The Alaska citizen., 1910-10-31
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Fu. Dt GEONe over tue tHllIt AuuIllpil. up one stree and down another In many places the lots were flooded One entire block had become no more no: less than pond. At other points inc water. carrying with ii the vell,w sCil. was flowing over his beautiful clean sidewalks and spread ing its stain upon his immaculate streets The darkness alore drove him from that inspection. and then for Jimmy Platt Al the first subur- ban telephone station he tried for nearly an hour 10 locate his man. bur in vain. Later he tried fl from his club. but could not reach him. The night was a sleepless one. and the next mornings daybreak found him speeding out the roadway 70 the Applerod Addition.
 Early as he was. however, he found young Platt there ahead of him and in despair He had good cause. The whole north end of the Applerod Ad, dtIon had turned black. and over the top of Bobby's now grimy ce- ment wall poured broad dark sheet of the murky swamp-water which had strained it. The pond of Silas Trim Platt's confident figuring that it could not. and in spite of, the fact that dry weather had prevailed for two solid weeks. That was the in applicable part. Clear weather, and still the entire suburb was becoming practically submerged, With solid, dry soil surrounding ii. wherever the eye could reach il had become but morass of mud, Mud was smeared upon ever path and every roadway, and Bobby's automobile slipped and ] slid in the oily yellow liquid that 1 lay sluggishly in every gutter and 1 b1ofched every rod of his clean as phalt
 1 Young Platt's face blanched as he saw Bobby.
 i I've made a miserable botch of l it." he confessed torn with an agony of regret at his failure; and can't see vet what I overlooked I'd no right 10 tackle mans job like l this,"
 You" replied Bobby. vehement ly. Tt was Trimmer who did this; somehow. someway he did it. and he
 iaunts ii in our faces Look there," and he pointed to a huge signboard that had been erected overnight just opposite the entrance 10 Burnt avenue In huge. gold letters, sur mounted by giant hand that point ed the way, it told prospective in yestors to buy property in the high and dry Trimmer Addition, the words HIGH AND DRY" being twice as large as any other letter. ing upon the board
 IT is surely a lot of nerve" ad mitted Plat, but it is rank non sense to say that the man had any thing 10 do with the catastrophe. It would have been impossible. Let's look this thing over, Drive past the clubhouse to the extreme west side"
 Once more they traversed the mud of Burnt avenue. and upon the dry sloping ground the young en- gineer. cursing his ineXperience, alighted and walked along the edge of the property. seeking a solution to the mystery Still perplexed. he ascended the rising ground and looked musingly across at the yet swollen and clay-red river. Suddenly an exclamation escaped his lips.
 There's your enemy" he said to Bobby who had climbed up beside him and pointed to the river The river bank, l am sure. must edge upon tilted shale formation which dips just below this basin. Probably at all times some of the water from the river seeps down between two sand separated layers of this form ation to find it's outlet in the marsh, and it ig this water which. through a geological freak. has supplied that swamp for ages. In the spring, and
 in extraordinary flood times. it probably finds higher and loOser stratum. and rushes down here with all the force of a hydraulic stream. This spring it took it a long time 10 wet thoroughly all our made ground from the bottom upward. The frost, sinking deeper in this loose. wet soil than elsewhere. held it back. too, for time, but as soon as this was thoroughly out of the ground the river overflow came up like geyser. Mir Burnt, your ADplerod Addition is ruined, and it can never be saved, unless by some extraordinary means. Nature picked out this spot, centuries and centuries ago, for swamp, and she's going to have one here in spite of all that we can do. In five years this basin won't be a thing but a black water and weeds. with only