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page 25 Regardless of repeated warnings, Mr. Smith said after his flight this afternoon that many farmers have failed to move their stock from the land between the river wld the railroad tracks, from Merino to Sterling. Inevit~)ly, he predicted, this stock will be lost. While alarming reports were spread at Merino, T. F. Moore this afternoon expressed the opinion that only if water is carried back in Pawnee ditch and the ditch breaks, will Merino be flooded. A like situation might develop at Sterling from Sterling No. 1 ditch, in the opinion of Mr. Moore and Mr. Smith. At Messex, Mr. Moore asked Frank Tanberg, "oldtimer", if he had seen a flood of comparable proportions. "Yes," replied Mr. Tanberg, "forty-one years ago." Many Poles Are Out According to early morning advices to E. B. Hunter, Sterling district manager of the Mountain States Telephone and Telegraph company, the grade of the Burlington railroad eight miles west of Fort Morgan, alongside highway No. 6 was washed out for a long distance. The raking water of Bijou creek picked up the ties and steel ra.ils of the track and threw them in a twisted ribbon upon the highway' pavement. Wire Lines Down At 7 0' clock thi s morning the wall of the flood was reported by Water Commissioner Pat Marsh to be bet.'een Fort Morgan and Brush. Some observers estimated :its speed as between eight and twelve miles an hour. The great wave this morning comes upon a valley thoroughly saturated by flood waters of a week. It was accompanied Thursday night by a raging wind which toppled over telephone and telegraph lines. The Public Service Company of Colorado, which Thursday placed new poles in its line to Weldona from Brush, west of Fort Morgan, reported this morning that its linemen could not approach within a half..mile of the poles to finish the repairs. Telephone circuits between Sterling and Fort Morgan were all out early this morning. Wire traffic: to Denver was being rerouted. The Advocate's Associated Press leased wire was through the Omaha lines. The river at Sterling was carrying an estimated 4,000 second feet of water at '8 o'clock this morning. The condition approaches flood stage, though the level is much lower than during the runoff of P~wnee creek, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. An estimated peak of 10,000 second feet of water was reported Tuesday. Pawnee Is Down Train service had been reestablished Thursday evening, after Pawnee creek had made a third and quick thrust at the highway bridge and railroad tracks near Atwood. The flow, though smaller than that of Sunday night and far less than the great runoff of Monday night, rolled in quicker, according to highway workers, and struck the highw~~ and railroad bridge with greater force. Crews were hurriedly recruited at Sterling by Mayor C. O. Boggs and others and rushed to the Sterling No. 1 ditch, to reenforce th,e ditch against the expected bombardment. Water flowed ra.pidly down the borrow pits and filled the ditch to capacity. 'rhe crest