Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1916-01-30
Seventeen Bodies Taken Out
of Bay and Many Others
Are Believed Washed Out to
Sea by Current of Streams,
BEAUTIFUL VALLEYS
ARE LEFT DES0LATE
All Means of Transportation
and Communication Cut Off
and Extent of Disaster IS
Largely ConjeCtural

san Diego, Calf, Jan. 20 (hy Wire
less to San Francisco One hundred
lives have been lost ns nearly as any
estimate can show, ana charming lit
tie valleys for fifty miles north OF the
Mexican line lie dosolate tonight from
floods and cloudbursts.
With the death toll in the 0tay val
ley seemingly established at fifty
souls and all relief agencies working
IN that direction. reports reached here
late today of floods sweeping the San
Luis Rey and san Pascual valleys,
doubling the loss of life. With COM
almost cut off IL was i'm
possible TO list accurately the number
Of the dead: conjecture and mcager
reports alone were available. Seven
teen bodies We're taken out of San
Diego bay before nightfall These
had been swept down when the lower
Otay reservoir went out late Thurs
day and the current of the flood was
thought To have carried many others
out To sea. The town of San Diego re-
manned virtually unchanged and sup
courses are available to
replace the regular water supply, cut
off by the breaking of the dam.
Many Injuries were reported from
Tijuana Hot Springs, where a hotel
collapsed.
village Reported Wiped Out.
A cloudburst, reports had 1t. caused
the flooding Of the San Luis Rey and
san Pasqual valley. The town of San
Pasqual an ancient, tiny village. cud-
died In the mountains in valley was
said to have been wiped out alto
gether.
Nothing was known as to the fate of
the towns of San Luis Rey and Ocean
side. in the path Of the san Luis Rcy
river, but il the flood was of the re-
ported magnitude 1t seemed imposs-
BILE that the former, with its ancient
Franciscan mission could have es-
capped humiliation. Oceanside is al
summer resort with two good-szed
hotels and population OF about one
thousand. The San Luis valley con-
aims one of the great Miller and Lux
,attle ranches which dot the state for
seven hundred miles and are known
10 cattlemen throughout the world.
Communications All Cut.
Railroads. telephone. telegraph and
III ordinary means OF communication
md relief were gone with no prospect 1
If early recovery. only the sea re-
and from it aid began to
,ome. An expedition from United
states warships in San Diego bay was
started In launches and barges for the
)tay valley Reports were that the
'irst landing party had been unable
% penetrate tho valley, for reasons
lot given The destroyer Lawrence /
moved down from her station here
md anchored off the mouth Of the
Dtay river, which stream ran bank ,
'ull after being dry for years.
An overland expedition also was
started from san Diego. with pontoons
md engineering equipment by which
[ was hoped swollen streams might |
,e crossed and mIred ronds made !
No word came back as to /
Is success.
san Diego Isolatcd. I
No one here tonight know what was
,oing on In the outside world or even
is near as Los Angeles. The wireless,
he sole means of unication, ex
ept by boat, could not begin to han
lie the business offered or even the
,ress dispatches 1t was impossible
ven to estimate the amount of immc-
late relief work to be done, because
10 word from the stricken valleys con-
eyed any idea OF the number or
light of the survivors.
First reports of the Otay disaster
cached here late Thursday They
old of ranch houses washed away and
f cattle and stock drowned. lnves-
igation appeared TO Indicate excep
ionally high water, and word came
hat the lower Otay dam was holding.
his dam, started as reinforced con-
rete affair, was changed above foun
alton line to a strip Of riyeted steel
ct in concrete, as backbone for II
Dosc rock dam. Engineering experts
the country commented on
and said that when the reservoir
vas full the test of the construction
would come. The recent rains filled
he reservoir, for the first time,
Last night the flood. bearing human
odies. with n frightful amount of
freckagc, established. beyond ali
oubt. the collapse Of the dam. From
% other source, engineers said. could
his water have come.
Rain continued today.
Irrigated Districts Flooded.
The population of San Pasqual val
~. which comprises 3.44o acres "
ng some six or seven miles southeast
( Escondido, Is estimated at from
hree to five hundred. The town Of
an Pasqual is little more than a coll
-cti0n of nearby ranch houses near
he center Of the l.04O irrigable acres
I the valley floor Many Mexican
anchers are there raising chiefly ,
lelons. fruits and grain and some
attic.
The Santa Ysabel and Santa Marie ,
lvers meet at the edge OF the irriga-
le acreage and empty into the San /
,ieguito river which meets the ocean
bout twenty miles south of the ,
louth of the San Luis Rey river, near 4,
'ceanside.
The entire country in the vicinity {