Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1874-03-05
On Snow Shoes.

into history as the wet winter of Cali
fornia. For thirty days it had stormed
almost incessantly-rain in the valleys,
snow on the hills The lowlands Dor
! dering the Sacramento River were in
! undated; the submits of the Sierra
were burdened with twenty feet OF
snow. All communication of noun
tain towns with each other, Or with the
plains below was shut of. Trails, for
animals could neither be made or Kept
open; and the usual winter method of
transit by .meaas Of -snow-shoes was
| forbidden by dense pail Of clouds, so
obscuring the vision, that the hardest
mountaineers deemed it madness to at
tempt even tive-mile journey over a
familiar trail. So, when it was an
nounced that Hemming proposed to
carry the sick boy thirty miles across
the country to Howe's Flat, the miners
said, sit is madness" The doctor
familiar with travel in the mountains
in winter as well as summer--deemed
it next to an impossibility for a man to
find his way between the two points.
The preparations for the journey
were made with the assistance of many
ready hands. Blankets were cut, shaped
and sewcd to shelter and support the
boy, and attach him to his fathers
shoulders while the champion of the
snow~shoe adopts of the district volun-
teered his favorite pair for Johns use,
and made them ready by applying his
choicest 'dope,' the composition of
which was a we'll guarded secret
These snow shoes were not what are
popularity known as such in the Wes-
tern States harp shaped frames woven
with thongs of leather or raw hide
but were slaves Of white ash, four inch
es wide and ten feet long, turning up
slightly at the foremost end For
racing these shoes sometimes attain the
extreme length Of fourteen feet; but
for ordinary travelling, those from
seven to ten feet are preferred. The
doping consisted in APPLYING a waxy
substance to The bottoms, which gave
surface as smooth as glass, and, in con
tact with the snow, very nearly as
hard. .,t-aa, - -t's'7i'
When the dawn of Christmas Day
appeared, J,hn with his burden, sailed
forth. Hemlning was fully conscious
OF the desperate nature of his under
taking. Thirty miles in a short winters
day, dragging heavy snow-shoes
through the moist, yielding, new fallen
snow, and bearing such burden as he
carried, he we'll knew was sufficient to
tax to the utmost the physical powers
of the hardest man. He feared that
his strength was unequal to the task !;
but this fear was as nothing to the
greater one of losing his way The
shroud of snow obliterates all ..land
marks. The landscape of summer can
not be identified in ifs winter robes,
even in the bright sunlight. Vapors,
of which the snow>hakes and the hoar
frost are born, yelled the Sierra in a
mantle of gloom. shutting off the view
of distant objects, and so distorting
them at hand that the most familiar
things could not be recognized
From many standpoln1s. the summ it
of the Sierra Nevada, near the sources
of tie various forks OF the Yuba River,
seems to the observer a vast, nearly
level plateau; but when progress in any
direction is attempted, the continuity OF
the seeing plain is found to be broken
by tortuous ravifies, that wind in every
direction. and by occasional canons,
thousands Of feet in depth, With sides
Of steep incline. <a
Hemming was too familiar with the
mountains in that vicinity, and with
the use of snow shoes. to attempt to
pick his way down the canon's side. He
knew that whatever there was of Val
ley lay at least two thousand feet, as the
plummet falls, below where he stood,
and that the descent to that depth
must be made in a travelling distance
of little more than one mile No
man could keep his footing, at a leis
urely pace, on snch an incline. There
was but one way, and that was, to
make dash. With cautious steps,
and rigid muscles. Hemming approach
ed the mountains brow and Launched
himself on its slope. Away he sped,
swifter than the torrents offspring that
course down those hill-sides-sWifter
than the flight of an eagle, as he
swoops OH his prey. Scarcely seen in
advance and deity avoided with skill
known only to the adept in the use Of
snow-shoes, the few scattering trees
fled up the steep incline behind him as
cloud shadows course across the plain
on an April day-faster and faster.
aid now the even grade is broken by
sheer precipices Of ten, fifteen, Or TWEEN