Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1876-08-17
a SnOW-Slide in the Sierras.


IHE following piece of vivid descrip-
Vlon IS taken from the story of 1.-The
Boy Emigrants'' in the August num-
Der OF So. Nicholas. Mont, one of the
| boy emlgrants, has been to the nearest
traCFIng-pOst, and is on his. way home
wand with the supplies, which he has
| purchased strapped to the back of his
horse Jim. Beyond this. the extract
needs no explanation:
Next day, after jim had br0wsed
| among the bushes, and Mont had swal-
lowed little hot coffee, they strug-
g1ed On, together, though the horse was
now obliged to wade in a deep, mass Of
snow, and Mont desperately kept llp by
his side
Passing laboriOusly through the
round valley where he had made. his
tlrSt night $ camp, Mont entered the
rocky jaws of Scotchman's Valley.
The day was well advanced. but the.
Sky was dark with storm. Overhead.
the air was thick as with a Drifting
WhIrl Of snow. The black-green trees.
by the trail were half-hidden and
loaded with the SNOW. All trace
of the route had vanished from
the ground, and only a few landmarks,
which NOnt's practiced eve had
noted as he rode down the trail. served
to show the way in which he should
go. There was the high, steep south
eIn wall Of the canon, and there were
the cabins on the bench below the up
per edge. Poor Mont noted in the
binding storm the blue smoke curling
from the chimneys of the cabins. and
he longed to be by the cheerful fireside
which he pictured to himself was
within. Like showers of feathers.
moist and large, the flakes fell. and
fell continually. MOnt's feet were
Wet and sore and lame. Once and
again, he paused in his struggles and
eyed the dismal sight around him.
haf-Wondering il he should ever get
through. The hapless horse painted
beneath his burden, groaning as his
master dragged Elm on through the
drifts Once, Mont, with numb
fingers, united the thongs that bound
part OF the load; then, passionately
crying aloud, ''No. no, l can't lose
these prOvisionst' he made them fast
again and labored onward.
He was now well up the canon.
Just opposite him We're the cabins.
and, as he looked up at them, the air
began to clear The SNOW fell only in
scattered flakes, and the clouds showed
signs of breaking away Before him
however, the way looked even more
hopeless than when it had been con-
cealed by the falling storm. Behind.
a few ragged, fading tracks showed
where man and horse had struggled
on in the drift.
Suddenly a low and far-off moan
broke on the utter stiffness of the air.
Mont, scared and half delirious with
excitement and fatigue, looked up
toward the southern wall Of the defile.
The mOuntain-t0p seemed to be IN
lOOsed and falling over into the valley.
The whole side Of the ridge appeared
broken off, and as it glided swiftly
down, Mont noted, with fascinated
minuteness of observation, that a
broad brown furTOW showed behind it
where the earth was laid bare. Down
rushed the mighty avalanche. The
whole defile seemed to shut up like the
covers of book. In a twinkling the
three poor little cabins We're wiped out
as with wet sponge. The pallid mass
swept on with roar, its huge arms
flying up toward the skies. It was not
SO much wall of snow as q resistless
torrent, broad and deep. The young
man stood still, his heart ceased to
beat; yet he stood and gazed, unable to
fee, as the avalanche Numbered down
from bench to bench, struck the bot
tom OF the canon, and spread out in
confused mass of whitenesS. In an
instant horse and man vanished IN a
waste of snow. The narrow valley
was filed, and only here and there,
where an uprooted tree or fragment
of q wrecked cabin showed above the
surface, was there anything to break
the utter deSolatiOn.
TO be perfectly comfortable, man
should do nothing between meals.