The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1880-01-15
Snow Two Hundred Feet Deep.

Lie IOllOW1ng rPmarKaDle dccOuHl,
from the London Times, of enormous
snowfalls in Northwestern India, shows
what world of vapor is carried inland
on the monsoons from the Indian ocean
to strike against the loftiest mountain
chain in the world, and be precipitated
in such snow and rains as occur on the
foothills of the Himalayas. About the
sources of some of the great rivers of
India occur the heaviest rains ever
known; and further east, in Cashmere,
it seems the SHOWS are sometimes ter
rife.
Some interesting details of this extra
ordinary snowfall in Cashmere in 1878
are given in paper in the Just issued
number of the journal" of the Asiatic
Society of Bengal, by Mr.. Lydekker.
Early in the month of October, 1877,
snow commenced to fall in the valley
and mountains of Cashmere, and from
that time up to May, 1878, there seemed
to have been an almost incessant snow
fall in the higher mountains and valleys
indeed, in places, it frequently showed
without intermission for upward of ten
days at a time. At Dras, which has an
an elevation of 10, 600 feet, Mr.. Lydekker
estimated the snowfall, from the native
account, as having been from thirty to
lOIby IttU UlllCh. lie bllpClS Ol tlllS enOT-
nous snowfall were to be seen through
butt travellers bungalow, which has
stood somo thirty years, was entirely
crushed down by the weight of snow
which fell upon it. In almost every vii
lage of the neighboring mountains more
or less of the log houses had fallen, while
at Gulmarg and Sonomarg, where no at
| tempt was made to remove the snow,
almost all the huts of the European WIS.,
itors were utterly broken down by it.
| In the higher mountains whole hillsides
have been denuded ofvegetation and sol
by the enormous avalanches which
swept down them, leaving vast gaps in
the principal forests, and closing the val.
leys below with the debris of rocks and
trees.
As an instance of the amount of snow
which must have fallen in the higher
| levels, Mr.. Lydekker mentions the Zog
pass, leading from Cashmere to Dras
which has an elevation of 300 feet
He crossed this early in August last
year, and then found that the whole o.
the ravine leading up to the pass from
the Cashmere side was still filled witt
snow, which he estimated in places tc
be at least $50 feet thick. In ordinary
StitSOHS tIlls IO'tu Ill tllt LOSl pass Is ClCil
from snow some time during the mon i
of June. AS another Instance of the
great snowfall Mr.. Lydekker takes the
valley leading from the town of Dras w
to the pass separating that place iron
the valley of the Kishengunga river
About the middle of August almost tn,
whole of the aforementioned valley. "a
an elevation of $4,000 feet, was com
pletely choked with snow, which il
places was at least 200 feet deep. In tn,
same district all passes over $4,000 fee
were still deep in snow ut the same sea
son of the year.
Mr.. Lydckker gives other instances o
snow in places in September where NJ
snow had ever before been observed
after June. AS to the destruction O
animal life in the Upper Wardwan val
ley large numbers of ibeX were seen i'm
brdded in snow; in one place upwar,
of sixty heads were counted, and il
another not less than one hundred wer
c0Nnted. The most convincing proofs
however, of the havoc caused amonj
the wild animals by the great snowfall i
the fact that scarcely any ibeX were seel
during last summer in those portions @
the Wardwan and Tilail valleys whicl
are ordinarily considered as sure finds
So, ais, the red bear and the marmo
were far less numerous than usual. MI
Lydekker estimates that the destruction
to animal life caused by snow he's ia
exceeded any slaughter which could b
inflicted by sportsmen during a perio
of at least five or six years.