The present predicament of the city, as a result of the leakage of the Cedar river basin, would seem to be a refutation of those optimists who have contended that it could be sealed by a silting or any other remedial process within reason. The city has invested a vast sum of money in this project, both in the original plan and the subsequent efforts to remedy it. Further expenditure along the same or similar lines can hardly be viewed in any other light than that of wastefulness. Certainly no more money should be frittered away on the guess or the hope that somehow the basin may seal itself.

The explanation of the failure of the project is simple. The dam is built where water cannot be held. The dam itself and the south bank of the stream are water-tight. The north bank is as porous as a sieve, and after the accumulation of water behind the dam reaches a certain point it forces its way through the north bank and pours down into the Snoqualmie valley, and destructive floods are the result. As it stands today the project is a repeatedly demonstrated menance, costly alike in the efforts to render it safe and in the payment of damages reulting from the floods.

No doubt we can continue to spend money trying to save the basin; there are no end of theories by which the project can be saved, but the fact remains that in trying them out, we are gambling with our money and with the property, if not the lives, of those who are affected by the floods. The location of the dam was a mistake, but having been made it cannot be unmade, and we are confronted with the disagreeable fact that sooner or late we will have to charge the money invested to profit and loss. The sooner we do this, the less our loss will be.

There is no practical way to make a water container out of a sieve, and that is what all attempts to remedy the Cedar river basin amount to. We will secure quicker, better and more certain results by starting all over again, the next time to be guided by competent advice and the results of careful investigation.