Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1872-02-17
The Pacific Railroads i'm Winter.

The experience of this season has
shown conclusively that if regular time
is to be made on the northern transcon-
tinental railroads in winter, snow.sheds
of great strength must be built, and
kept constantly in repair. Since the
Goth of December the service has been
extremely irregular. Three hundred
and fifty passengers came into Chicago
on the morning of January 8, who had
been nearly three weeks on the road
from San Francisco. Most of the delay
occurred between Percy and Cheyenne.
The distance between these points is
only one hundred and fifty miles, but
almost two weeks was taken in travers-
ing it. 1t appears that the heavy snow
storm which began about December 20
was the occasion Of this remarkable dc
lay, the drifts having packed so heavily
in the cuts and gullies along the route
as to make passage impossible. The
average depth of the snow, did not, we
are told, exceed Twelve inches. 1t was,
however, extremely fine, light, and dry,
and easily blown from place to place.
The fall of snow was succeeded by ire
mendous gales which swept the plains
in every direction. Hence the ravines
and excavations along the line of the
railroad naturally became choked up.
The engines could make no impression
on this frail yet potent obstacle. Even
the snow-plows, of which there seems
to have been an insufficient number,
were only partly successful. They often
ran off the track, and even when they
did their work and a train got by, IN a
very short time the rails would be again
impossible. Between Ogden and Chey-
enne it is stated that two thousand lab
orers, many of them Chinese. have been
kept steadily at work to clear the track !;
yet with snow-plows, spades and all, the
detention has exceeded by fortnight
the regulation time.
Some of the experiences of the
showed up passengers were novel, rather
than agreeable. Happily, in no instance
did coal, or wood and water give out u;
of these there was always abundance.
But as regards food, matters were differ
ent. No one actually starved to death,
but many must have been uncomfort-
ably near it. 1t is hard to make five
days supply exc out to twenty, and this,
with most of the passengers, was just
the problem that had to be solved. OF
course, there are the "section eating
houses'-the MugbyJunction restaur-
ants of our great plains but in these,
at the best Of times, the fare is of doubt
full excellence, and, their regular sup
plies being cut off by the storm, what
was bad in quality became almost no
thing in quantity. One train was fur
nished by the Railroad Company with
the curious provender of "halibut and
crackers on which many people for
days subsisted. Black coffee and bread
were sometimes to be had, and n few
lucky souls had elk and antelope steaks
fried in pork fat. Occasionally an enter
prising wayfarer would get "sauarc
meal" by gaining the favor of a tele-
graph operator, or some other potent
official along the road. Some unfortu-
mates who, either from motives OF econ
omy, or because they could not be other
wise served, had no berths in the Sleep
ing cars, had to pass all the nights for
three weeks in day cars. The discom-
fort of this, added to the deprivation of
food, may be easily imagined. Yet there
seems to have been little sickness and
much hilarity. Whist parties were got
up, and the time was enlivened by song
and ry-telling. The festivities reached
their climax at Percy, where two balls
were held in the back part of a grocery
store. The music was furnished by " a
guitar, mouth harmonicon and fine
tooth comb;' and, on the authority Of a
Chicago journal, we are glad to know
that "the pleasure was exquisite and
that the programme" which consisted
of round and fancy dances, was pro-
tracted until late hour.
Happily, all got through in safety.
No one was starved, or frozen, or
scalped, and none are worse, save by
loss of time, for the adventure. The
Railway Company should take care,
however, that after this season such ad.
ventures do not happen again. Mere
sheds, with open sides, afford little pro
lection against drifting, and it is clear
that these structures, in exposed places,
should be provided with walls as well
as roofs. 1t will be costly work, no
doubt, to make such provision; but
after all the line of track most likely to
be snow bound is comparatively short,
and it certainly must prove more expen-
sive to the Company to have their trains
detained, as they have been this winter,
than to pay for what will insure their
running ION time