OCR Text |
Show Photos of the Farmington Flood Disaster tf,''". "t '! - i - J g 1 " ' ' - ' J f. 1 L - . a ' ' . v r "!' vl L -'- " ;i i,, , , it s 7 , ,r H i f i . Xi3h?r w-"-'. Photos by The Kaysville Reflex No. 1 Rock above power plant, size perhaps 24x30 feet, carried by the flood to present resting place from point about 100 yards up the stream. No. 2 Wrecked home 0f Orson Hyde, east of viaduct. No. 3 Rocks on concrete con-crete highway. No. 4 Same as No. 3 after rocks had been partially removed. No. 5 Debris on tracks of Bamberger Bam-berger Electric railroad, looking north from viaduct. No. 6 Barn and yard of the home of Nephi Hayes .south of State road. No. 7 Volunteers clearing State highway. 0. 8 What was left of Utah Power & Light power house in Farmington canyon. The above scenes show but a small part of the heavy loss which was caused on Monday night August 13th when a terrific flood visited the small towns of Farmington and Willard, which are located upon the state highway between Salt Lake and Ogden Og-den and caused a loss of property running close onto a million dollars and taking the lives of many persons. The storm was the most disastrous that has visted the Salt Lake valley since the advent of the pioneers. The great, black, low lying storm clouds, accompanied by terrifying electrical display which tore the clouds asunder, drifted in over the Great Salt Lake and collapsed on the top and along the west slopes of the Wasatch range which borders the valley on the east. Immediately every canyon from the northern portion of Salt Lake City to Brigham City a distance of nearly 70 miles, became a torrent. On the streets leading into Salt Lake City from the north, sand gravel and mud obstructed the highway in places to a depth of a foot or more. In Ogden and in Ogden canyon the downpour was heavy and debris was washed into the streets and onto the roads in many places. In North Ogden and the vicinity vic-inity of Ogden Hot Springs, there was more or less damare from the downpour. down-pour. Great quantities of rock and debris was brought down from Bear's and Webb's canyons east of Kaysville and from the canyons on to the Weber river. Near 250 feet of the supply pipe of the Kaysville water system was carried away at the intake and the creek cut for itself a new channel to the south of the bridge. The storm struck with terrific force at Farmington, the county seat of Davis county, and at Willard in Box Elder county. At Farmington, the great cloud sucked up Farmington canyon, which pierces the range to the north and east of the city The fury of the storm was such, and the rainfall so heavy, that the placid and brush grown trout stream became a raging torrent. The boulders which formed the bed of the creek and in some places the bedrock itself was torn asunder, the brush and trees in the bottom of the canyon, the steel reinforced concrete dam at the Utah Power & Ligh power house, every and any living thing which was struck by the flood, was carried down the canyon and down into the valley to destruction and death. So far as is known no form of life escaped which came in contact with the flood before its force was broken by the concrete bridge and slab which form the state highway. Acres and acres of clean, water washed boulders now cover the floor of the valley from the mouth of the canyon to the state highway. Where trees and grass stood is now solid boulder mass. It was in this vortex, laden with millions and millions of tons of rock and debris, that Mr. and Mrs. Walter J. Wright of Ogden and four Salt Lake City boy scouts, who were camping in the canyon were ennght and carried down to death. The roar of the flood, tearing at the heart of the mountain, and the terrible thunder and lightning, the absence ab-sence of electric lights and lack of telephone communication, the knowledge knowl-edge that many people were up in the canyon, drove the people of Farmington Farm-ington frantic. Within a few minutes min-utes the tracks of the Bamberger Electric railroad were submerged and buried under thousands of tons of debris and Farmington creek, gorged with trees and boulders at the small bridge at the east end of the state road viaduct, was rushing under the I viaduct bridge and southeast by the water tank, down into Lagoon where 500 merry makers were hurried into" the dancing pavillion, by Manager Christensen. The dancing pavillion proved a safe refuge from the flood and after the storm had subsided, all those who so desired were piloted to the Oregon Short Line depot and sent to Salt Lake City and Ogden over that line. The Bamberger road was also covered with deep mud, sand and gravel from the flood which came down