Roseburg news-review. (Roseburg, Or.) 1920-1948, February 21, 1927, Image 1

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Roseburg news-review., February 21, 1927, Page 1, Image 1

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Newspaper Page TextT UfiO Weather ;. Highest temperature, yesterday..56 Lowest temperature last -nigh t...40 Forecast for southwest Oregon: Occasional rains tonight 'and prob ably Tuesday, Douglas County' Greatest Newspaper m TODAY'S NEWS T09AY Consolidation ol, The Evening News and . The Roseburg Review DOUG L AS C. O U N T X An Independent Newspaper, Published lor i . the Best Interests of the Peoplt. ROSEBURG, OREGON. MONDAY; FEBRUARY 21, 1927, 'llW LRRW 0 OieS01!..'.! NO. 32 OF THE EVENING NEWS VOL. XXVII ' NO. 271 OF ROSEBJRG REVIEW o)fo)fl -yd'' K u o MOST SEVERE FLOOD IN OVER FORTY YEARS DOES GREAT AMOUNT OF LOCAL DAMAGE Highways In Every Direction Blocked by Ram pant Waters, Slides and Washouts; Riv ' "ers Running Out of Banks Inundate : ' : Many Homes and Farms CONDITIONS IMPROVED LATE TODAY Slowly Receding Waters Reported This Afternoon But Weather Bureau States That Prospect Is For More Rain Wire Communication Is ' . -Slowly Being Restored Floods, more severe than any known for more than 40 years, left Douglas county suffering today from complete para lysis of all: traffic, communication arid practically all industry Thousands of dollars of property damage has been reported but as yet no estimate can be made of the losses incurred. - With 4.79 inches of rain since the start of the storm on the night of the 1 8th rivers and streams of the county, swollen to many times their normal size, washed out bridges, flooded homes, and did untold damage to ronds. and highways, taking Dut telephone lines and completely demoralizing the services of the public utilities. , '.: . ,. ', '' . -. The storm began Friday Snight with , a heavy,, downpour "which continued 'aH'bfey Satufdfiy and over Sunday, giving a, ; tQljal rainfall of 4.54 inches during that period. ' Last night con tinued precipitation,' amounting to'. 25' of an 'inch,' added to the , flood, conditions. t ' ' ' : 1 ' ' ' ' 1 ' ' " ' Slides, and washouts completely blocked, the Pacific high way, bot,h north and: south, interrupting all .traffic while train . service, was also- halted by washoiit3 in Cow Creek canyon and dangerous conditions at Yoncalla. The Coos Bay highway be- came impassable Saturday night when fallen trees,' boulders and slides completely blocked the roadway. ' . ...... As the water continued to rise it flooded the pavement in many places, washing around bridges, undermining the high way and doing much 'damage, effectively halting all auto traffic. Stages Sunday maintained connections with Eugene by trans ferring at "Yoncalla, but even this was impossible after a late hour last night. Wires Are Down Wire communication' was main tained .until late last night when the increasing violence ot the flood interrupted this' service; The powei lines went down Sunday evening when the. swollen waters, , ot Elk creek took out the poles op the main line between Roseburg and Prospect. Service was furnished from the north for a few hours, but this was interrupted when raging waters in the . Willamette Valley took out that section of the line. This break left Roseburg and near by communities without lights or power, while industrial plants were unable to secure power , to operate their machinery. ' ' City' Without Gas The Southern Oregon Gas com pany's plant was flooded, shutting off the city's supply of gas. This Jilt the restaurants particularly hard and many persons had a hard time getting something to eat this morning. The North Umpqua river reach ed a high peak of 18 feet above zero this morning, the highest re- NEWS-REVIEW LATE WITH PAPER DUE TO STORM CONDITIONS ,- r The damage done to the gas plant, power lines, and to tel- egraph service, seriously af- fected the News-Review to- dnv. With no power to run the machines, and no gas to melt the metal and no tele- graph lines in operation, the newspaper office- was in a turmoil this morning. The ' plant . was put on the enter- gency light circuit and power was furnished before noon, while the telegraph communt- cation was restored at noon. No gas was obtainable, how- ever, until late In the evening, and until that time the type- setting machines could not be put in operation. The em- ployees remained' on the Job regardless, of regular working hours and started the day's work after 6 p. m.. getting out the paper shortly before midnight. The News-Review regrets the delay and incon- ven fence caused its subscrib- era but tinder the handicaps there was no opportunity