Arizona republican. [volume] (Phoenix, Ariz.) 1890-1930, 1916-01-30
SIXTY NOW


started from San Diego with pom
tOOns and engineering equipment by
which it was hoped swollen streams
might be crossed and mired roads
made passabl No word came back
as to its success
No one here knew tonight what was
going on in the outside world, not
even as far as Los Angeles. The
wireless the sole means of commune
cation, except by boat, could not be-
gin to handle the business offered or
even the press dispatches. 1t was i'm
possible even to estimate the amount
of immediate relief work to be done
because no word from the stricken
valleys conveyed any idea of the
number or plight of the survivors.
First reports of the Otay district
reached here late Thursday They
told of ranch houses washed away
and of cattle and stock drowned. In
vestigatiOn appeared to indicate eX-
ceptionally high water. and word came
that the lower Otay dam was holding
This dam started as reinforced
concrete affair, was changed above
foundation line to a strip of riveted
steel set in concrete. as a backbone
for a loose rock dam. Engineering
experts throughout the country com
mented on it and said that when the
reservoir was full, the test of the
construction would come. The re
cent rains filled the reservoir, for the
first time.
Last night the flood, bearing human
bodies, with frightful amount of
Wreckage, established, seemingly be-
yond all doubt, the collapse of the
dam. From no other source engineers
said could this water have come.
Rain continued today.
The population of San Pasqual val
ley which comprises $40 acres lying
some six or seven miles southeast of
Escondido, is estimated at from three
to five hundred. The town of San
Pasqual is little more than a collec-
ton of nearby ranch houses near the
center of the 1,040 irrigable acres OF
the valley floor. Many Mexican
ranchers are there raising chiefly mel
ons, fruits and grain and some cattle
The Santa Ysabel and Santa Marie
rivers meet at the edge of the ir-
rigable acreage and empty into the
San Dieguito river which meets the
ocean about 20 miles south of tn,
mouth of the San Luis Rey river
| near Oceanside.
The entire country in the vicinit!
of these rivers is hilly and rolling
/ with numerous water sheds. 1t wa
considered probable tonight that TIL
San Dieguito river had leaped it
! banks and flooded the territory 70
miles near its course and mouth be
! tween the coast towns of Encinita
and Del Mar
Reports from the San Luis Rey dis
trict are meager but they indicat
that the flood there almost equal
that in the Otay valley. The bodie
of three women are the only one
that have been recovered thus fal
The Mission there is safe Wreckag
carried down the San Luis Rey rive
reveals the extent of the havoc cause
= by the flood. No communication
yet possible with interior points. TIL
: Santa Fe railroad and state highWa
5 bridges near Oceanside are gone.
s The sum of $4,000 was pledge
: here today for the work of relief
One of the freaks of the flood wa
I the carrying away of a ponderou
Santa Fe locomotive which was swel
5 out to Sc"
s 1t became definitely known tonigl
s that this city would not be hampere
: in its water supply as a result
: the emptying Of the Otay reserve
! caused by the breaking of the dan
5 The supply which can be brougf
s from other sources, it is said will
~ adequate for at least three years