Gunnison news-champion., 1921-07-08

E.anH o. rHarH a.fEg the town
&. g Ef,. a..- nu-HTa5t 0f
h,re-J
sar.. r.ay .-..r. Ir both the
H. .. .-.E a.F Lake Fork recently
warned rs4s ...a4. Epots might b.
iTar-Ha.-.r ar.. ..r- began .u earnest
70 raml-, .H. .aprr-at d..lgDs, bu-
tn rl.r.-.... ... r--. hardly soon
e1guv. --r ..-.al lake City lies iu
IT, a.-..4.. .a..-g. u8- -@T.0uElg
chE-grr. 10 r-......aEa and appearance
but ..rrla T.. rlr oil from the rest Of
tn -ur# a. rar Gsr.rlrtIOn Of rail-
wa. ..... bnaga and phone lines
b. .a- -.-. torrent. from melting
sr... E.4 .,t D. O. fortunate. for
or. n. -... .t.FtH-s working gi
TrI. .a,H.. AID almost s-prrhumaE f.
for aa- aa.rd from great de
gtr7I,-.aa af property and p0 IDLY Al
mDs. ras.i ..g. arnHIar.uu. a i d.
Their 0. rggh injury 20 railroad and
ulrgr ... .g. .r tho town. Al night
shara ruu has checked N" food and
hearE r.raanEmsu'- of trees and brush
we!grrf down TIth hundreds Of heavy
s.orr-, l- believed % have taken W
past tho crast af tn" high water and
insured -rcIrIty against any minor
flood tha, may follow.
Early last week warm weather
and rapidly swelling waters, with the
great bank Of SNOW DO the high noun
tain began % swell the trDarns from
all the ranges carrying on their td"s
the warning 20 look out below, and
the old timers began % iOTct.A %
dangsrUu- high water. Ihursday the
vatrr. aggravated 1g the fl.ls above
the Sr.t,r cement nroakwu'"r and
the .fI,e and trash left b. the breaking
up Of the repair work In the Hudson
Treasurer dam carly In the sPrlng,
bagar ,af.ug into the rock cWbunk-
men. "a, tho upper end Of town when
hud ssths'0od floods since lhir ana
showed that ur.ra- stayed, htte
NOR r-s would start a channel thru
the heart Of the r,tw. Friday morning
the forces Of IN" town began 10 gather
and -uIug o. anchored trees and pile
in hrA.g .urks 90 stem the dcEOurlng
currents. The channels were at last
turned anl then il was realized that
both city bridges across Hcnscn were
getting iu danger. Saturday all the
able bodied m"U were called out ana
the battle began in earnest. +. >.
William was put IN charge by the
town and county boards with Char
man Christie Of the commissioners,
and J. c. Foster, mayor protein as
lieutrnants At first there was some
failure in effectiveness thru lack OF
organization and a full comprehension
OF the gravity Of the situation, ou'
this was gradually rcmcdied.
shortage Of teams never was iully com
pensatcd for. Almost everybody work.
l., thou LnEgg
what 10 do. There was but two o.
three exceptions in this community
and American spirit Work was only
suspended at dark and night guards
were nut on The light plant was put
out OF commission by the submerging
OF the water wheel 50 that there was
only lamp light 70 work and watch
by at night. !,
Early Saturday morning bells OF
alarm were rang and il was found
that Hcnscn creek had broken thru
the dyke between Silver street and
Gunnisou Avenue bridges and was
sweeping a new channel between the
depot and water tank and the Williams
and Ready residences, obliterating
some minor buildings while the main
stream Of the Lake Fork had carried
away the section bunk house, was
undermining the main section house,
(Which the division supt., who was up
the day before in his motor car, hah
declared would be standing ten years
hencc) and threatening destruction TO
all railroad buildings.
By Saturday night the new channel
of Hcnscn creek was largely cut on,
hut Sunday morning it had again
opened up and then the contest be-
gan in dead earncst-to save the
bridges and keep the channel OF the
wicked stream along its old time
course, a battle that was only a par
tial victory, although much more had
been saved than was hoped for IN
the height of the floods. With strenu-
Gus efforts the channel was mainly con-
fined to below Gunnison avenue, the
embankments of trees and huge rocks
made reasonably secure and the effort
was then mah to carry the current
past the railroad property to protect
the latter as far as possible.
Sunday about noon the south end
of the lower truss of the Gunnison
avenue bridge collapsed, dropping into
the deepest and Swiftest part of the
current II was at once realized that
this obstruction must be removed at
once or great disaster might result.
At first il was determined to
burn the bridge; but this was strong /
ly objected to chiefly because the wat
er main for the town was attached
to the upper truss, which was holding,
SO permission was given to try and
detach the remainder of the bridge
and save the timbers. A band of
brave men successfully accomplished
the feat and our "water bridge" still
stands, supported by the pile heavily
braced and reinforced by n powerful
lever and strong chain. The Silver
street bridge which had begun to
"buckle" was drawn back by block and
tackle and caught with cable and
now seems reasonably secure. In the
meantime considerable crew is at
work erecting every conceivable add
.tional safeguard to which they are
capable and helping to protect the
railroad property.
As survey is made Of the damage,