Fayette County herald. [volume] (Washington [Washington Court House], Fayette County, O. [Ohio]) 1860-1???, 1872-03-07
SNOW FENCES.


There is perhaps two hundred miles
of snow fences built along the road.
Some of this fence was put up last
winter and previous seasons, but the
most of it is late work, put up after
the terrible severity of the winter be-
gan to be realized. Some of it is en-
tirely covered, and new fences have
been put up on the drifts over the old
The fence is made of inch pine plank
nailed to two cross-pieces, put togeth
er after the style of an ordinary ''saw
buck" The cross pieces or ''legs'
are fastened to stakes firmly driven
into the ground when the ground can
be reached, or if not, then the cross
ties are laid upon the snow. Against
this fence the wind-driven snow strikes
and falls to the ground. If the storm
is over before the drift is formed as
high as the fence the road at that
point is safe, but as soon as the fence
is covered the road is unprotected.
The worst blockades were where the
fences had been covered up, render
ing them useless, or where the storm
had come from the south side, or
where there were no fences.
All the old ranchmen say that they
never before knew storms to come
from the south, and the road was con
sequently left for the most part unpro
tected on that side. But this year
the storms came from all directions,
and more furious than within the mem
ory of the oldest of the settlers.
Of ho 1;ac
between Green River and Sherman, a
distance of abolt two hundred and
fifty miles, and embracing the divide
of the continent. Before reaching
Sherman the road leaves the. plains.
and enters a high, rough, cold coun-
trv, a prey to intensely cold and fu
rious storms. It is the terrific wind
that does the mischief, piling the snow
drift on drift, mixing it with sand un-
til it is the color of brown sugar, and
packing all so tight that the most
powerful snow -plOws makea little i'm
preston upon it. 1 will give the ele-
vations of the worst places in the snow
country, and from these the reader
can Judge of the intense cold, and
sweeping, almost irresistible winds
Omaha, the eastern terminus of the
road, is pretty cold place, but it is
| less than one thousand feet above the
level of the sea. AS the road goes
west it gradually ascends, and as il
| ascends it necessarily reaches colder
regions. At Cheyenne it is six thous
and feet above the sea level, and aftel
leaving there begins to get into The
worst of the snow country. At Sher
man it is eight thousand, two hundred
and fifty-two feet above the sea level
which is the highest point on the road
For two hundred miles west of herr
is where the trouble has been; namely
at Fort Sanders, Wyoming, Cooper
Lake, Lookout, Miser, Medicine Bow
Simpson, Percy, Fort Steve, Rawlings
Separation, Bitter Creek, and Greer
River. At many of these points, ant
between them, the snow reached to tn
top of the telegraph poles, filing u
deep cuts and drifting upon the roat
in irresistible masses.
It is singular, but true, that durin;
the blockade the births among tn
passengers equaled the deaths. Ther
were five of each.
= The note Of Ohio progress is be
ing sounded ia the East. Read thi
from the IRON Age, which sees til
great progress this State is making
1t says: 'aOhio is making great pre-
gress. The city of Cleveland, o
Lake Erie, is especially active in iro
production and trade. One rollin
mill consuming 40 tons of coal pc
day, turns out 130 tons of steel, 8
tons of bar iron, 10 tons of steel an
iron wire, s tons of nails, 90 tons {
spikes and bolts, and 60 or 20 tons (
pig iron. A new screw companv
!. with capital of 81, 100000, has ju.
! : been inaugurated in that city. Bl
the greatest triumph of Cleveland el
2 7 terprise is the building, by the Kin
Iron Bridge and Manufacturing Con
pany, of u railroad bridge at Walthan
Mass. 1t sounds strangely for
Wester71 manufacturing company
. compete a0tth Massachwsetts' man
factWrers on their oeVn grounds" :"
e = Irenaeus, in the New York o