to get out an earlier edition. corded for more than '10 years. The water carried huge quantities of driftwood and made a great spec tacle for the hundreds of people who gathered to witness the ef fects of the flood. The South Umpqua river, run ning out of its banks, flooded homes along the edge of - the stream, some families in the Grove section of the city, being rescued from .their homes by means of boats. Farms Under Water Many .farms on the lowlands along trie river were flooded, a great deal of damage being done. Considerable broccoli was washed out, but it has been impossible so far to learn how much of. the crop has been lost. The auto camp grounds at Hose burg suffered heavily from the flood, the cabins being completely surrounded by the waters backed up into Deer creek. The cabins were anchored, but were badly damaged and were moved around on their foundations. Workmen were busy all night last night endeavoring to prevent damage to the buildings at the camp grounds and the Deer creek bridge, and their efforts were very successful considering the handicaps under which they labor ed. . Waters Thought to Be Receding The waters continued to rise all day Sunday, and this morning ! reached a level which old timers claim is the highest since 1880 During the middle of the forenoon it appeared that the peak had been reached and that the waters were bginnlng to recede slowly. The weather bureau, however, held out no hope of an abatement of the . storm, A. W., Pugh, meteor ologist in charge of the local sta tion, reporting that the harometer was still- falling. Indicating . that more rain could be expected. Late this afternoon conditions were considerably improved and it was thought that the . situation was fairly well In hand. Wire com munication was reiftored with the north, messages being sent and received between Roseburg and Portland. The rivers and smaller streams were reported to be drop ping and conditions generally were better. Unless heavy rains come to- Inight It iabelieved that the flood wlll abate without doing any fur- ther great amount of damage. wwiui 0 MORE RAINS IN WESTERN PART OF STATE PREDICTED - Despite the weather predic- tion for continued rains In the western part of the state It is not expected "that there will , be. any further damage from the storm. The weather pre- diction is for continued rains in the west, and rains or snows in the east ' portion. Normal temperature and fresh and occasionally strong south- erly winds on the coast are forecasted. Unless the rains are es- pecially heavy it Is not be- lieved that the flood condi- tions will continue for any great length of time. Late this afternoon the wnters were dropping very rapidly, and were nearly 8 feet below the high -water level reached this morning. UTILITIES ARE HARD HIT BY LOCAL STORi Power, Telegraph ancLTele ""' phone' Lines and . (Washed Out. : NO GAS AVAILABLE Water Backs Into Plant Which Could Be Reach--ed .Only by ' Boat This Morning. Public utilities were hard hit by the floods over the week-end. Pow er lines, telephone and telegraph lins, gas plants, etc., were all put out of commission, affecting near ly all ot the cities and towns of the county. The California Oregon Power company was unable .today to ob tain a full estimate of the damage done to its system, the lack uf tel ephone communication along the line preventing reports from being received. Service was maintained Sunday until about 7 o'clock in the eve ning, when the rising waters at Elk Creek washed out several poles and broke the line. After a short intermission service was re stored from the north, but this lasted only a short time. The flood ing Willamette river then was re sponsible for the break in the con nection on the north and the city was plunged into darkness. The company was unable to get crews to the breaks because .of the floods and so repairs could not be made. Breaks were located at London Springs, near Cottage Grove, and at Creswell, north of Cottage Grove. The line was -washed out at Hawk Creek, on the Jackson county side of the Jackson-Doug-las divide and also at Labrador school house near Days Creek in this county. Crews were dispatch ed to these two latter breaks late this afternoon making the trip over the Roberts Mountain road and then across country. T. H. Ness, manager of the Umpqua division, staled that it will probably be 24 hours befoio normal service can be restored. Locally the company Is attempt ing to supply the business and in dustrial plants frpm tho Winches ter plant. Because of the high wa ter In the North Umpqua the tur bines cannot be used and electri city is being furnished by means of the seam plant. Mr. Ness stat ed