The San Francisco call., 1906-11-16


water and most of it's people camping
out on the uplaads; Ostrander under
water. Lexington completely sub
merged and every bridge but one out
that in brief was the situation along
the Cowlitz river tonight at o'clock
Millions of dollars damage has been
done today, but so far as is known
there has been no loss of life. But tn en
the disaster had not reached it's high
tide. for the river IS still rising at the
r,s.e of an inch an hour. At this point
the river is a0H, feet above low-water
mark and two feet above the town.
patrol is watching the water front
clasely.
Tic greatest danger to life today has
been ct the little settlement of Lexing-
ton, and among the fishermen at the
junction of the Cowlitz and Columbia
! rivers. Lexington was submerged dur
ing the afternoon and there would have
been loss OF life had not the people
from surrounding settlements rallied to
the rescue in small boats. About 100
people were taken off. Tonight Lex
| ington is under seven feet of water
as near as can be judged.
FAMILIES ARE RESCUED
The rescue boat sent down from
Portland this afternoon. the Georgia
Burton, rescued the fishermen and their
families who were in danger at the
junction of the Cowlitz and Columbia
rivers. There were about eight famil-
les nearly thirty people. They had
been living in house boats for the most
part, and every avenue of escape had
been shut off by the unexpected rising
of water. The Portland steamer got
there this afternoon and rescued all of
the imperiled people, according to ad-
vices received here this evening.
of the settlement proved a place of
safety for all endangered there. Dee
Blackwell of Castle Rock arrived in
* elso tonight. having walked down the
river track from that place He re-
ports that the lower portion of the
| town is under from seven to ten feet
of water and that many of the houses
are submerged to the caves.
Word was received here tonight that
the Ladu country southwest of kelso
is entirely under water and that the
ranchers are homeless. They were able
to save their stock. however, driving
it ahead of the flood into the halls.
LUMBER INTERESTS SUFFER
Damage to the lumber interests runs
into the millions of dollars. 1t is
known at this time that along the
Cowlitz above and below kelso be-
tween $4,000 and $1,000 cords of bolts
and about 100000 feet of logs have
been swept to sea. The big boom al
/ the mouth of the Cowlitz went out
/ this morning.
Heroic efforts at rescuing lumber are
| being kept up. A million feet OF lum-
/ ber and 400 cords of bolts were saved
this afternoon by the Metcalf Shingle
Company. A feet of steamers is at
work down the river rounding up the
booms and it is reported that at Coal
Creek Slough, near Stella. 1000 cords
of bolts and about 100000 feet of logs
have bees moored
The steamer Dirigo is patrolling
the Cowlitz in search of imperiled peo-
pie. Whether any rescues have been
made by the boat today is not known.
but it has been running for this pur-
nose between Kelso and Rainier and
Rainier and Stella
The big bridge between this place
/ and Catlin went out this morning at
o'clock. 1t had been piling high with
debris all night, and il was known ii
could not withstand the terrific strain.
There is one bridge left. and that it
the big steel structure al Toutle, four
miles north of Castle Rock. which is
reported intact tonight.
The population of Castle Rock is
about 1900. of Kelso, 100. of Ostrander,
200. and of Lexington, loo.
DAYLIGHT is being anxiously awaited
all over the region, and not until to-
morrow will the full extent of the
damage be known.
CATLIN SWEET AWAY
Several lives reported lost. the town
of Catlin swept away by the Cowlitz
River railroad traffic between Puget
Sound and Portland at a standstill, the
railroads OF Western and Northwestern
washington In the same condition.
the Union Pacific and Oregon Railway
and Navigation track temporarily
blockaded by q mud slide at Dodson.
! the telegraph and telephone between
here and Seattle out of commission
! and wire traffic to Eastern Oregon
! and Washington almost at standstill,
hundreds of thousands of dollars dam
/ age in the rural districts back of the
Sound country, in the Yakima country
i and in Southeastern Washington and
! as much more to the logging interests
| of Southwestern Washington. briefly
summarize tonight the known de-
struction wrought by the streams and
! creeks of Washington. which are
/ laundering torrents as the result of
the torrential downpour of the past
] three or four days.
On the Cowlitz. which tonight is the
- sar;o,,e menace the town of Cat