El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1919-07-21
Rains Damage
Roads To Top
Of Mountains
Clo1dbursts On Both Sides
Of Alamooordo- Shear
man. Good Time.

Notwithstanding that there was
heavy rain amounting to a cloud
burst, extending for a distance of
seven miles south Of Alamosordo. Neil
Sherman. driving his Buick six. COW
Grad the distance from Alamogordo to
Ell Paso in three hours and a hall flat.
Sunday evening. His passengers were
c. A. Martin. John Echlin. L
Gregory and Frank Farrell. They had
been to Cloudcroft to visit the camp
of Boy Scouts from FL Paso and Carls-
bad. in James canyon
The heavy rain extended from Tur-
ouois. 80 miss south Of Alamogordo.
north to within a distance Of 23-3
miles of Alamogordo. At places the
water was so deep in the road that it
was necessary TO stop and get an old
can and fix It over the ignirion to
keep the water away from the car.
The country was sea Of water and
in places il was two feet deep in the
road. It will be several days before
It is safe for cars TO attempt to nego-
tiate this section Of road without
chains.
CIoudcroft Road Damaged.
The rain extended all the way
down TO a short distance south Of
Orogrande 40 miles from e Paso,
but was not heavy south Of Turquois,
which is six miles north Of Orogrande-
Sunday was a day of rains in that
section A cloudburst in the noun
Box canyon highway between Alamo
gordo and Mountain Park At point
just above the first ranch above FL
Valley on the Cloudcroft railroad. and
just before the first fence is reached
on the highway en- route from Alamo
gordo TO Cloudcroft. the water rushed
over the road carrying tons Of rock
and two cars going up the mountain
/ from Alamogordo turned back How
ever, the Sherman party. which left
iCloudcroft in a heavy rain at o'clock.
came through the place, by careful
I driving They were two hours get
/ ting down from ClOudcroft to Alamo
gordo.
The workmen building the new road
! to Cloudcroft have blasted cut the
bridges north OF Mountain Park and
it is now necessary to turn to the
right at Mountain Park on the way
I up, and go 70 Cloudcroft through
/ Haynes canyon While the roads are
slippery TO some extent after leaving
Mountain Park. they do not get bad
until after passing the sawmill in
/ HAYNES canyon 1t is then a hard
fight and chains are necessary. to
reach the top.
4 big Liberty truck belonging to
/ the quartermaster' department got
stuck in Haynes canyon while accom-
panying the Fifth cavalry to the top,
and was still there Sunday afternoon
] 4 little more travel over the road
between Mountain Park and Cloud
croft up through Haynes canyon. and
/ it will be impossible until a dry sea-
son comes again At present, IL is
still passable, but the army wagons
are cutting it some each day
Going up TO Cloudcroft Saturday,
Mr.. Sherman made the rip from
! Alamogordo to Cloudcroft IN an hour
and q half. 80 minutes quicker than
he made It down Sunday afternoon
after the rain
J Leaving FL Paso at ? o'clock Satur-
day afternoon, Mr. Sherman and
3 three and half miles hevond Cloud
croft in James canyon. at 8 in the eve
ming. and they stopped en- route al
/ Fort Bliss, at AlamogOrdO for lunch
at Orogrande for water. north OF Oro-
4 grande to visit with the road gang
and at Cloudcroft for a puncture.
4 Fixing The Road.
j The new tractor for the e Paso-
i AlScnogordo road is now in service
dragging big road scraper, Just p
miles south Of Alamogordo. There Il
considerable for them to do on tbs
road
From FL Paso to Newman, in z
Paso county. the road is rather bump,
and there are several places in evi
dence where cars have been mirel
| down during recent rains
North from Newman to Orogrande
: the road is quite crooked winding il
I and out among the sand banks. an
there are many places where. in dr..
weather. cars would have very har
going If they did not stall.
From Orogrande north. the road
crooked and sandy up TO Turquois. si
: miles away. IN dry weather. il /
: best to take a left hand road (goin
/, up) at Orogrande. just as the las
4 house is passed This skirts the foot
hills and is about a mile longer. bu
= misses the sand
From Turquois north for abou
seven miles, the road winds agai
Through sand that would be bad il
dry weather and is worse in we
weather, for the water catches il
great pools in the road About 2
miles south of Alamogordo. on
strikes the first paved road. This /
good with a few exceptions, wher
mud flats are bad in rainy weather
to Nalmont, 10 and a half miles sout
81 Il