that It will be impossible to furnish lights or power for the res idential section tonight. The water pumps are being op erated at Winchester to supply the city with water for domestic use. So far there has been little diffi culty with the water mains but Mr. Ness urges that water be conserv ed so that In the event of an emer gency that the reservoirs will not have been emptied. Telephone Wires Down The telephone wires were down (Continued on page 4.) GREAT DONE TO AND BRIDGES Highway Blocked in Nunv erous Places by Flood i Waters and Slides. I TOWNS (ARE FLOODED Approaches to Steel Bridge at Umpqua and High way Bridge at -, Dillard Gone. i ' No possible estimate can be made, it is reported, on the dam age done to highways, bridges, etc., by the flood waters. All traf fic was halted Sunday afternoon land practically every ' town and city of the county was left isolated. At Yoncalla the water was re ported to be - about 6 feet deep across the pavement. 'The water was also over the railroad tracks and. .'undermined a. switch track nnd threatened tjie main line, which was protected by sandbags hurriedly placed by. section work men. ' : ' ..Two. auto busses which tried 'to get through the swirling waters on the highway .were stalled, one turning partly over as lb slid'- off the road. - Traffic was maintained by the busses -Sunday nfternoon, passengers being brought from Eugene to Yoncalla, where they crossed the rampant; waters by walking the suspended switch' track above the flood waters, transferring to a bus which brought them on to Roseburg. The switch track was left above the water when . its .ballast - was washed away for a considerable distance. The main line was threat ened, but was saved after many (Continued on page 4.) T. 0. DIXON, WELL Succumbs Following Several Months Illness 1 uneral to Be Held Wednes day Afternoon. Tom O. Dixon, well known Doug las county man, died at about G :30 o'clock Sunday evening at Mercy hospital following an illness ex tending over a period of several months. Air. Dixon wns horn on the old Dixon land claim adjoining Sunshine ranch on the North Ump qua. March 14, 1882. He spent prac tically all his life in Douglas coun ty, attending the schools and mak ing his home. on the Dixon property east of this city. He was the son of Enoch and Letsey Dixon, now deceased, who were well known here. Fq,r mnny years Mr. Dixon had been a stock raiser. On June '12, 1917 he was married to Miss Hazel Jewett of Roseburg and to them were horn three children, two of them dying in Infancy. For the past several months Mr. Dixon had been in 111 health and In December went to Arizona, think ing the change rtf climate might benefit him. He returned to Ore gon a short time later entering a Portland sanltorium and only a few weeks ago returned to this city. Mr. Dixon was a member of the Elks lodge and was well known in Roseburg and vicinity, having a large circle of friends. He Is sur vived bylhis widow and a daugh ter, Betty, and three sisters. Mrs. Tom Jennings . of Boise. Idaho; Mrs. A. E. Kent of Roseburg: Mrs. Jess Shambrook of Umpqua. The body has been taken to the Roseburg Undertaking parlors and the funeral will be lipid Wednes day afternoon at 2 o'clock at the Elks temple. T(ev. Joseph Knotts will read the service and Interment will take plrge at the Masonic cemetery. DAMAGE REVENU ROADSIARER E BILLS EEORETHE STATE Patterson's Tithing Plan - First Considered, Tax on Tobacco Next. CARKIN IS SATISFIED House Speaker Says Work Done Constructive in Character; 34 Bills Awaiting Action. ; t(MKwintod Pnxg Leased Wire.) STATE HOUSE, SALEM, Ore., Fob. 21. Governor I. L. Patter son's so-called tithing bill, which imposes a levy of, five per cent on funds of Btate departments and commissions for this year and 2J per cent for next year, as a means of tiding the state over a deficit, was before the senate this after noon on third reading.., Opponents, of the hill predicted that' the meas ure would be defeated. 1 f' v. 1 ' i - Senator Bailey1 and' others' were ready for the introduction of n to bacco tax bill, similar to the meas ure passed by the 1925 session, ex cept:that It includes cigars. The 1925 measure was defeated at a-referendum.- ' 1 ' - ..