The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1917-12-20
observation-disclosures
PLACER CREEK TORRENT
PINE CREEK CUTS OUT RAIL-
ROAD GRADE-MANY WAL
LACE HOMES RUINED.

The heavy snow up to about ten
days ago, followed by steady rain for
more than week, which eliminated
III terrific downpour Monday night
and Tuesday, brought flood of water
down Placer creek, Big creek and
Pine creek which wrought great dam
age to property greatly interfered with
mining operations and greatly damag-
ed the Pine creek railroad and will
delay its completion to the objective
point about a mile above Beeler. At
Wallace the ravages of Placer creek
will mount into many thousands of
dollars and entailed losses that cannot
he estimated in dollars and cents.
Homes We're wrecked along the stream,
houses were carried down bodily with
their contents, and some of the most
beautiful homes in the city were un-
dermined, lawns washed away, and
losses entailed which place a heavy
burden on the owners. In short, the
home section of the city was swept
by the rushing and uncontrolled wa
ters, leaving a scene of wreck and
desolation that is most distressing to
view. From every viewpoint the loss
is appalling, and as usual in connec-
tion with such disasters it is easy to
see now what might have been done
to lessen it. Before placing blame it
should be remembered that no one
could anticipate such tremendous
rush of water until too late to adopt
means to control it, and events have
shown conclusively that nothing
could have been done to prevent much
of the damage.
Pine Creek Flood.
SO far as can be learned the actual
damage to property on Pine creek was
not great with the exception of the
railroad. Several families were driven
/ from their homes by the rising tide,
but the real losses sustained were not
great. The contractors constructing
the Pine creek railroad were heavy
sufferers, the grade being carried out
III many places, making it nee
.essary to rebuild the line. Work
has been proceeding very rapidly in
the construction of this branch, and
the end of the track was less than
mile from Beeler and would have been
completed to that point during Christ
mas week A celebration in honor of
the event was being arranged as
feature of the Christmas holiday. Ac-
Cording to the plans of the railroad
company" the track is to be extended
about mile beyond Beefer this win
ter, where loading facilities will be put
in assuming that the weather will
permit construction work to that ex-
tent This will be half way to the
Constitution and over half way to
the Douglas, and eliminate the worst
part of the wagon road. The damage
from washouts will necessarily give
the contractors a considerable setback
and render the completion of the work
as planned somewhat doubtful How
ever, the probability is that the work
will be completed, as snow and rain
do not seriously interfere with con-
struction and all indications and pre-
dictions are against excessively cold
weather ...a
Other High Water Damage.
On Big creek the principal damage
from the torrent was to the wagon
road, which is reported badly washed
out in places. No serious property
damage is reported.
At the mouth of Two Mile the high
water in the river has deposited
mass of tailings around the bridge and
thrown the channel around the ap-
proach on the south side, making it
impossible.
For some reason unknown Canyon
creek and Nine Mile kept within
reasonable bounds and no damage is
reported along either of those streams.