The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1911-11-20
Municipal Water Supply Cut OF
and Light Plant Out of
Commission
PIPE LINE WASHED AWAY
BY BREAKING OF DAM
Bridges Destroyed, Railroad
Service DemOraIiZed and
Farms Inundated
RISING RIVERS CAUSE
FEAR OF GREAT DAMAGE

~ EATTLE. Nov. 19.-Seattle's water
supply has been cut off. the mu
nicipal light plant put out of
commission railroad service de-
moralized. bridges washed out and val
ley towns and farms are under water.
This represents the damage done to-
day by the floods in western Washing
ton caused by the heavy rains in the
lowlands and the sudden melting of
six feet of snow in the Cascade
mountains.
Reports received by the railroads
from their stations high up in the
mountains say that the rivers are be-
ginning to fill. but the water continues
to rise at an alarming rate in the low
lands and it is feared that further dam
age will be done
The most serious aspect of the food
is the cutting of of seattles water sup
ply which is obtained from Cedar lake,
55 miles east of here. and is brought
into the city reservoirs by two big pipe
lines. one five and one eight feet in
diameter.
Municipal Dam Breaks
A bridge IS miles west of Moneton
that carries the pipe lines across Cedar
river was washed out this morning,
when 1s feet of water was released by
; The breaking Of the municipal power
dam. just above Moncton, the location
of the city power plant
The five foot top of the dam was car
ried away and, flooding the valleys be-
low. destroyed many small bridges.
The break in the dam made it neces-
sary to shut down the power plant and
tonight seattle's streets are only partly
lighted. The city is obtaining current
for some Of its circuits from the power
companies that supply the street car
system and the industrial plants.
The loss of the pipe lines will work
no serious hardships on the people of
the city if the river subsidies soon
enough to permit pipe line repairs to
be made within a week.
Reserve Water Supply
Tie city has a reserve supply OF
10O.O00,oo0 gallons in the service reser-
voirs superintendent Youngs of the
water department said tonight that this
should last week if consumers were
not wasteful.
When the power dam broke the water
swept down the valley with a rush,
carrying logs and debris before it, Fff-
teen miles below the break The water
rose FIVE feet in ten minutes
At Renton. a town of 1000 persons,
the water swept through the streets
and the citizens took to the hills The
downtown section of Renton is under
two feet of water
The model farm of J. p. Farrel, pres
ident of the Oregon Washington Rail-
road and Navigation company. is also
under water
Railroad Lines Blocked
The Great Northern Coast line is
y blocked between Everett and Belling-
ham and the overland is tied up by a
slide - miles east of Index. The Great
Northern expects to get its main line
open tomorrow
The Northern Pacific's transconti-
mental line is tied up by landslides in
the mountains. Overland trains are be-
ing routed by way of Portland. Ore.
and the Spokane Portland and Seattle
railway to Spokane and are running
from II to "a hours late.
Rock Slides and Bridge Wrecked
Local officers of the Northern Pacific
said they hoped to have their line over
the mountains opened by Tuesday. but
a report received from Eilensburg, on
the east slope. says that there were
heavy rock slides at Easton and La
coma today and it is feared that it will
be week before the service can be
restored.
The Chicago. Milwaukee and Puget
sound is making no effort to send out
its transcontinental trains The Mill
waukee road uses the line of the Co
lumbia and Puget Sound, short coal
road, between Seattle and Maple VAL
ley. 25 miles east of here.
The big steel bridge east of Renton,
on the main line of the Columbia road,
is eight inches out of line. and it will
be Tuesday night before this damage
can be repaired.
wooden bridge over Webster creek
I. at Taylor was carried away when
! small dam that impounded water for
the use of the village went out.
The rich farming valley between
Seattle and Tacoma is under water.
and interurban trains are operated
with difhculty.