washed away, and traffic was quite suspended. The thick muddy water came pouring down the valley, modifying all the meander turns and having regard for neither fields nor houses, both of which were greatly damaged in Copiapó. On July 14 of the same year severe rains followed, the storm lasting ten hours. A cart road was destroyed; the Chañaral railroad was washed out, and it was months before the service could be re- stored. Not only the higher mountains but the foothills were covered with snow to so low a level that no one was able to recollect a similar occurrence. With the snow and rain the river continued to rise even into September. In October the railway from Copiapó to Caldera was broken, and it required a month to re-open the line; for the nature of the flood required a new course to be found to escape a renewal of the disaster. At a time when it was particularly needed the community was without a vital service. The break in the line found Copiapó supplied with flour enough to last for only eighteen days. The vineyards and fields were ruined, a covering of mud was laid upon the barley and alfalfa fields so that the growth of these crops was stopped, and the mud, baking under the desert sun, made cultivation difficult. Even the mails became ir- regular owning to the scarcity of animals, because the mer- chants had taken all the available animals in order to convey their merchandise. Barley and forage rose to famine prices and were almost unobtainable. Labor became scarce, the coal question serious, and during this time of stress and want the river still continued to harass the fields and houses within reach so that the end of the disaster was still in doubt and every mind was filled with anxiety.
The floods continued into December with greater increase of water. The irrigating canals were cut off or sediment was deposited in them with the consequence that the full force of the water acted upon the valley. At length defenses of wood and bags of sand were laid in place; but these were torn away, and corrals and houses tumbled into the river at Tierra Ama- rilla above Copiapó. It was necessary to call on troops sta- tioned in the town to repair and strengthen the dike, and their work was hurried by news from up river that twenty houses
