The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1908-12-06

them Against their foundations Ine
waters rave in vain, and their beds are
raised high above the highest mark
set by the cloudburst tide of the spring
of 1897
In one place the entire end of
mountain which came down into the
bed of the stream, was taken of by the
greatshovels of the railroad company,
solely TO make a new channel for the
waters. AT another place hundreds OF
tons of sand were scooped off the bed
rock. sinking the level of the stream
many feet below the base of the en-
bankment on which the roadbed rests
Sixteen Miles of RipraP.
Four feet under the bed of the creek,
/ where it approaches close of the road
way, begins a remarkable sloping de-
| tense of riprap work which extends 70
thirty inches-almOst three feet-above
high water mark. Into this riprap
100000 cubic yards of selected stone.
! hand laid, imagine. If you can, what il
means to lay 100000 cubic yards Of
stone by hand. let alone selecting each
stone so that it fits in among its neigh
! bOrs like some ancient mosaic, leaving
smooth, sloping front to defy the
waters.
There are sixteen lineal miles of this
riprap, varying from seven to eight
! feet in width. carrying the tracks high
above danger and presenting an I'M
breakable front to the stream, wher-
ever. owing to the confguration of the
| canyon. the rOa6bed comes in contact
! with the riVerbed. And this riprap is
not a mere matter Of surfacing; it eX-
! tends all under the rails over which
| you are rolled by night or by day on
| the trains of the salt Lake route as
| they tear at full speed through the re-
1 i N-.,ll-
/ Some idea of the size of the wash and
of the terrible destruction the flood
wrought, can be gained by glancing at
! a map of Nevada. Thereon it will be
seen that the Meadow Valley wash,
through which the Salt Lake route
winds. defying the elements TO do their
worst drains both the Meadow Valley
| range of mountains and the Mormon
range. respectively. on the west and
east sides of the wash.
A Treacherous Stream.
! From Crestline. where Clover creek
heads. this stream pours a good-sized
| river in itself into the Meadow Valley
! wash at Caliente. Down Glover creek
| hitherto has come a torrent which all
division engineers and all section fore
men dreaded. but now this, too, has
been completely bound with chains of
I
torrential additions to Meadow Valley
| wash have lost their terror for the men
of the trains which dash like fright
ened deer over the new roadbed-
The Meadow Valley wash itself
come down from the Phoebe country
and from Caliente on down to its june
ton with the Muddy. it is the most
dangerous of all desert streams of the
southwest, not even excepting the Mo-
jave at flood time
In the Meadow Valley wash proper
there are few large boulders. but many
great rocks are brought down from
above, hurried against bridges. thrown
into entertainments with terrific force
and used as battering rams by the
water in its effort to deny the right OF
man TO travel up and down its course
Thus all the great boulders. some OF
them as large as a small house, ore
carried far down the stream until they
strike the level country beyond the
| wash
The destructive agent of this stream
has been not alone the water. but these
! huge bOulders, one of which could take
out a bridge when hurled against the
man-set tinbers with all the strength
of the mile-wide torrent. To such a
stream the railroad was a plaything
kindly given into its hand by the black
specks which had covered the bed OF
the wash with their stakes the year be-
fore. The flood was the answer OF the
mountains and the streams to the in
truder, but now the man has come
back and the mountains and the
streams are forever chained.
Where the stream met a point of the