The Delta independent., 1911-10-13
HEAVY RAINS LAST WEEK
CAUSE MUCH EXCITEMENT
ton to Property Along its
Route.

That treacherous little stream
which bears an Indian title-Un-
compahgre-and flows through one
of the most fertile valleys in the
world, was on a rampage of much
more than ordinary moment for
several days the latter part of last
week and as a result much prop
erty and many crops along its route
Were damaged. Such ecsapades
as this by the Uncompahgre are un-
common at this seaosn of the year.
for most of the high, sweeping runs
have been made in the spring when
great bodies of snow in the noun
tains begin to melt The recent
heavy rains have doubtless caused
this rise in the current. but many
Of the old timers in this district
who have experienced numberless
fall rains here are disposed to dis
credit ordinary rainfall for the con-
ditions. They feel almost certain
that a cloudburst must have hap
pened near the head of the stream.
The little river bagan to rise
about the middle of last week but
at that time residents along its
route had no thought of the water
reaching out over the valley. They
began TO realize the probably out
come on Thursday, however, and
made haste to remove everything
movable and TO change course from
the overflow from that which was
not movable. All these efforts
failed in warding off great damage,
as above stated and the scene from
this point to Montrose clearly evil
dences that fact.
The Montrose and Olathe dam
ages came first, and then followed
the almost complete inundation of
the beet crops, vegetable gardens.
etc, in the Uncompahgre valley
sections of this district on Thurs
day. Friday and Saturday.
The homes of many Delta farm
ers were flooded and in several in
stances the families moved out to
await a termination of the silent
terror One of the families COM
PEELED to vacate was that of Michael
O'Rourke, Sr., whose family was
given quarters on Friday night at
the home of Mr.. and Mrs. S. B.
Snow. Others maintained a watch
all night to see that no harm came
to those who slept.
The big bridge near the Brick
and Tile works became badly i'm
paired and was expected to go at
any time, but barring the washing
away of some of the piers, is yet
in place and in fair condition. The
yards of the Brick and Tile company
were a veritable lake all day Fri
day and several tons of tile and
other property were washed out of
place and broken up as they fell
into the main stream. The larger
piles of brick were also damaged and
the company's loss will be heavy.
Among the farmers to suffer a
heavy loss by the flood was Walter
Raynor who had some fifteen or
twenty acres of sugar beets ready
for the market. His crop was COM
pletely washed away in many places
and all more or less damaged.
William Lance. whose place is sit
uated about mile and a half
southeast of town, was almost COM
pletely covered by the overflow and
a fine crop of oats already in
stack. badly damaged. The ap-
proaches to a bridge at this place
were washed away,
Henry Webber, a neighbor of
Lance. sustains heavy loss by the
flooding and washing out of some
eight or ten acres of sugar beets.
The highest point in the stream
was reached about 10 O'Clock Friday
night and remained at that level
until the early MORNING SATURDAY.
when il began to decline and thus
great relief was afforded those who
were on duty to watch the quiet
monster that night do even worse
than it had already done.
The Uncompahgre has made
record at this time equal to eight
years ago when the Bonny reser-
voir went out. according to resi-
dents who We're here and saw tho
havoc wrought at that time.