Two spans of the Gonzales bridge have gone out. The Bradley, San Ardo, San Lucas, King City, Soledad bridges are gone. Passengers arriving from Soledad and Gonzales say private reports received at those places indicate the loss of all the bridges south of Chualar. Monterey County has suffered an enormous loss through the damage and destruction of bridges. On January 27, the Salinas Daily Index described conditions as follows: Salinas has been isolated as far as communications south to Soledad and north to Castroville is concerned…ĭamage to bridges in the county was staggering. Bridges have been carried away, the railroad trains tied up, telephone and telegraph service interrupted, and inestimable damage done as a result of the torrential rains of Saturday night and Sunday. The following account appeared in the January 26 issue of the Salinas Daily Index:įlood conditions prevailed today everywhere throughout the Salinas Valley. The storms of January 1914 did significant damage throughout Monterey County. Everything not securely anchored has been swept away. 2 tank has been torn loose… Barns and outbuildings and farmhouses all along the river bottom south of Spreckels are under water, and tops of a few being all that remain. The electric light plant and the pumping plant, as well as two large oil tanks near the factory, are half submerged. The river is nearly a mile wide at some points there. It is reported that more than 2,000 acres of valuable farming land has been destroyed along the course of the Salinas River by the cutting away of the banks of that stream, which is now a raging torrent, freighted with debris, from its source to its mouth on the Bay of Monterey, near Moss Landing… At 10 o'clock the river was said to be higher than at any time since the winter of 1862.įlood conditions in the Spreckels area were representative of many sections of the county, as described in the Salinas Daily Index.Īt Spreckels, all the lowlands are flooded and the water comes to within thirty feet of the end of the factory, which is protected by a heavy rock embankment. This storm was the most disastrous in the history of Monterey County and the damaged property is unprecedented. The headline in the March 8, 1911, issue of the Salinas Daily Index described storm conditions in the area graphically: "Disastrous effects of the storm in the Salinas Valley is unprecedented." The following account in the paper described the flood conditions within the general area:
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