Weekly journal-miner., 1911-07-05
DOWNPOUR |NUNOATES
 SALT RIVER VALLEY
Crops Badly Damaged and Many Adobe Houses Are Destroyed Leaving
 Tenants Homeless

l was NOHS rum HdtCi pOuIluS OuI Ol
 Paradise valley, a vast basin-likt
 desert, across the lower end of whief
 runs the Arizona canal at the eastern
 extremity of the Phoenix mountains
 or Comeback, and water pouring off
 the southern slope of the Phoenix
 mountains, into the Arizona canal
 the capacity of which was taxed un.
 til it's south bank gave away in var.
 iOus places. The Cave creek flow
 at the other end of the same noun
 tain range brought the flood to the
 Glendale country and toward Phoe-
 nix.
 As in 1891 lower Phoenix was in-
 undated by a break in the Salt
 River Valley canal, but the present
 break was at the crossing of the
 Park road the northern extension of
 the east corporation line, instead of
 several miles east of town, and the
 water instead of coming down the
 canal from the river, ran into it
 across the country from the north,
 where it broke out of the Arizona
 canal near the present seat of opera
 tiOns of the big exeavator a mile or two west of the head of the Cross cut canal. In its journey toward the Salt River Valley canal it flowed into and in places over the Grand canal which, though a large ditch, could not aeeOmOdate such a flood. This water breaking at the Park road, ran southeast of the park until it reach ed the railroad tracks which served as a dam, whence it turned west and ran into the city submerging the lower portions of it.
 But the surface inflow into the Salt River Valley canal was so much larger than the outflow through the Park road break, that large volume of water continued down the canal through the city until it reached weak place in the bank on the high school grounds and there made a second break. This flood rolled to the southeast crossing Washington street between Sixth street and the East End school and united with the other near the railroad tracks.
 A regular river of water must have poured from the Arizona near the ex- cavator. It went south across the ranch of J. H. Fleming two or three miles northeast of the Indian school, destroying his eantalOups crop and giving his orange orchard a plunge bath it did not need. Thereafter the major part of the water continued 1 south in a general way across the ! Grand and down toward the insane | asylum where it turned into the Salt | River Valley canal. It was the minor part of the flood that turned south wes about three miles north of the city and eireled across the Indian school suburban street ear tracks to the Osborn school and Central avenue meantime overflowing the Little Mar leopa which heads in the Grand can Il, and bringing another branch of he flood down into East Evergreen addition in Phoenix, north of the branch of the Salt River Valley canal known as the town ditch.
 Bright and early yesterday morn ng the mayor and city councilman md street commissioner, as well as Thief Sullivan of the fire depart nent, set themselves to the task of the water as much as pos ible, giving their first attention to he break near the high school build ng. Street Commissioner c. H. 'hristy was out at o'clock and or 'anized a force as quickly as possl- 'le. Men were hard to get The ( dexieans generally depended upon or manual labor mostly live in the , ower part of the city and had troub- i es of their own, in protecting their ( antilles and household goods and ( loving out of erumbling shacks. g
 Nevertheless an active gang was T secured. The planking of c he horse shed at the high school t as appropriated and driven into the t itch band ah the skeleton of a dam t nd some three hundred sacks of dirt | nd sand were piled against it until T ne flood was finally turned back a ito the ditch and kept there. In I
 short time the released water drain off the nearby streets to the low ' part of town. Attention was next ven to other needed matters, but all ay long the administration had $ renuous day of it. Councilman Me t