ord rainfalls. Between
noon of the 14th and noon of the 15th, forty-five and ninety-nine
hundredths inches of rain fell at Baguio. A mountain forming a part
of the wall of the Bued canon split from the top and the detached
portion toppled over into the river, damming it to a depth of about
a hundred and fifty feet at a time when it was carrying an enormous
volume of water. When this dam burst, an avalanche of earth and rock,
swept onward by a huge wave, rushed down the canon, leaving complete
destruction in its wake. Every bridge in its course was carried away,
and the road was left in such condition that it would have cost
$300,000 to open it for traffic. Then Providence, having apparently
done its worst, relented and sent another typhoon which washed away
most of the debris left by the first one, uncovering the road-bed
and making it possible to reopen communication for $50,000.

The cost of maintaining the Benguet Road has proved
excessive. Mountains tower above it on both sides to a height of four
to seven thousand feet and the drainage basin which finds its outlet
down the narrow gorge through which the road runs is enormous. Even
so, under ordinary climatic conditions its maintenance does not offer
very exceptional difficulties, as much of it is blasted out of rock;
but during extraordinarily heavy storms the danger of destruction by
overwhelming floods is great.

While a century may pass before there is another storm like the one
which brought down the terrific slide above described, there may be
one at any time, and when the railroad has once reached Baguio, it is
hardly probable that such extensive repairs as were necessary after the
last destructive typhoon will ever again be made, especially as the
horse trail built on a carriage road grade from Baguio to Naguilian
in the lowlands has been widened little by little, until it is now
safe for small automobiles. The maintenance of the bridges alone,
on the Benguet Road, is a very formidable item, while there is only
one short bridge on the Naguilian Road before the province of Union
is reached. As it runs on or near the crests of ridges all the way,
there are no extensive watersheds above it, and it is not liable
to serious injury during the most violent storms. The total cost
of the Benguet portion of this road to date [512] has been only
$33,405. This stretch is seventeen and a half miles in length and
does not include that portion of the road which lies with