-' In the house today tho reforesta tion bill of Representative James Mott, of. Astoria, was under 1 de bale. The discussion was still in progress when the house adjourn ed at noon. Session Work Reviewed ' Speaker Carkln, of- the house, In a review of the accomplishments of the session today, said the leg islature should be In a position to adjourn tomorrow or Wednes day unless the Milling bill caused protracted discussion or Its defeat should make necessary otlier leg islation In Its stead. "We can safely say that the work accomplished in the first 40 days of the session has not been bad," commented Carkln. "We have done the things thought necessary nnd have not put over some things that was rumored would go over and not be of benefit to the people of tho slate." Speaker Carkln pointed out that the senate had taken caro of the house nrogram In an excellent man ner. There are but. 34 house bills yet to be acted upon by the senate, he said. The speakor pointed out that the Income tax. legislation providing for a reassessment of values, the Irrigation code and the Hoover rules of the road code, were among the major laws enacted. ROSEBURG TAKES BASKETBALL GAME FROM CORVALLIS Roseburg high school won a close basketball game with Corval lls high school Saturday night at Corvallls. The game stalled with Corvnllls tnklng the lead and hav ing a margin of 14 to 7 at the hnlf. Roseburg came back strong in the second hnlf and tied the score 18 to 18 at the end of the time. An extra three-minute period was de rided unon ftnd Roseburg tossed the basket, needed to win, Inking the game 20 to 18. The boys were stranded In Cor vallls because of the storm and did not reach town until late this morning. NO SCHOOL AT SENIOR HIGH DUE TO FLOOD Because of the flood conditions there was no school at the Rose burg senior hhrh school toilav. The Oak street bridge was endanger ed at school time and It was fear ed that the structure might go out tind leave the rtuplis stranded on the west side. Because of this condition the school was dismiss ed for today. Tho school w:is also short o nteachi s as some had gone home to Eugene, -Portland and other places for the -week-end and were unable to return. SENATE Mules Roll On Grave Of Their ' Slain Master (Associated Press Leased' Wire.) OSKOSH, Neb., Feb. 21. A pair of mules which insisted on rolling over the barnyard grave of his uncle, Frank Boyer, comprised the "only thing" that caused- him to worry, Henry Boyer said In his cell here today. The elder Boyer was shot and killed on his ranch in 1913 nnd his skolotou was recov-. ered Saturday. The mules, . Henry said, were owned by the dead man. Every time they were unharnessed, he explained, they would travel from one end ot the ranch to the other nnd roll on the spot where Frank was burled. "It got my goat." Henry added. "I always had trouble gelling them away from tho place." Boyer Is hold with - Mrs. Frank Boyer, his common law wife, in connection with the death of the uncle whose bones wore , disinter red from his 14 yenr old grave af ter 38 hours, of digging on the Boyer ranch by a posse. County Attorney Frank Dutton plans to cliargo them with bolng nccessory to a minder both before and after tho met, as ootn uociare uinr. me slaying was done by Henry's brother. Thomas, who Is dead. No Inquest is planned. , U P ALU TRAINS Four Trains Lost in South ern Part of the . State. ,i CUT.OFF IS BLOCKED Wire Communication De stroyed South of City Superintendent Leads Work to Open Line. Indications this nfternoon were that railroad traffic, which has beon completely deinorali.ed since Sunday morning, will be restored in a measure by" tomorrow morn ing. Two trains, a stub doing lo cal work between' Roseburg and Eugene, and a freight train, went north this morning, but. there has been no movement to the south. Five trains are tied up on the divi sion, one being held in Roseburg and four others between this city and Ashland. Where tho trnhiB aro marooned is not known as no word has been received of them since yeslerdny. First and second sections of Number 12. Number 11 and Number 53. aro nil held up some place on the line. Both sec tions of Number 12 are thouuht to he at Gold Hill and Number 53 and Number 11 are thought to ho at Olendale, while 15 Is In Roseburg, hut no definite Informal Ion has been learned as there are no wire connections south of Roseburg. Number 11 tried to negotiate the Cow Creek canyon yesterday but was stalled by washouts and slides ahead. An attempt was made to return to RnFcbiirg. but a slide on this side prevented the train from coming back. Number 15 reached here from the north yesterday evening nt 5 p. ni.. and was ordered to return to Eugene to go over tho Nntron cut off to Klamath Falls. The train wns reversed, hut just as It was ready to null out an order came lo remain at Roseburg as there has hen a huge slide on (bo Klamth Falls lino, making that road im ps ssablo. There has been no trains In either direction today. Local railroad officials had ab solutely no Information as to the number of slides and washouts in Cow Creek canyon. There was a slide at Carncs yesterday, but it was cleared