The Cincinnati daily star. [volume] ([Cincinnati, Ohio]) 1875-1880, 1876-02-22
CONT SNOW nucK1Ne.
Banning Trains Through Forty Fcet Of sncw--
Engines Buried In Avaianchea- -nannihg 9
Tunnel under the Snow. >

The distance from Wells TO Toauo is
not great; 1t 10 only thirty-seven miles.
"rhe old man." as the boys call HIM
that is, Division Superintendent Cod
dington-had ordered freight train to |
move up to the latter station, with four
locomotives to draw 1t. Nate Webb, the |
champion snow bucker of the SieFTas,
had lust come up from Truckee, with |
No. s snow-plow, to clear tne track OF
the snow that had so long obstructed the
Itranscontnentai route. Nate looked atit
a moment critically, and then with u.s.
dainful expression, remarked:
ssDo you fellows call that drift up
this way? Why, men, that wouldn't
stop hand-car in the Sierras. Our
boys would laugh at suen. a pile OF the
snow as that. When we have nothing
| beyond six or eight feet of snow down IN
the mounJalns We think nothing or 1t.
That drittl Why. can show you
fifteen feet OF snow on q level now down
our way.
"Wnat do you call good fall Of snow
lthere?" asked the reporter.
"Weli,n replied Nate, II suppose
4 there is now fifteen feet OF snow from
Truckee over to Emigrant Gap. But
\ tnen we don't have to buck against tnat
i snow, though we did when the road was
ftirst built and before we had any snow
sheds. But now the worst places are
covered with sheds. But we wouldn't
| think of building shed where there
was no worse trouble than you show
here. Why, q good eight-wheel
engine ought to buck tnrough any drifts
| YOU have got here, and not make any
| fuss about it,"
| t.How deep have you seen the snow in
| the sieffas % asked the reporter.
"Forty feet" said Nate, gravely; and
when the reporter expressed incred-
ulity. he added: 81 can show you
| twenty feet there now, and nobody pre-
tends we have gotany snow, so lar, this
winter. The time hasn't come for that
lyet."
The reporter mildly suggested that, in
his opinion, twenty feet was very re-
speetable depth OF snow, though he ad-
mitted that his experience had not been
very great.
Nate looked at him with compassion
ate expression, and after moments re-
fieotion proceeded to relate some Of his
experiences.
II remember" he said, Gin 1869 there
came on heavy storm. 1t didn't blow
any, but the snow just came down ever
lasting. 1t was not dry snow either,
nor vet wet, but just damp enough toibe
sticky. was sent out.wlth pow and
seven engines to open the track. We
the Blue Canyon. Here the road skirts
around the sides Of the mountains. On
one side you look straight up, and ,on
the other side straight down. The
track just forms a sort of q step In the
face OF the rock. But when we got
along there, there was no track.or step
to be seen. l reckon the snow was forty
4 feel deep ON the track. That tis,i it was piled
UP on a line with the face OF the noun
a.; WI tnwarn the
Well, l told the boys to 60 tor it, and
tney put ON all steam and let her have
it. But you had ought to have seen that
snow fly! You couldn't see no ploW, nor
engines, nor any thing else for that mat
ter. but just snow. The air was filled
with snow; the whole canyon was filed
4 with it. But the mass was too much tor
! our power. The TRAM gradually slack
i ened, and when we had got about three
hundred feet, stopped altogether. was
i Just going to back out to get headWay
for another buck, when the snow on the
4 face OF the mountain along which we had
passed began to slide. IL came down on
lus before we could reverse the engines,
and before we knew it the pl0w anl the
seven engines were buried out OF sight.
/ had about q. hundred Cinnamon fol-
lowing us up with snovels to clear up
the track behind US. These ordered
at work digging the engines out. AS
last as we got one out sent it back to
stand on trestle that was about O half
mile behind US, because l was afraid
to leave them where they would be ex-
posed to ANOTHER slide. We got the
engines all out after while, though it
was o tough job, tell you, and the EN-.
gineers and tremen who were buried in
! their cabs were nearly smothered. just
, before we got the last engine out !
, heard a prolonged whistle down the
r the trestle had given way under the
weight on it, ami started back to see
what was the matter. wore snow shoes
; and travelled ON the outer bank for fear
: might be caught in slide. The
' whistle kept blowing long continuous
' mufhed kind of a sound that puzzled me
! good deal. When got about half way
E back to the trestle it seemed to me thai
i the sound didn't come from there
Then began to try to locate it, and
q was more puzzled than ever. couldn't
h make out whether the whistle was down
: | in the bottom of the canyon, or where j,
d was. All of sudden l located the
, sound right beside me, and on the track
e Then l knew what was the matter. One
2 of the engines had got canght In slide
!. and was buried right there in spo
I where the road made q cut through Q
d little spur of the mountain. l brough
. up gang of men as quick as ! could
j.. and went to work to dig the engine out
D There was more than twenty feet o
3 snow ON the top of her, and before We
d got down to her the engineer and fire
d men were senseless. They were laying
: fiat on their faces, and all the air thel
had to breathe was that In the cab ami
/. under the trucks. The snow, in falling
il had pressed down the lever tina
q worked the whistle and sci that to blow
d ling, and by that accident called atten
8 tion and help. II hadn't been for tina
i these boys would have smothered sure
II Reporter-Then nobody was hurt seri
j, Iouslyf
e Nate-No; we got the men out, tool
o them into q caboose, and gave them ,
8 little refreshments, and in q couple o
g hours started on again. Some folk
:. would have given that up as bad job
8 but none OF the boys there ever though
d or giving up. We stuck to 1t all tina
d lday and all night, and the next morn
ing got up to 'Cisco sll right.
ell Reporter-W hat is the deepest SNOW
b you eyer encountered IN those noun
& tains?
3 Nate-Thaps hard to tell. I've seel
4 lit thirty feet often, Once had to bias
u . a - L -