Arizona republican., 1916-01-24
ALL ATTEMP TS
 ID CROSS G|LA
 AGAIN FAILED

fish the broken connections with the outside world in that direction. II. D. McVey went from this city to per sonally superintend the work, but at late hour yesterday the attempt to string the wire into Maricopa had not proven successful.
 On Saturday a young man made an attempt to swim across the river and carry a rope over with hmi but the sweeping currents of the Gila proved to be too much and that plan was passed up.
 It was thought that q rocket, to which was attached string might be fired across the stream When that stunt was given trial, it was found that the rocket went dead before it
 had crossed the water, and that at
 tempt also was abandoned. Someone
 suggested that if d small cannon be
 provided and a rope made fact to the
 cannon ball, the latter might be fired
 over the river and drag the rope after
 it. Accordingly a small cannon was
 hastily manufactured out of a piece of
 brass tubing. and the weapon was loaded with a large shot. to which
 was attached q rope When the gun
 was fired it failed to develop suffi- cient impetus to carry the projectile from one shore to the other, and the muddy waters were again victors in the fight to prevent human ingenuity from spanning the cXpanse with the line of steel.
 Shortly following the experiment with the cannon, a young Indian ap- peared and suggested that it might he a good thing to try to shoot an arrow over to the opposite shore, and have a light line fastened to the shaft. However no bow of sufficient size could be found to suit the Indian. Word was sent to Phoenix to provide
 suitable bow if possible. Mr. McNey secured the local Indian settlements for big bow without success. Then l he remembered of reading an article 1 in The Republican of Saturday morn I ing telling of a gift of large bow and quiVer full of arrows which had been presented to Governor Hunt, i and the states chief executive was called and asked if he would loan the outfit to the company. The governor
 made a trip to the state house, got the i bow and arrows and gave them to the telephone official The latter hurried
 them to Maricopa and placed them in the hands of the Indian and told him 1 to get busy. The buck tied light silk cord to one of the arrows an9 sent it sailing toward the south bank
 of the raging stream. The distance i was too great and the arrow hit the | water instead of the terra firma, and all hopes of getting q wire across the
 rampaging creek went glimmering, for the time being. at least.
 Early on Friday an attempt was
 made to cross in boat and drag wire after it. but the pressure of the 1 waters on the wire caused it to be- | come so heavy that it threatened to
 swamp the boat, and it was chopped
 loose and the plan given up.
 Leased Wire Restored
 The Republican Associated Press i Leased Wire, which has been out of order for the past few days, was re stored late yesterday afternoon. A | temporary connection was rigged up with Winkleman, crossing the Gila at 1 that place The wire from there con
 meets with Denver. The fact that The Republicans leased wire failed. was
 keenly felt in Phoenix. The city has i been practically without outside news connections. Many phone calls. have been sent in during the intermission 1 asking when the wire was to be re- | stored
 Arizona Eastern
 Flood conditions. with regard to the
 damage they are inflicting on the 1 properties of the railroads in the state. were last night reported to be showing but little change during the
 past twentyfour hours.
 Superintendent C. M Scott of the
 Arizona Eastern. yesterday evening
 stated that the Gila river was making
 serious encroachments on the tracks 1 just east of Florence. A large force 1 of the cOmpany's men spent the day | in strengthening the tracks by the use
 of sand bags at this point. It is be-
 lieved that further damage by the
 water has been stopped.
 MT. Scott also stated that at Coch- l
 about 500 feet of track had been car ried away and that the river had cut | a new channel and was flowing along | on the space where the track was | formerly laid. Owing to the fact that i the river had come up flush with a | perpendicular cliff at this point. it will i be necessary for the company to blast 1 out a new right way on which ito lay the track It is hoped that the
 new track will be nigh enough to es- | cape the floods in the future.
 | The Arizona Eastern expects to have
 force of four large pile drivers and
 big crew of men sent to the bridge
 at Sacaton today, so that work can be l started on the new trestle at that place at the first moment that the
 water lowers sufficiently to allow the pile driving to start. The company expects to begin the job by sinking
 a number of piles and telephone poles | and will erect a temporary wooden | structure to carry the trains across 1 until a new bridge can be built At | the present time it is impossible to ! estimate the damage that has been done to the steel bridge there, but it 1 is thought that nearly all of the steel girders which have been washed out | of place can be recovered when the water goes down.