away. Two big drirts went against the railroad bridge nt Winchester, and kept crews busy all night with poles nnd dynf (Continued on page 4.) WASHOUTS ID WASHOUTS AND UP RAIL AND T Willamette, Rogue and INTERRUP len by Torrential, Thirty-six-Hour Rain, Forced Out of Their Banks With ' Costly Results - SCORES OF BRIDGES TORN LOOSE Residents of Lane County Rapidly Rising Water, Rescued In Boats Parts of. . Medf ord and Springfield Inundated; Property ; Loss in Rogue Valley Around $300,000 " : (Associated Press Leased Wire.) - PORTLAND, Ore., Feb. 21. Rail and highway traffic was virtually at a standstill and wire communication was seri ously crippled in some parts of western Oregon today, the re sult of torrential .rains during the last 36 hours. . , The Southern, Pacific office here reported this morning that all their wires, were out south- of Roseburg and that ho trains were operating south of that point because of flood con ditions. , . - .i ,.", .,':.'-" . The Rogue, Applegate and Illinois rivers were at their ' highest stage in 25 years and still rising when the latest avail able information came in late last night. A Southern Pacific bridge at Tolo was washed, out and the tracks were covered with water for several miles. t v.;: ' ' :' Cottage Grove was practically surrounded by flood waters last night and the Row river, east of Cottage Grove, had over flowed its banks. The coast fork of the Willamette river, which flows through Cottage Grove, was threatening to overflow. A large section of the west side was flooded when Silk creek left its banks. . ".'.' : ' ' ' Highways Blocked, Bridges Periled ' e Grants Pass was -virtually isolated, with highway arid rail traffic at a standstill and nearly all wires' down. The Western Union had one wire into the town, from San Francisco. The Pacific highway was under four feet of water for more than seven miles south of Grants Pass. Bridges north of town were threatened and several small slides were reported. Travel over the Redwood ' highway beyond Kerby, ' 30 miles from Grants Pass, was stopped when several bridges were endangered. Unconfirmed reports said the Illinois river bridge and the Rough and Ready bridge on the Redwood highway had been destroyed. A county bridge over the Applegate river went out yesterday afternoon. .; . A' log jam above the new California and Oregon coast railroad bridge was dynamited to save the bridge after part of the trestle work had been washed out. Another Unconfirmed report said that trestle work on the new Pacific highway bridge at Gold Hill had been destroyed. ' Railway Traffic Demoralized ' Southern Pacific train No. 13 which left Portland Satur day for San Francisco was being held at Medford this morn ing, unable to move in either direction. No. 53 which left here at 1 a. m. today was stopped at Eugene. - The Shasta Limited, in two sections, which was due here from the south at 10:30 last night, was delayed indefinitely at Ashland. Two other trains which were to have left Portland for the south this morning were also held up. , A big log raft broke its moorings in the upper harbor in Portland early today and swept down stream to the Hawthorne bridge, where it broke up. The big logs menaced small craft iu the harbor for a time. Huge Slides Halt Motor Traffic Loosened by rains, ten tons of rock crashed down on the west side Pacific highway here shortly before midnight. A near by resident heard the noise and went out with a flashlight to warn motorists. Two who disregarded his warnings had their cars damaged when they drove into the obstruction. Several unimproved streets in the southeastern section of the city were flooded by the heavy downpour. - Torrential rain fell for 30 minutes in the district between Portland and Oregon City Sunday afternoon. The rain was carried in great waves through the air by a terrific wind. Traf fic on the highways was slowed up and many motorists were forced to stop their cars as they were unable to see ahead. Wlllamete Rises Rapidly. I0UOENK, Ore., Feb. 21. Eugene was drenched by a record rainfall yesterday when 2.19 Inches of rain fell In a 21-!iur period. The Wil lamette river was a raging torrent this morning, the stage of the river being 16.D feet. It has risen seven feet since Saturday. Residents In the lowlands along is mi SLIDES TIE AUTOTRAFFII WIRE Smaller Rivers, Swol Lowlands. Trapped Bv the river were forved to leave thetr homes as the waters swept down. A number of families were marooned In the upper rooms of their homes and were being res cued today by boats. A fairly heavy snow In the moun tains and foot hills preceded the rainfall, and the melting snows are (Continued on page 4.) SERVICE P: