The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1874-10-15
BY THE MAIL COACH.
A Thrilling Description of Trip
Through the Canons by Stage.

N
Through the Csnons by Stage.
A correspondent who crossed the
canons in q mail coach during snow
storm. gives the following graphic de-
scription OF the trip Weplunge again
into the darkness of the canon, and
steady the team, as we near the Devils
Gate, so called from two enormous
rocks through which the water-oourse
has worn channel only just wide
enough for a wagon to get through,
and which tower over our heads to some
two or three hundred feet high. It is
wild place, and was famed in old
times for desperate Indian encounters.
From this up to the summit we have
better going, and the mules, well
warmed to their work, took us up
quickly and steadily; and, almost be.
fore L am aware, a piercing cold blast
warns me that we have reached the
summit, and that there is nothing to
shield us from the north wind, which L
see swirling the snow in wreaths on the
top of Fishers Peak, ten miles away.
Anxiously we strain our eyes down the
northern slope, only to find deep snow
over everything.
The road turns sharp at right angles
along the crest of the hill for the next
quarter of a mile, past the old tree
which marks the boundary-line of the
Territories of Colorado and New Mex
leo; and on which, ten years ago, a
famous highwayman was lynched. AS
we reach the turn in the road where
the descent begins, we pull up and be-
gin to prepare for it.
Sam and / get out and tie the front
and hind wheels together with ropes,
so as to block the coach entirely, and
prevent the hind wheels from swinging
round, as, if they did SO, it must upset
the coach. This done, Sam goes for
ward q little way to reconnoitre. Not
five steps has he gone when his heels
fly upon into the air, and down he
crash that re-echoes through the still
night; and it is some seconds before
he can find breath to reply to our ques-
tions of what had happened, and how
did it look. All that we get, however,
is a confused sentence, out of which /
catch, "The darn n'dest, meanest road
this side OF -" which we receive
With shouts of laughter, and Frank
tells him to jump on board.
This time get inside, as Frank says
he's "going to run 'em down."
Sam follows my example, and we each
station ourselves at window. Frank
gets the teams heads straight, and in
another second We are gliding over q
sheet Of ice at twelve miles an hour, on
gradient of one foot in ten. A sudden
jar, grunt, and a half-choked groan
IRON one of the mules, while half.
smothered curse from Frank tells thai
something has happened. L crane out
and see the off-wheeler down flat on
her side, fortunately with her legs out.
ward, as, had they fallen inward, she
would have thrown the other wheel
mule, and then nothing could have
saved us. AS it is, how we got down
the next four hundred yards goodness
only knows; but at the end of it we
find big snow-drift, and into it Frank
unhesitatingly shoots us, thus enabling
him to stop the team. I run to the
leaders heads, while Sam gets hold o.
the fallen mule, and now the question
is, how to get her on to her feet. tranl
tells me to swing the leaders across the
road from the mule, SO as to give hel
room to struggle and then, applying
the whip as hard as he can across hel
loins, she struggles up, only to fal
again, as the leaders, frightened at the
crack of the whip, make wild plunge
forward. My feet slip from under me
and for a second 1 think that the Who'll,
team, and the coach besides, are owe
me but thanks to the rough lock O
the wheels, they could not move til,
coach, and L struggle up, only to hav'
the same thing happen again. But thi
time the old mule keeps her feet and
after cutting away the snow littl
round the wheels, we Jump in, and OF
we start again. The worst part is over
and the next half-mile we sail alon,
grandly, when down goes the sam
wheeler again, and we drag her thirt,
or forty yards before we can stop. w
get her up again, but she is so mucl
hurt and cowed by the fright that sh
falls again three or four times befor
we reach the station, about mil
ahead. Here we find that the poo
brute has not got single hair on he
left side from the point of her ear t.
the root of her tail, and on the shoul
der, ribs, and hip-bone, good deal O
skin has come off as we'll. "But, an
way" Frank says, "she's only mule ;
and, sure enough, a year afterward
sat behind her over the very same piec
of mountain, looking as if she had neve
skated down the Ratons."