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Updated: July 29, 2025
Warned by our experience with Meade, we wished additional expert advice, so summoned to Baguio Colonel L. W. V. Kennon, a man of great energy and executive ability, who had had large experience in engineering work in mountainous country, and requested him to go down the Bued River valley and report on the progress of the work, and the practicability of completing the road on the route which had been determined upon.
Captain Charles W. Meade, then serving as city engineer of Manila, was selected to make the survey. There was every theoretical reason to believe him competent, and we did not question either his integrity or his ability. After being absent from Manila for some time, he reported in favour of the Bued River valley route, saying that it was entirely feasible to build a railway along it.
A mountain forming a part of the wall of the Bued cañon 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 cañon, leaving complete destruction in its wake.
We were nearing the rainy season, and conditions were uncertain, but this morning the gods were on our side and we could not have asked for better weather. We went down the splendid Benguet Road, following the bed of the Bued River to the railway, a drop of over 4,000 feet in thirteen miles.
"Be it further resolved, That steps should be immediately taken looking to the increase of the capacity of the Sanitarium by at least twenty rooms, to the construction of seven more cottages on the grounds of the Sanitarium, to the construction of a Governor's residence on the site overlooking the big spring which is the source of the Bued River immediately south of the Sanitarium proper, to the construction of an Administration building sufficient for the Commission, the Commission's staff and the Executive Bureau, of at least twenty-five rooms, and to the making of a plan for a town site for the municipality of Baguio; but that the details of construction and improvements, with such variations from the indicated plan as may seem wise, shall be left to the committee appointed under the previous resolution."
Eighteen inches of rain fell in nine hours, and twenty-six inches in twenty-four hours. The Bued River quickly rose fifty feet, carrying away trees and rocks which obstructed its course, and seriously injuring the road for miles. Four of the largest bridges were swept away and the work of constructing government buildings, which was just about to begin, was greatly retarded.
It was obvious that the construction of a highway from San Fernando, in Union, to Baguio would involve considerable expense, and we asked Mr. Scheerer about other possible lines of communication. A study of the Spanish maps had led us to consider two: one up the valley of the Agno River, and the other up that of the Bued River.
The latter route had the great advantage of affording direct communication with the end of the railway line at Dagupan. Mr. Scheerer took us to a point which commanded a view for some distance down the Bued River valley, and conditions looked rather favourable. Mr.
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