from Hess, Davis and Ford creeks, south of Farmington Thus Farmington was cut off from the north and south along the state road and the Bamberger electric. After the first shock of the great catastophe which brought death and disaster down Farmington canyon and into the valley Monday night, the people of Farmington and Davis county responded as one in the work of succor and humanity. But two of those who lost their lives were Farmington Farm-ington or Davis county people, but the effort to recover the remains of those carried down to death was untiring un-tiring until the search was rewarded. In all this work the people af Farm-into Farm-into took the lead and have labored almost constantly night and day since the flood. It is estimated that the damage done to the town of Willard bv the flood was to the extent of $500,000. I Entire families are homeless and the I loss in other property besides houses is l great. The sanitary conditions are jalso none the best as a result of the flood. Under the direction of the state road comission workmen began Tuesday Tues-day morning to clear the deposit of mud and rocks off the state highway. It is expected that this work will require weeks for its completion. The home of the Wards was the first one struck by the rushing wall of water. Earl Ward was not there at the time and hence escaped the fate of his wife and mother. Nothing remains re-mains of the house now except a few scattered pieces of material. The house was located near the mouth of the canyon and Ward and his wife had recently started in the poultry business. busi-ness. Sylvia Ward, 11, daughter of Mrs. Agnes Mason Ward, of Elba, Ida., who was recovered from the wreckage wreck-age Monday night in an unconscious condition, was removed to the Dee memorial hospital at Ogden, wThere she is reported recovering. The girl was recovered from the flood two blocks from the Ward house by Dan Harding and Uishop J. rluD-bard. rluD-bard. Her body is cut and bruised from being dashed against the rocks. The body of her aunt, Mrs. Earl Ward, was uncovered Tuesday at 3:30 p. m., after an all-day search of the mud banks. The body of the elder Mrs. Ward has been previously found in the morning. Each side of the small Willard can-you can-you was struck by the cloud-burst, which then swooped down upon the town. The crest of the water which swept upon the town was from 15 to 20 feet high. A mass of mud now encompasses the center of town, in some places it being four feet, high. Furniture and other household effects were scattered scat-tered promiscuously about. The home of Leonard Wells was struck down by the waters and he and his family barely rescued. Samuel N. Cook was the heaviest loser in Willard. His large brick resi-j resi-j dence, new barn, two automobiles and ! a number of implements are prac-itically prac-itically a complete loss, j To the west side of the road are the homes of Reuben, Benjamin and Joseph Jo-seph A. Harding, surrounded by a layer of mud, with the houses in ruins. Heavy losers to the north were John Kansler, Sr., John Kansler, Jr., and Ellis Lowe. The damags done to the water-work's water-work's pipe line and the power plant of Willard at the mouth of the can-you can-you was caused by a boulder weighing about three tons. The orchard and farm crops of the town suffered the next greatest damage, dam-age, other than that to the homes. A number of horses were drowned and others were shot because of broken legs or broken backs. A narrow escape was had by Morris Abrahamson and daughter of Garland as they were driving through Willard about 8:30 p. m. Monday. Upon hearing hear-ing the roar of water up the canyon can-yon they jumped from the machine and went across the street to a store. I After being struck by the water, the ; automobile was carrie, two block j west of the road on a peach orchard j covered with mud . I The following proclamation has been isued by Governor Mabey of j Utah urging the citizens to come to the rescue of the homeless and needy i and from all reports the response has been nobly met and contributions are being received dnilv: PROCLAMATION Whereas the citizens of Willard and those residing near Farmington and Centurvilla have been visited with calamitous storms that have devastated devas-tated their homes and laid waste their farms: 1, Charles R. Mabey, Governor of Utah, do hereby coll upon all the ! citizens of this state to demonstrate ! their sympathy and affection for their ; stricken fellows by coming to their aid with that unbounded generosity so ! characteristic of our people, j Money is needed to right the havoc ! done. I know the people of Utah will j respond. CHARLES R. MABEY, Governor. |