The New York herald., 1921-06-06

At the height of the latest cloud
burst a courier came in from the
country east of Pueblo, down the
Arkansas Valley, saying the country
between here and Nepesta, twenty
five miles down the river, was one
great lake miles wide and without
islands. Everything is under water.
Railroad tracks and telephone and
telegraph poles have vanished com
pletely. And the lake is growing In
length, breadth and depth
At s o'clock this morning 1t
seemed that Joseph II. Moorehead,
Gov. Shoup's secretary. was justified
in notifying his chief that the State
Rangers had the situation in hand
and that the chances were that
Pueblo was about to get breathing
spell. 1t seemed that way despite
the fact that the great dams up be-
tween Florence and Victor were said
to be breaking. 1t was still raining,
but citizens had started picking
things up. -Thirty-four bodies had
been carried to the two city morgues.
But on toward noon the rain began
to fall faster. and the city received
word that the Twin Lakes had burst
their dams and were swelling the Ar
kansas River to size not attained
even on Friday night. The Twin Lakes
cover fifteen square miles OF territory.
The military and the police set to work
driving people TO the heights over
looking the city. The sirens, warning
the countryside of another flood, began
wailing again. And the same old ter
ror settled over the thousands of refu-
gees huddled on the cliffs. In the
court house and one school alone there
are almost 5000 of them.
Not for days will it be known just
how many died. There is no way OF
knowing now. Every now and then
some one goes to police or military
headquarters and reports the finding
OF another body or maybe clump of
bodies. Not until there is a poll OF
The population. ward by ward. will 1t
te possible to put out accurate statis-
tics.
The incessant rainfall, the occasional
torrents, the cloudbursts coming always
when everybody has decided that the
last blow has fallen--all these things
have so demoralized Pueblo that the
survivors are losing heart. Through
the night the back wash of the flood
ebbed and flowed over Peppersauce Bot
toms--the flats that took the fiercest
beating and from which every home was
destroyed or wrecked. And 1t swfrled
even higher when the rain became
heavfers
Then the Grove district on higher
ground than the Peppersauce Bottoms,
would be sluiced all over again and its
foul smelling blanket OF river sediment
and upland wreckage would be shifted
back and forth, leaving the whole Sec
tion in worse condition than before.
Now and then a brick building. weak
ened by the initial attack of the water,
capitulated and went crashing to the
ground. The shivering crowds on the
cliffs looked on.
Az 1t Would Look In New York.
II may be hard for the East to under
stand what IL looks like here on the cliffs
above Pueblo. But try to imagine stand
ing upon the highest rise above Wash
fnGton Heights along the Hudson and
seeing the waters of the East and North
rivers welling across Manhattan Island
wrecking houses as they rushed together.
That, on a smaller scale to be sure. is
Pueblo.
II was still raining when day broke
ma fn0 tla 80
the crazy Arkansas River. an hour or
80 after midnight. came word that the
Shafer and Skagway dams on Beaver
Creek had burst. That meant that 100,-
100000 gallons of water were added to
the torrents already rushing toward this
soggy town. The Shafer dam Is ten
miles due north OF Florence. The Skag-
way lies further up Beaver Creek. The
former imprisoned Lake MacNeill and
the latter furnished power for the Arkan-
sas Valley Light and Power Company.
The message conveyed truth. The
additional water came in upon Pueblo
and again Peppersauce Bottoms lay
beneath four feet OF yellow, gray foamed
water. with the derelicts Of her houses
sticking out OF the flood in crazy array.
Obviously this first break in the two
great dams was not a wholesale one.
Part of the concrete retaining walls still
held. II was up to Pueblo to take to
the hills and hope that the masonry was
strong enough.
That it will be days before the COM
plete casualty lists will be issued is
made more obvious by stories coming
from the outlands. From here and there
along the Arkansas Valley TO the cast
and south come tales OF floating bodies.
OF bodies caught in scrub trees and un-
derbrush revealed by rece=ding waters
Literaly these unfortunates we're picked
up and swept out OF town by the de-
etroying food.
Refugees All Are Daxed.