Port Royal standard and commercial. [volume] (Beaufort, S.C.) 1874-1876, 1876-03-23
SOME SNOW BUCKING.
Running Trains Through Forty Feet OF
Snow..Eneines Buried In Avalanches.

Running Trains Through Forty Feet O
snow..Engines Buried in Avalanches.
The distance from Wells to Toano if
not great. It is only thirty-seven miles
"The old man." as the boys call him
that is, Division Superintendent Cod
dineton-had ordered a freight train te
move up to the latter station, with foul
locomotives to draw it. Nate Webb
the champion snow bucker of the Sierras
had just came up from Truckee, VIII
No. 8 snow plow to clear the track o.
the snow that had so long obstructeo
the traps-continental route, but had ar
rived only when the work was done, ano
had been ordered up to Toano on this
train to see what was the matter with
the plows that had proved themselves sc
efficient on this division. A reporter o.
the San Francisco Chronicle was also
passenger in the caboose attached te
the train, and gives the following &C
count of an interview with Webb:
Six miles out from Wells the conduc
tor pointed out the drift and cut II
which No. 2 passenger train stuck fol
twenty-four hours couple OF weeks
ago. Nate looked at it moment criti
cally, and then with disdainful expires
sion remarked:
"Do you fellows call that drift uI
this way2 Why, men, that wouldn''
stop q handcart in the Sierras. Oul
boys would laugh at such pile of snow
as that. When we have nothing be-
yond six or eight feet of snow down IL
the mountains, we think nothing OF it.
That is a drift7 Why I can show yor
fifteen feet of snow on level now down
our way"
"Wnat do you call good fall ot
snow there 2" asked the reporter.
"Well," replied Nate, 81 suppose
there is now fifteen feet of snow from
Truckee over Emigrant gap. But ther
We don't have to buck against thai
snow, though we did when the road waf
first 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 that you show here.
Why, good eight wheel engine ought
to buck through any drifts you have go'
here, and not make any fuss about it. D
Chow deep have you seen the snow
in the Sierras2 2" asked the reporter.
"Forty feet" said Nate, gravely; and
when the reporter expressed incredulity,
he added: CT can show you twenty
feetthere now, and nobody pertends that
we have got any snow 80 far this winter.
The time hasn't come for that yet"
The reporter mildly suggested that, IL
his opinion, twenty feet was very re-
spectacle 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-
fsction, proceeded to relate some OF h:t
experiences. "I remember" he sad.
sin 1869 there came on heavy storm.
It didn't blow any, but the snow just
came down everlastingly. Is was not 9
dry snow either, nor yet wet, but just
damp enough to be sticky. I was sent
out with plow and seven engines tc
open the track. We got along pretty
we'll until we reached the Blue canyon,
Here the road skirts around the sides o1
the mountains. On one side you look
straight up, and on the other side
straight down. J," track just forms G
sort of step in tho rock. But when We
got along there there was no track OF
step to be seen. I reckon the snow wa:
forty feet deep on the track. That is, il
was piled up on line with the face o!
the mountain, growing thinner TOWARD
the top. Well, I told the boys to go fol
it, and they put on all steam and let he,
have it. But you had ought to have
seen that snow fly! You couldn't see
no plow, nor engines, nor anything else
| for that matter but just snow. The Oil
was filled with snow, the whole caDyor
was filed with it. But the mass was toe
much for our power. The train gradually
slackened, and when we had got about
three hundred feet stopped altogether
I was just going to back out to get head
way for another buck, when the snow OF
the face of the mountain along which We
had passed began to slide. 1t came
down on us before we could reverse tht
engines, and before we knew it the pillow
and the seven engines we're buried on
of sight. T had about one hundred
Cinnamon following us up with shoyels
to clear up the track behind us. Thes.
T ordered up as quick as possible, ant
set them at work digging the engines
out. AS fast as we got one out l sent
back to stand on trestle that was abou
half q mile behind us, because 1 wa
afraid to leave them where they would
be exposed to another slide. We 60
the engines all out after while, though
it was tough job, tell you, and th'
engineers and fremen were nearl.
smothered. Just before we got the las
engine out I heard prolonged whistle
down the track. My first impression wa
that the trestle had given way under tn
weight on it, and I started back to SCI
what was the matter. Iwore snow shoes
and travelled on the outer bank for fear
might be caught in slide. The whistle
kept blowing long, continuous, mufaet
kind of a sound that puzzled me goot
deal.
When got about half way back tt
the trestle it seemed to me that tn,
sound didn't come from there. Then
began to try to locate it, and was more
puzzled than ever. I couldn't make on
whether the whistle was down in tn
bottom of the canyon, or where it was
All of sudden located the sount
right beside me, and on the track
Then I knew what the matter was. ON
of the engines had got caught in a slide
and was buried right there in a spo