Boxley Blowout: Articles.

Chronological list of articles.

Here is a chronological list of articles I have found concerning the Masonry Dam and the Blowout (excluding articles I have not been able to access yet, or are of negligible interest). Undoubtably there are others that I have missed. These are most from Seattle's two principal newspapers, the Post-Intelligencer (P-I) and Seattle Times (Times) (and mostly from the P-I, because it generally had the best coverage). For more details see the document notes.

At the beginning the Cedar River water project did not contemplate the Masonry dam--just divert water from the Cedar River (at Landsburg), run it into Swan Lake for storage, and then into Seattle. Here is a status report from City Engineer Thomson:

P-I Mar. 26, 1897: 'Status of the work'.

The genesis of the Masonry dam I haven't documented yet. A bond issue for it was approved in 1910; by 1912 there was controversy as to the location of the dam--and whether the reservoir would hold water. A board of three expert engineers is appointed to look into the matter. They report (or see excerpts) that the notion of sealing is fallacious, that the alternate site seems better, and recommend halting construction pending a thorough investigation. But the City Engineer and the Mayor are confident the reservoir can be sealed.

May 6, 1912: 'Report on Cedar River Project'. (Excerpts.)

P-I, May 8, 1912: 'Council In Row On Dam Report'.

P-I May 11, 1912: 'Against Halting Work On Big Dam'.

P-I May 12, 1912: 'See No Peril Now In Water Supply'.

P-I May 12, 1912: 'Officials Will Go to the Watershed'.

P-I May 15, 1912: 'Mayor Is Silent On Cedar Dams'.

P-I Nov. 22, 1912: 'Care advised in Cedar river plan'.

P-I Nov. 22, 1912: 'Two Committees Will Report on Power Dam'.

P-I June 2, 1914: 'Council Provides Money to Finish Cedar River Dam'.

The dam is effectively finished in October, 1914. And then (how embarassing!), just as those doom-sayer experts kept say it would, the reservoir leaks.

P-I Dec. 11, 1914: 'Cedar River Reservoir Costing $1,500,000 Leaks...'.

P-I Dec. 12, 1914: 'City Lake Loss From Seepage 1/3 Of Storage'.

P-I Dec. 16, 1914: 'Leaks In Dam Threaten City's Light Project'.

EN Jan. 21, 1915: 'Leakage from Cedar Lake Reservoir, Seattle Water-Supply'.

P-I May 8, 1915: 'Hanna and Dale side with Dimock'.

Eventually the reservoir's leakage raises Rattlesnake Lake to the point that it floods the town of Moncton (Cedar Falls).

P-I May 11, 1915: 'Thirteen Families Flee From Flood'.

P-I May 12, 1915: 'Cedar Falls Folks Forced to Flee by Rising Lake'.

P-I May 13, 1915: 'Lake Is Rising and Cedar Falls Expects Worse'.

P-I May 14, 1915: 'Condemn Town As Menace To Water Supply'.

P-I May 16, 1915: 'Mayor Asserts City Must Hire Experts On Dam'.

P-I May 16, 1915: 'Board of works discusses silting'.

P-I May 18, 1915: 'Rowboats are popular on the streets of town flooded by Rattlesnake Lake'.

JE May 22, 1915: 'Seattle Municipal Dam Blunder'.

P-I Dec. 5, 1915: 'Noted engineers picked to solve Cedar dam leak'.

Seattle buys up the town site of Moncton; the remainder of the community moves to higher ground by the railroad tracks and reconstitutes itself as Cedar Falls. Several years are spent on sealing operations, and then, in November, 1918, they start impounding water in the reservoir.

Early in the morning of December 23, 1918: oops.

Times Dec. 23, 1918: 'Lumbering Community Desolated'.

P-I Dec. 24, 1918: 'Reservoir Waters Sweep Valley Town'.

Times Dec. 24, 1918: 'Flood washes out part of hillside'.

P-I Dec. 24, 1918: 'The Cedar River basin'.

P-I Dec. 25, 1918: 'Opening 600 feet wide cut in wall'.

P-I Dec. 26, 1918: 'In path of flood waters from City's impounding basin'.

P-I Dec. 27, 1918: 'Water is pouring from reservoir'.

Times Dec. 27, 1918: 'A white elephant on our hands'.

P-I Jan. 1, 1919: 'Visit the dam and leaky design'.

P-I Jan. 1, 1919: 'A few facts about the building of Cedar River Masonry Dam'.

P-I, Jan. 5, 1919: 'Mayor Presents a Constructive Program'.