The Day Farmers Blew Up a Dam

TACOMA, July 6.—Protected by armed guards, a determined party of Stuck River titlers planted a ton and a half of dynamite under the famous White river dam yesterday with an explosion which echoed for miles around, cleared away the obstructed channel and drained the filled valley at the muck. The work was planned and executed with the utmost secrecy. An inkling of the proceedings reaching the Stuck River residents would have defeated the attempt. A guard of three men with Winchester rifles stood watch during the work, which was completed between sunset Monday night and yesterday morning. The idea originated nearly a week ago at a meeting at Stuck valley farmers, in an old barn, to devise a Fourth of July celebration. The flooding of the valley and its consequent ruin of crops has been the uppermost theme in the neighborhood for a year, and the idea was a natural one. A committee was appointed and several hundred dollars were soon raised. A party of surveyors were sent to plan the campaign, but they returned with the startling discovery that the White River farmers kept a constant guard on the bluff above the plant. They then determined he would abandon his post for the fourth of July, and it would be necessary to make a stealth stroke. Two expert miners were secured from Tacoma, and 1,000 pounds of dynamite purchased. The party, disguised as pleasure seekers in fancy carriages, drove to the spot with the dynamite concealed under the straw beneath the seat. They reached the dam without being observed.