The Holly chieftain., 1911-10-13
FOLLOWING cLoUoRURsT FLOODS
pEvAsTATE SAN JUAN
DISTRICT.
LOSS OF LIFE UNKNOWN
RAILROADS, HIGHWAYS, TOWNS,
BRIDGES AND CROPS RUINED
DAMAGE IS $s,ooo.ooo.
western Newspaper Union News Service.

Western Newspaper Union News Service.
Durango Colo.-The San Luis val
ley and the San Juan country have
been damaged millions OF dollars with
a loss Of life that is yet unknown be-
cause Of the meagreness of detail in
the first dispatches received from the
flood-devastated districts. Railroads,
state and county highways, towns,
bridges and crops In the last few
days have suffered as the result of
cloudbursts and torrential rains here
tofore unprecedented in Colorado.
The burden Of special dispatches
from Durango. Ouray. Alamosa, Anto-
nito, Rico, Cortez and half a dozen
smaller towns is ruin and desolation
that will take months to repair.
Buildings of every description were
torn bodily from their foundations;
haystacks. heavy logs and railroad
and bridge timbers were swept away
and tossed like straws on the crests
of surging waters; miles upon miles
Of Denver & Rio Grande track were
ripped from the roadbed in various
places and twisted into hopeless
tangles of steel and wood, and little
village east Of Durango, containing
fifty souls, is reported to have been
wiped off the map. Hairbreadth es-
capes were numerous and hundreds
have been made homeless throughout
the flooded districts which extend
from the center Of the San Luis val
ley westward across the San Juan
ranges and down the Animas valley
clear across the borders of New Mex
leo.
From Durango, which has been cut
off from the outside world. come re-
ports of loss of s5OO,OOO to the rail-
road; 100000 to the farmers of the
region, and 100000 in the destruc-
tion Of bridges. Only one bridge is
left standing in La Plata county. Fif-
teen miles Of track between Durango
and Silverton are reported gone.
Losses of life are feared at Dolores
and Cortez. Efforts to get into COM
"'1nication with these towns were fu-
tile.
From Telluride comes the report
that the little town of Hesperus was
saved only by miners dynamiting
dam and changing the course of the
floods.
The breaking of the D. & R. G. levee
threatened the entire business district
of Alamosa. Only the Herculean eff
forts of the inhabitants prevented dis
aster. So great was the force of the
waters that cement sidewalks were
undermined and carried from ten to
twenty feet away. Scores of families
living along the south side of the Rio
Grande river had to be rushed to
places Of safety in wagons.
Among the hairbreadth escapes re-
ported is that Of q train of mule teams
in the Uncompahgre caiion, near Du-
range. At Mineral park the mule
teams that had left Durango to get
supplies for the town had just crossed
a section Of road supported by 300
feet Of cribbing when the cribbing sud
denly gave way and plunged sheer for
a depth Of 600 feet into the bed of the
cafion.
~ olEeICu VI 1HtGeIl IHlleS VI LFdCh
between Durango and Silverton Is re.
ported completely gone.
The effects of the flood at Durango
will be more far-reaching than was
thought at first It has been reported
that the damage done locally to the
Rio Grande railway can be repaired.
in from one to three months but until
the officers Of the road can make the
estimate 1t cannot be said with any
degree Of certainty just how much
time will be required to repair the
damage.
The storm continued with un
abated severity for twenty-four hours
throughout the Animas valley and
over the entire San Juan ranges. The
rainfall in Durango was little over
three inches, but in the mountains sur
rounding 1t was from seven to eight
inches. Only one bridge is left stand
ing in La Plata county.
At Laboca the section house of the
railway company was washed away
and the tracks also washed away fC'
a short distance.