some dis
tance.
The late cars on several of the lines
were tied up for some time and some
of them were forced to turn back and
use the tracks on other streets to get
around the washout.
The amount of damage which was
wrought by the water cannot be esti-
mated and will not be known until the
pavement is taken up and thorough
investigation made.
The various electric companies had
men at work in an effort to protect
their conduits.