Photo Record
Images
Metadata
Catalog Number |
X00018 |
Subjects |
Buildings Damage to property Disasters Floods Rocks |
Description |
House in Malott after Wagner Mill Pond Dam broke and flooded it. Note from donor reads "My husband, Bill Brown, was working for the Pleasant Valley Water Users Association during that period of time. In his capacity as foreman, he met with George Carlton and John Chalmers, the supervisor, the day before the flood. They viewed the damage that was occurring to the dam and decided to send a crew the next morning to see if it would be necessary to divert the water from Rock Creek by flume to Leader Lake, a distance of about ten miles down through Pleasant Valley. Bill left early the next morning with some of the crew in the company pickup. Several others drove their own cars to Rock Creek, and the company pickup was left a short distance from the dam. Hearing a roar, they headed for the flume from which they could look down on the dam. Large sections of the sloping hills around the dam were sliding down into the water. The men ran down the flume to reach the parked pickup, about a half-mile away. I lived about ten miles down the valley and as I saw that pickup racing down the road across the canyon at such a speed, I was certain the dam had broken. A short time later, my brother, who lived a few miles above me, and had also seen the pickup flying by, had stopped to pick up my mother, and then came for me and my one-year-old son. We arrived in Malott not far behind the crew pickup. After reaching Malott, the company crew members were able to warn many people that the flood was coming. I thank the Lord no lives were lost that day, but the material damage we observed to the town was great, and we saw that even the state highway was washed out." |
Object Name |
Print, Photographic |
Date |
4/1938 |
People |
Brown, Bill Carlton, George H. Chalmers, John |
Place |
Malott-Okanogan County-Washington (State) |
Search Terms |
E. Wagner and Son Pleasant Valley Water Users Association |
Classification |
Disasters/Floods |
Relation |
Show Related Records... |
Related Publications |
Okanogan Independent, April 23, 1938 article "Flood Plays Havoc at Malott" Okanogan Heritage, Vol 4 No 4, Sept. 1966 Story of the Malott Flood of 1938 by Mabel M. Gavin. |
Copyright |
If using this photograph please credit the Okanogan County Historical Society and notify the society so we can add it to our catalog. |