The Somerset press. [volume] (Somerset, Ohio) 1873-1977, 1875-02-12
Vivid Description of an Avalanche.

A miner of Little Cottonwood, who
saw the descent of one Of the recent
snow-slides in that canon, thus describes
it:
''There goes a snow -slide." exclaimed
my companion, as. in the midst of
heavy sleet, we ascended the canon
where We had been assisting in the ex-
huming the corpse of victim, at the
scene of late disaster. do you not
hear it?' and a shrilI whistling sound
which attracted my attention deepened
into low, gutteral-ike roar, increasing
in volume and power at every instant
until the artillery of Stone River seem
ed but whisper in comparison.
"Where is it?' hurriedly asked,
while the air at that distance seemed to
tremble IN consonance with the motions
of a monster still visible.
From the bed of Little Cottonwood a
smooth incline rises at an angle of twen-
ty degrees from the horizontal, termin-
ating in perpetual somber wall one
thousand feet in height, which is again
surmounted by receding quartzite cliffs
through which two narrow gorges cul
their way diverging in different direc-
tions. and, making a scallop in the hori-
zon, are lost TO view.
Amidst the blood-curdling uproar, the
phenomena were invisible till the gorges
at the summit filled the level with the
moving snow. Rocks as if in rage at
their inability to Withstand the shock,
gave away from their foundations with
an audible growl. Clumps of trees.
centuries in maturing, snapped like
stubble, their dark branches describing
the undulations of the surface as though
a 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, rush toward the edge
of the abyss with increased fury. Moth
ing more terrible than the successive
plunges of the disconnected portion of
the avalanche over the precipice can
we'll be conceived. Compressed by con-
tact with obstacles in its course, the van
of the volume has attained the solidity
of ice. Retarded by variations of the
incline, il seems to pause on the edge of
the precipice as though in sensitive
dread Of the terrible shock which await
ed it. Impelled by the tremendous pres
sure behind, it juts over the gulf un-
supported distance of fifty feet, until, !,
severed by it's own tremendous weight,
it strikes the earth with a crash only
neutralized by the uproar above it.
With a duller thud and an irregular
roar for an echo each separate descend
ing body alighted on its predecessor,
piling higher and higher at each success
sive descent as though preparing for the
grandest tableau of the sublime specta-
Gle. Higher and higher, until assum-
ing the proportions of majestic col
umn, it conceals the bluff behind it
half distant to the top.
"Will it fall?" asked my companion,
as transfxed by the phenomena he ut
ters the first words that have escaped
him.
eyes, it must fall. See, it is swaying
already" Great God, what a 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,
graceful sweep, boom unsurpassable
in power, the crags and cannons no mute
auditors of the performance. In tones
of thunder they hurl back their ap-
plause.-[ Salt Lake Herald.