East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1908-03-16

The periodical flood oftthe ,Umatil-
la river has come again and the o..
r. & N. railroad lie bloekaded east,
west and north. No mall has been
received from either cast aor west
since Saturday night and at time Of
going to press today tthere is little
prospect of any mail train arriving
from any direction for several days.
At Duncan, 80 miles oeast of here
on the Blue mountains sabout 500 feet
OF track Is washed cut and at another
point in the immediate vicinity ~
the washOut Is a 1and slide covering
the track in dirt. rocks, trees and
debris for a distance Of about 500
feet.
A message brought In by a section
hand this forenoon says that the
abutment to the Cgyise bridge Is gone
and that pile driver will be neces-
sary to repair It. The new steel
bridge AT Nolin Is pushed out of line
by the rush or the water and the ap-
proach TO the new steel bridge Just
west OF the city fs damaged.
Large forces OF men are at work at
every point where damage is threat
ened. Every train crew in the city
was pressed into work train service
this morning and trains bearing large
forces OF laborers and bridge carpeh-
ters were sent east 10 Cayuse, west to
NolIn and north ~ 'Freewater this
morning In hopes of checking the
damage to the bridges by clearing the
river of debris.
No efforts are being made to run
trains. the company using every avail
able engine and train crew to repair
damage already dome and to prevent
further damage.
DanEaec on West End.
The first serious damage to the U.
r. & n. tracks came on Saturday
afternoon when Slide near Wyeth
blocked traffic and delayed all trains
for several hours When this slide
was removed II. was found that a cul
vert OF considerable size had been
washed out and with increasing trou-
BILE from washouts on the west enI'
no trains are running and it is not
known when they will ne able to get
through.
Meacham Creek Overlooking.
At noon today It was reported to
the East oregonian by telephone tnat
water was pouring through the o. r.
& N. tunnel at Meacham and that the
creek was still rising. IT was raining
en- the mountain at that time and the
snow was being melted rapidly.
Government Canal Damaged.
In order to test the strength and
capacity of the government canal
full head OF water was turned into
the canal yesterday afternoon by the
government engineers and at a point
q half mile west OF the headgate,
where the canal had been practically
built upon the surface OF the ground,
about so feet of the bank was wash
ed out and the head OF water rushed
through and out upon the flats. The
gates were Immediately shut dewn
and the inflow OF water stopped and
today large force of men is engag-
ed in repairing the break in the ca
nal.
The government headgate stood the
test of the high water satisfactorily
and 1t Is not believed that any flood
that may come down the river will az
feet #.
The Furnish headgate and canals
are in excellent condition and were
not damaged by the high water to any
extent whatever.
Echo Bridge Safe
1t was reported in the city this
morning that the new wagon bridge
at Echo had been washed out, but the
report proved to be untrue. The
bridge Is unharmed, although water
started to pour about the west ap-
proach last evening. BY working with
a force Of men all night this flow
was stopped and none of the approach
was washed away, although 1t was
threatened for a time.
Rose Saturday Night and Sunday.
Saturday night the Umatlla began
to rise as the result OF the heavy rains
during the night and the afternoon
previous. Yesterday morning the
rise was rapid and during the early
forenoon II had risen until the gauge
at the Main street bridge registered
seven and half feet above the low