Western liberal. (Lordsburg, N.M.) 1887-1919, 1906-12-07

Clifton was visited by the biggest
food IL It's history Monday. The wires
went down, and the railroad was
washed out, and it has been impossi-
BILE TO get any accurate information
about the damage. The lines have
been repaired, and before much tele-
graphing could be done they would go
out again. From the scraps Of infor-
nation that have been secured the
following is about the facts IN the
case, so far as known: Monday after
noon high water came down the San
Francisco, and the railroad yards we're
flooded. In the evening the big re-
tanning dam built by the Detroit cop
per company, to hold the taillngs,
broke, and o great lake of water went
down Chase creek. This is a narrow
channel, and at Clifton was built up
on both sides, with residences and
business places. These were flooded,
and many Of them washed away, The
Arizona copper company's smelter is
built over Chase creek, and 1t was
filled with debris. On the opposite
side of the river the Clifton Hotel and
the ella Valley bank, next door, we're
flooded, and some Of the adobe build
ings further down the street were
washed out. Several miles of the Cor
onado railroad we're washed away.
The first report was that sixty people
were drowned, but this Is now con-
coded to be many more than lost their
lives, although it is not known how
many we're drowned. 1t will be a
matter of weeks before the Arizona
copper company's smelter will be able
to blow in again, and before the Coro-
nado road can bring down ore for it
and for the Shannon smelter. When
the Arizona copper company was
started, in the early eighties, there
was plenty Of room for the town of
Clifton, at its present site. Then
there were less than a thousand peo-
pie living in Clifton proper. Since
then the business of the company has
increased many times, and now there
are several thousand people living
there. The ground has been built UP,
%encroaching on the waters right Of
way, and when a flood comes there is
not a large enough channel for it.
Floods have cost the company and
the people Of Clifton hundreds Of
thousands of dollars, and many lives.
Some years ago the Arizona copper
company acquired several hundred
acres a few miles this side of Clifton,
where 1t then contemplated building
its works, but never has occupied the
ground. The land lies just this side
Of the first tunnel from Clifton, and
is fifty or sixty feet above the river.
Chairman Gill, of the Scotch board of
directors, and j. G. Hopkins, who Is
also a member of the board, were at
Clifton at the time of the flood, and
could actually see what had happened,
and what is liable to happen at any
time big water comes down. 1t may
be that they will order the building
of new works on the safe site owned
by the company, south of town. OF
course with the removal of the works
most Of the town will follow. With
the moving of the town a safe passage
way could be kept open through Chase
creek, and what is now Clifton, for
the railroad that would bring the ores
from the mines to the Arizona and
the Shannon smelter. If the Arizona
company does this it will but be doing
practically the same as did the Copper
Queen, when it moved it's smelters
out of the canyon at Bisbee, to safe
ground at Douglas, although there is
this difference, the mines at Bisbee
were in the same canyon, while the
Arizona company's mines are beyond
the canyon in which Clifton is built.