The Seattle star. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1899-1947, 1920-07-08


ton gathered ana broke out. ran up
and down the canyon. up the oppo.
site cliff face. ocholng and rising an
dense and thick as smoke does. The
rack-roek charge. OF no one may
know how many hundreds OF
pounds. had done It's work.
And then all earth went back IN
chaos. A new world wnS In the max
Ing. There arose In that narrow.
iron-sided gorge a havoc such as be.
like surpassed that OF tho original
breaking thru of tho waters. That
first slow work Of nature might
have been done drop by drop. a lit.
tie at a time. But now all the out.
ragged river WINS venting itself In one
epochai instant Its accumulated
power was rushing thru tho wall
that held II back from tho rcas-the
vast vengeance OF the waters. which
they had sought covcrtiy all this
time, now wnH theirs.
An uncomfortable and immeasura-
bio force was set loose. No man
may measure the actual horse power
that lay above the great dam Of the
Two forks--it never was n comprc-
hcnslbie thing. A hundred Johns.
town reservoirs lay pcnued there.
That there was no little actual loss
of life was due 10 the fact that there
were few settlements in the 90 miles
below the mouth OF the great canyon
itself a few scattered dry farms.
cdRing UP close 10 tho river IN the
valley far below. were caught and
buried. Hours later. under the ad.
vancinR flood. all the live stock OF
the valley was swept away. all the
houses and all The fences and roads
and bridges were wiped out as tho
they had never been. But this was
80. 90. 20 miles away, and much later
Ia the morning. Those below could
only guess what had happened far
UP In the great Two Forks canyon.
The biz darn was brokenl
The face OF the giant dam. more
soildiy coherent than granite itself.
slowly. grandiose even In It's ruin,
passed out. down In a hundred foot
crevasse where the spill gates were
widened by the high explosive. a
vast land slip. Jared from the cut.
face mountain side above. thunder
ed down and aided tn the crumbilng
Of the dam. A disintcgrated mass
Of powdered concrete fell out. was
blown apart. The face of the dam
on that part slowly settled down
into a vast 4. Then tho waters
came thru. ioaping--a solid face Of
water such as no man may oomprc-
bend
An instant. and the canyon below
the dam was 50 foe, deep with a sub.
stance which seemed not water. but
a mass OF shrinking and screaming
demons set loose under the name OF
no known element. There came a
vast roar. bu, with Il a number Of
smaller sounds. an Of voices deep
down under tho flood. glass splinter.
irg. rocks rumhiing. The gorge
seemed inhabited by furics. And
back Of this carrs the pressure OF
20 miles OF water. hundred feet
deep. which would come thru. The
river had its way again. raving and
roaring In an anvil chorus OF It's
own. knocking the great powders
together. shrickinx Its riee The
Two Forks river came thru tho Two
Forks canyon once morci Against 10
there stood only the fraEmcntai ruin
Of tho great. gray face. buttressed
with concrete moro coherent than
granite itself. but all useless here.
Tho tide rose very rapidly. The
canyon was too crooked 20 carry off
tho food Tho lower part Of the
town. where the street grade sank
rapidly. went under water almost at
once. Horses. cows. sheep. chickens.
the odds and ends OF such an en-.
campment. gathered by yagrant la.
borcrs. were swept down before op.
portunity could he found TO save
them. Aeu and the few women In
tina; part Of town. employees OF the
cook camp. abandoned their possess.
slons and ran straight UP the noun
tain side. seeking only TO get above
the tide. Their houses were swept
away like cheese boxes. Logs were
Columbia Colo ~ bctter.--Adv.