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Show oo RAILROAD ACCEPTS A PUBLIC DUTY. The officials of the Southern Pacific Paci-fic company displayed the proper spirit when the ordered the conv pany's resources placed at the disposal dis-posal of the farmers of Imperial Valley Val-ley in checking the Colorado River floors, which threatened to 'break through the levees and Inundate the farm lands. During the heavy rains of January, the high waters of the Colorado Colo-rado undermined the California Development De-velopment levee which protects the valley and the Inter-California railroad. rail-road. The point at which the waters encroached was a short distance below be-low the border. Half a mile of the levee was eaten away and disappeared disappear-ed in the river. Only a precipitous fall in the Colorado prevented an immediate im-mediate overflow. Had tho latter occurred oc-curred the waters might have reached the Salton Sea and flooded Imperial valley. It was a time to act and act quickly to repair the break in the levee at once, before the waters en croached further. A conference ot Southern Pacific officials was held. As a result, H. B. Tltcomb, malnten-ance-of-way assistant, was dispatched to the scene with a big force of men They labored day and night and in record time repaired the break, by constructing another half-mile of levee behind the break, thus checking the flood waters. Then Tltcomb wired back that the situation was under control. con-trol. In 1906 the Southern Pacific went to the aid of the government and the stricken people of the valley and pre vented the Colorado from destroying the expensive Laguna dam built by the government and from rendering homeless the people of the Imperial. The company spent nearly two million dollars in halting the flood. oo |