American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1875-02-13
Description of an Utah Avalanche.

A MINER of Little Cottonwood, Utah,
who saw the descent of one of the re-
cent snowslides in that canon, thus de:
scribes it:
-" There goes snowslide," exclaimed
my companion, as in the midst of heavy
sleet We assembled the canon, where We
had been assisting in exhuming the
corpse of victim at the scene of a late
disaster. Do you not hear it?'' And a
shrill, whistling sound which attracted
my attention deepencd into q low, gut
turallike roar, increasing in volume and
power at every instant, until the artillery
of Stone River seemed but whisper in
comparison.
Where is it?" 1 hurriedly asked, while
the air at that distance seemed to nemble
in consOnance with the motions of
monster still invisible.
From the bed of the Little Cottonwood
a smooth incline rises at an angle of
twenty degrees from the horizontal, ter
minating in perpendicular, somber
wall 600 feet in height, which is again
surmounted by receding quartzite cliffs,
through which two narrow gOrges cut
their way, diverging in directions, and,
making = scallop in the horizon, are lost
to view.
Amid the blood-curdling uproar the
phenomena were invisible till the gorges
at the summit filled level with the NOV
ing snow. Rocks, as if in rage at their
inability to Withstand the shock, gave
way from their foundations with an
audible growl. Clumps of trees, centu-
ries in maturing, snapped like stubble,
their dark branches describing the un-
dulations of the surface as though
struggle for existence was theirs until
Overtaken by some more powerful wave
of the avalanche. They sink gradually
and disappear; jutting crags Of quartzite
shake Off their disconnected portions,
which, tumbling down their jagged sides,
bury themselves noiselessly in the NOV
ing masses that, having united at the
converging point, rushed toward the edge
of the abyss with increased fury. Moth
ing more terrible than the successive
plunges of the disconnected portions of
the avalanche over the precipice can
well Lc conceived. Compressed by con-
tact with obstacles in its course the van
of the volume has attained tine solidity
of ice. Retarded by variations of the
incline 1t seems to pause on the edge of
the preclpice as though in sensitive dread
of the terrific shock which awaited it. In
PEELED by the tremendous pressure be-
hind, it juts over the gulf unsupported Il
distance of fifty feet until, severed by its
own tremendous weight, it strikes the
earth with crash, only neutralized by
the uproar above it. With duIler thud
and an irregular roar tor an echo each
separate descending body alighted on its
predecessor, piling higher and higher at
each successive descent, as though pre-
pairing for the grandest tableau of the
sublime spectacle. Higher and higher
until, assuming the proportions of a ma
jestic column, it cOnceals the bluff be-
hind it half distant to the top.
VIII it fall?" asked my companion,
as transfixcd by the phenomena he ut
tiers the first words that have ESCAPED
him.
Yes, it must fall. See, it is swaying
already" Great God, what scene
Colossal in its magnitude, yet symmetri-
cal in proportion to the scenery in re-
lief; superb to the vision, indescribable
in its destruction. A swaying motion, a
graceful sweep, boom indispensable in
power, the crags and canons no mute
auditors of the performance. In tones
of thunder they hurl back their applause