The Colorado statesman., 1909-08-21
MORE COLORADO
FLOOD DAMAGE
HEAVY LOSSES ALONG THE AR.
KANSAS RIVER BELOW THE
ROYAL GORGE.
CANON CITY SUFFERED
RAILROAD AND ELECTRIC LINES
DAMAGED-MANY FARMERS
LocE CROPS AND STOCK.

Dc2ver.-Reports continue to come
in of damages by the heavy rains. A
Canon City dispatch Wednesday night
says: The flood that swept the valley
of the Arkansas last night WAS dupli-
Gated this evening, when a cloudbu
on Four Mile creek sent down the
river second torrent equal to that
of yesterday. Panic spread throughout
the city and hundreds of persons liv-
ing in the lower sections of the town
fled for safety to higher ground, laden
fects as they could carry in their
arms.
The river here began to rise shortly
after O'Clock and by o'clock the
water had reached stage as high as
the flood of last night. The water
flowed over the floor of the principal
remaining bridge.
The electric power plant was dam
aged and this city and Florence are in
darkness.
That more serious damage was not
done was due solely to the fact that
the torrent yesterday had swept away
everything movable in it's path, de-
stroying two bridges and much prop
erty here, and nothing remained in
the path of tonight's flood.
BY 10 o'clock the crest of the rise
had passed and all danger was over.
The Denver & Rio Grande tracks be-
tween Canon City and Salida were
washed out in numerous places and
it will be almost week before COM
plete repairs can be made. The tracks
through the famous Royal Gorge are
almost complete loss, although the
hanging bridge was not damaged.
Officials of the Rio Grande are now
going over the line, but they cannot
be communicated with on account of
telegraph wires being down.
Crops were damaged to some extent
in the lowlands and cattle, hogs and
chickens were drowned, but the or
chards escaped Injury.
A Salida dispatch says: AS the re-
suit of flood at Howard, small sta
ton on the Rio Grande, twelve miles
east of Salida, about midnight last
night, DR.. d. d. Hamilton, his wife and
Walter Alexander narrowly escaped
death from flames.
Torrents of water came down the
mountain sides, flooding cellars and
several homes. The basement of the
Howard hotel was filled with water
and Hamilton, the proprietor, tried to
save some of the provisions, and went
downstairs with lamp and an explo-
sion followed from the fumes of an
overturned gasoline can.
Miss Dollie Beason, the telephone
operator at Howard, was carried from
the office by friends as the operating
room was filled with water, and mar
rowly escaped death.
A Pueblo dispatch says: Pueblo es
capped damge from the flood in the AR
kansas river of Tuesday night, but re
ports received this evening have
caused new apprehension. The Ar
kansas river began to fall at 6 O'Clock
tonight.
Train service to the West out o.
Pueblo was completely demoralized.
Serious damage was done to crop.
in the bottom lands along the river be
tween here and Canon City. The rive
overflowed its banks at many points
but this had the effect of saving Pu
eblo from extremely high water
The bridges across the Arkansas
were lined with people all day wht
were watching for the expected flood
Many of the poor people spent the da!
il fishing for timbers in the river
Hundreds of watermelons were caush
in nets by those stationed along tn,
| levee.
A Palmer Lake dispatch says: On
of the severest storms that eve
struck here caused considerable dam
age Wednesday afternoon in an,
about Palmer Lake. The barn of T. A
Hanks on the old Ben Lomand rancl
was struck by lightning and burned
The loss is about $4,000. The BARI
was a large structure, 100 feet long
forty feet wide and three stories high
At Pine Crest lightning struck tn
bowling alleys just after party G
players had left it. The damage ther
is about $500.