Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1909-06-08
ALMOST 4 DISASTER.

- S. ~ &
For the twenty four hours following "!
last Saturday noon, ALI AZ. lA an Il
\. city Was ovcrshadowed by the near 1's'
I PROBABILITY or the worst disaster in It's IT'S
\ history. .i..
5Ttie city. Creek tlume at the head of
& state street Was filled to It's ca ptaacits,5
4 md four bridges, Just above X were top
"A linr reat IL 10 complete the closure and
\ thereby ruin hundreds OF thousands lssa' Is
Of dollars worth of property IN the
y business center, The tying up OF inc no
tottering bridges after the, belated ar
rival$of a small force OF men On l sat a'
nrday afternoon narrowly averted N
impending calamity Of engnlflng STATE 1ls
and Main streets With the nre sent
5n1r,tldy torrent from city Creek.
NOT fewer than six persons who fla'
observed the danger to the city from
u the caving inof the hanks Of city
creek, spent most OF tho afternoon&ln
trying to interest the street depart
nlent the waterworks Office. the fire
department. the police department. and
the county sheriff's Office in the Sit
tiatlon. Each office when ppportnned
over the telephone or by personal visit,
referred the informants to some other
Office until when Supervisor HOLIDAY
u and a. few5lnen arrived on the scene, the
& cavilig In had made such Roadway that
for many hours nothing effective could
& be done to stay its progress. Yet the
local food situation is a very simple
matter and easily regulated il taken in
q time. The foods can be controlled and +
any grave danger certainly averted
should conditions grow no worse with
ensuing years. safety can he insured
by the most common forms of5precau-
K ton.
The Gazing In of the banks of City
Z Creek. which rendered unayaiiing the
remedial efforts of all the workers
4 lower down on the stream, Is easy
enough of prevention. and it ought
never to have occurred.
The banks We're not even washed out.
much less torn out" by the raging
torrent, as iinagnatiVely reported in
the columns of some of the papers The
+ recently flied in enbankments OF soft
I. SOIL, having Deei5 lell almost suIlpfOteEt-
ed. simply sid into the bed of the
stream as soon as the water rose high
enough TO moistcn them And that this
was permitted 10 occur MAS due solely
to the fact that the so-called 3en-
abanltment that had similarly slid into
the stream q year ag3, Dat less eN-
tensively than this year, had been re-
placed by a loose, uncohefing rip-
rap Of small round cobble stones, sins
ply piled up by prison labor. and With
out the addition of,even lime plaster to
make them hold together, This loose
aggregation of rubbish simply sank in
TO the water as soon as the new loallty
soil on which il leaned became moist
& and yielding. We repeat that this So
called wall. did not wash out from
the force Of the current, but sitnplyfel
into the stream OF It's own weight and
lack of cohesion, as soon as the water
soaked into mud the soft soil back OF it,
and this is the bare fact about the So
called Washouts@ along Canyonroad,
That such q piece of work was per-
niitted To pass muster, is not 49,. snort
OF municipal disgrace. That there
should lie no repetition OF st,ia negligent
biunder is now patent TO every one.