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Rex Booth
More on the 1937 & 1941 Roswell Floods & a Letter to Sidney Redfield
RWM
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BACK IN THE 'OLDEN" DAYS WHEN ROSWELL FLOODED
Photo courtesy of Historical Center for Southeast New Mexico, Photo No. 2788.
Camp Camino, during the flood of 1937, which is also mentioned in the following letter describing the flood of 1941. Camp Camino, a "tourist camp," service station and cafe on North Main near Spring River in Roswell, flooded in 1937 and again in 1941. The people in the photo are Roswellites viewing the results of the flood in late May or early June of 1937.
This letter, among the Redfield papers in the archives of the Historical Center for Southeast New Mexico, was written by a 17-year old Roswell girl in October 1941 to a friend in the military, Captain Sidney C. Redfield, 40 F. A., Camp Roberts, California. The letter describes the 1941 flood. The writer, still living, gave her consent to publish the letter.
The archived photo and the letter were provided to Roswell Web Magazine by Elvis E. Fleming, Archivist, HCSNM.
907 N. Penn Roswell, N.Mex. Oct. 2, 1941
Dear Sidney,
I guess you thought I wasn't going to write, but boy have I been busy. We even had to go to school on Saturday. We had a flood last Tues. and Wed. It wasn't so bad, but at any rate, we had to go to school on Sat.
Then this week, we had another flood. It came Mon. nite (sic), and was 18-1/2 inches deep in our front yard. It just lacked five inches of getting in our house. It got in Parsons house, and they had to get out. We called the police and they came and got them out. They had a couple of inches of mud in their house. Mr. Parson fell down twice, it didn't hurt him.
Mrs. Tucker and her renters had to move out also. A tractor came and took them out. Her house was worse than Parsons'. It got all over her house about 4" deep.
Our basement is full and we don't have gas. Bernice Santheson (D'Abadie) brought us an electric hot plate to use.
The fair was called off. Everybody was sure dissapointed (sic). E.A.P. came down last Fri., and they left Sun. afternoon, trying to beat the flood back. I got a letter from Ell J. She seems to like college ok. She said the pictures you sent her were good. Thanks a lot for the ones you sent to me, they were good and I sure appreciate it.
The footbridge on Penn and Kentucky went out. The one on Kentucky floated down here and landed in Harrold's lawn. (Them moved out too.) The one on Penn sunk. All the fenses (sic) in this block fell down. It is going to cost $85 to have a car fixed that was in the water. The water has been up 3 days and will probably be up at least 1 more.
Camp Camino has 4 inches in it, cabins, store and all. We will be going to school on Sat. the rest of our lives if this keeps on. Ray Levers was killed in a car wreck in the flood. So was the guy that owns the Capitan theater. The Yucca theater had 13 inches of water -- Oh! Me!
I am glad you like the Camp in Calif. I bet its really swell.
Last Sun. Sept. 28 I had a birthday. I got a new two piece wool dress and a crousuage (sic) of 6 rose buds. I also got my class ring (except it hasn't come in yet.) I was 17. I had Betty W. spend the night with me, and she ate breakfast with us. Bernice S. ate dinner with us, and Virginia Henry ate supper with us. Then came floods Mon. Ug!! (It rained all day Sun.)
You probably won't get this until late because I don't think there's a way for mail to come or go. But anyway, I'll send it.
Parsons are okey. Write when you can find time.
Nina Gene
P.S. Send some of that Calf. (sic) sun over here, we need it to dry things up around hear (sic).
Teacher - "How do you spell weather?"
Johnny -- "W-u-t-h-e-r."
Teacher -- "That's the worst spell of weather we have had in a long time."
!FLOODS!
grr!
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(Roswell floods have become just a memory. There have been no floods since construction of the Two Rivers Dam. RWM)
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Captain Joseph C. Lea: From Confederate Guerrilla to New Mexico Patriarch, the new book by Elvis E. Fleming, is available at the Historical Society for Southeast New Mexico, 200 N. Lea Avenue, and also at Cobean's Stationery, 320 N. Richardson Avenue, Roswell. The book sells for $25, with over 260 pages plus 66 illustrations. It was published by Yucca Tree Press in Las Cruces, in cooperation with, and to benefit, the HSSNM.
The author, Fleming, is city historian, member of and archivist for Historical Society for New Mexico, as well as Eastern New Mexico University-Roswell professor of history, emeritus.
http://roswellwebmagazine.com/page.php?22
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