The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1872-11-25

The reader has been no doubt startled at
the telegram which announced that eight
hundred tracslayers on The st. Peter and
Wiaona railroad had been isolated from food
aud civilization by snow.saofins and that
up to latest dates II had been impossible TO
reach then, with supplies. Two locomotives
departed from Winona upon the receipt of
the news of their situation, and these were
afterwards reinforced by two Others. which,
on Sunday the 18th, were brought 10 a stand
i,g the immense snow.drifts which blocked
up their way eighty miles distant from the
eight hundred tracklayers. The snow still
continued to fall and drift in deep banks, and
these four engines were cut of from COM
municatiou with their rear. This was the
alarming condition Of affairs on the road at
last dates, and as the telegraph line was
broken down by the storm we may not
possibly hear anything further from the
imperlled people for some days. Indeed,
tie eight hundred are far beyond the terni-
nus OF the telegraph, and were considerably
in advance Of the Government surveyors,
who seem to be surveying the line while the
railroad corporators are building their road.
She Government and tho cunning corpora
Tors are in close alliance on these North
western lines. There il corruption in the
relations existing between them, and mil
lions arc being made by private coTporators,
who took the running start upon the Gov
ernment and upon the southern portion
Of the Union during the war. But this
aside, the question Of human sufering-the
suffering Of men who derive none Of tie
advantages Of the corrupt alliance between
Government and corporatcrs lis quite diff
icrcnt affair.
Where is st. Peter-whcrc Winopa-and
where New Ulms? The towns Of the West
spring up so rapidly that it is impossible to
keep up our geographical knowledge with
their rapid pace. st. Peter is in Minnesota,
on the Minnesota river, and is the capital of
NIcollet county. Winona is a town directly
wcs; Of st. Peter. and the railroad Oh which
the eight hundred men are putting down
The extension is called the st. Peter and
N'lnoua railroad. 1t has been extended to
New Gins. another town, in west line
from st. Peter. and the company were rap
idly pushing their track westward, in
tie hope of crossing the State line
into Dakotah before the 1st OF January,
the prevailing idea being that the snow
did not fall In large quantities until the mid
die Of january, all idea that is strangely
enough entertained when we remember the
numerous destructive snow-stornls that have
swept The plains early in autumn and late in
spiiDr. Last April twelve months, the
leader well remembers, the passenger
trains on the Pacific railway were showed
VI, and tie passengers were subjected to I'M
heard Ct Sulcrings. They were nearly frozen
t. death, and il became necessary to burn up
a passenger car to keep them warm, and to
cook something for them TO eat. Two or
ln0rc OF them died. The company very i'm
properly endcavorcd to conceal the real fact
Of the situation, and undertook to transport
passengers on the line when they knew that
i; vas blocked up, hoping, possibly, that
tiiNw would help them out.
The 500 tracklayers were reported to bein
Redwood county, twenty miles from Lynd,
Il !i,tle town Of two hundred inhabitants,
not a1le to supply the wants Of the untortu-
nato lncn. il indeed they could, in spite OF
tie snow-stOrn, relch this town. They may
be in truth said to te in desert imprisoned
ly a snow.storm, oh absolutely puts IN
tuJ, to al human locomotion.
No nan who bus never bcheld snow
Storm on these northwestern plains eau form
Il Just idea OF them. They sweep the coun-
ny with force that there is no standing UP
against, and the winds are thickly freighted
with very fiue snow which penetrates every
Granny, and blinds the poor wayiarer who Is
SO unfortunate as to be caught from beneath
Il shelter. The general experience Is that
there is nothing left for him but seek bank
o. Il tree and sink down, drawing his dra-
perry about him and trusting to Providence
for Geliycrance. But on the plains there is
seldom any shelter of hillock, tree, or shrub,
and the traveller lays him down upon the
level ground and is soon covered up-his
rosting-place being marked by all oblong ell
evaIioo which will as likely become his grave
as not. The summer traveller beholdiug
This fruitful land little dreams how in au-
tamn, winter, or spring il may be swept BY
storms so destructive.
The scattered inhabitants OF the piaius
know ail this and are ever OH the watch for
surprising storms, and keep themselves
always near place Of safety hut the zeal of
tho railroad company took all risks (they
were only risking the laborers), and pressed
their work in the face of the welI-known
facts OF the dangers on the plains in the late
autumn. This st. Peter and Winona rail-
way lies upon the liue Of A degrees 80
lninutes, right in the track Of the tidnl winds
which at irregular periods sweep eastwardly
from the Pacific towards the Mississippi
valley.
The cutting off Of the eight hundred Is a
lesson that should not be forgotten. 1t is
another added to that terrible one In the
spring Of 1871 upon the Union Pacific rail.
read, with its hundred miles of snow-sheds
aud its hundred and fifty miles of SHOW
fences. Colonel FREMoNT's explorations OF
l853-'44 were between 80 and ~ degrees of
latitude, ndupon the mean line Of his eXpe-
dition the Union Pacific railway is con-
strUctcd. His narrative gives some thrilling
and shivering accounts of hardships and ex-
posture. and the terrors Of the sudden snow