Warm Rain Triggers Slides and Floods Across Puget Sound

The warm rain which fell during the Christmas season only filled the rivers to [??], but there had been further [??] working the [??] and the trains. The rivers to the [??] are rising, and if the [??] and the [??] continue to be [??], the [??] the [??] number of years, with the result [that] a big water front were [??].

The Great Northern train which left [Seattle] at 6 o'clock yesterday morning was slide-bound between Edmonds and Richmond. A large number [of men] were at work clearing the slides from the tracks, but it [made] its way with its passengers. [Another train] which left Whatcom at 1 [o'clock] yesterday morning is at a standstill south of Mukilteo, with slides both behind and in front. [It] reached Everett yesterday [and] the passengers were in favor of [taking] a boat for the rest of the [trip], but the railroad officials [would not permit] them to do this and they [remained on] the train. While at Everett the passengers endeavored to [get] information from the [station] operator but no satisfactory [answer] to questions could be obtained. [The operator] finally told the passengers [that] the northbound train was at [??] waiting and that all the slides [were] cleared away. Three miles [north] the train met a slide about four feet deep and thirty feet long, on which a sick-looking section man was [working]. A delay of nearly two hours was [experienced] before the train pulled out for [??] which place was reached long after dark. Here eight of the passengers [decided not] to run any more risks of delay [and] abandoned the train [and] boarded the steamer Greyhound, which arrived from Everett in about [half an hour]. At Mukilteo a freight [train] occupied the siding and when the [steamer] pulled out the freight followed, [stopping] about a dozen section men who got off at intervals to clear the slides which lined the [track]. Between Edmonds and a few miles of Mukilteo there are seven separate slides. A section boss at Mukilteo, when asked by an anxious passenger [how many] slides there were, tersely replied 'Damn [??]' ...

FLOODS IN SKAGIT COUNTY. High Tide and River Freshets Cause Inconvenience to Farmers. [Special.]—The water in [the Skagit] is now within three feet of the water mark of [??]. Reports come in of the [??] along the bank. [Some] reports have been proved untrue. The water is still rising, however, and the extremely warm winds of yesterday and today, it is thought, will melt enough snow in the mountains to bring the water up to the high mark again. The dykes are in good shape, however, and, as no crops are in, the damage will be only small, even if the water does break through.

The high tide last night went over the dyke around Whitney island, and completely inundated the island. The same thing happened also on the Samish flats at [??]. Cattle are standing in two or three feet of water, and farmers say that the salt water will ruin crops for two years to come. The farms of George Jenn, William Bell and William Callahan are under water. It was the highest tide in fifteen years. A late report from the delta of the Skagit is that [??] big farm on the north fork is under salt water, and also the Loveland and several other smaller farms. A higher tide is expected tonight, and it is predicted that the entire delta will be under water by morning.

THE HIGH TIDE AT OLYMPIA. Olympia, Jan. 12.—Special.—The highest tide in seventeen years occurred here today, completely submerging the long wharf and flooding the lower floors of the tenderloin district, on the tide flats.

WASHOUT ON THE NORTHERN PACIFIC. Tacoma, Jan. 12. Special. Fifty feet of the Northern Pacific track was washed out at Olerjua, Cowlitz county.