Defending the Bridge Against the Similkameen
As the spring flood swells the Similkameen River, residents fear the 'multitudinous battering ram' of drift wood will destroy the town's primary crossing.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
The late hot weather is putting a surge in the Similkameen, and a swelling of that stream at this season of the year is a menace to the bridge across the river at this place. A plethora of water alone would not endanger the structure, but whenever a large stream increases in volume, there is always a large amount of drift slipping oceanward upon its turbulent surface. The supply of drift wood is never exhausted, for it comes down every spring with the flood. It is this drift that endangers the bridge, and provision must be made to defend the piers against this multitudinous battering ram. Last year, men had to be employed night and day guarding the bridge to ward off the drift. It is nearly time that some such provision be made for this season. The people of Oroville cannot afford to have the bridge go in; its destruction would be a calamity, and it would be almost impossible to replace the structure as the town lacks the means.
“It is this drift that endangers the bridge, and provision must be made to defend the piers against this multitudinous battering ram.”
The precarious nature of infrastructure in remote frontier towns is on full display here. The reliance on local manual labor to defend a bridge against the annual cycle of flooding reflects the high stakes of maintaining connectivity in the Pacific Northwest’s rugged geography.
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