The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1880-12-02
A SnOwshOe Journey Along the Sierras.
Near the end of March 1 resolved to


County, was fifty-six miles distant. That
was my goal. Thirty miles of the way
lay over deep snow, and was to be trav-
eled over on snowshoes. The Norwe-
gian snowshoe is long wooden skate
or runner, turned up at the forward end.
creased on the lower side, with a strap
in the middle to hold the foot. The In
dian snowshoe is fat network, fast
| ened to frame, in shape something
like an enlarged battledoor. The prin-
cipal use of the pole, carried in the
hands with the Norwegian shoe, is to
serve as q brake and helm while going
down hill. Some put it under the arm
and others straddle it while making a
descent. The arm position is the most
dignified. The legs must be kept
straddled at ridiculous distance apart,
and the first few days practice seems
to split person nearly 10 TIVE. If you
tumble down on a side hill it is almost
impossible 10 get up again, and the I'M
fortunate must remain in recumbent
position very much like that assumed
by the heather when they 90 down on
all tours before their god, until some one
unstraps his shoes. preferred the Nor
wegian shoe, and these | determined to
use on my contemplated journey. A
pack was lashed to my back. 1t held q
blanket, some meat, bread, coffee, su-
gar, one fox skin and my worldly ward
robe. The morning light had not
dawned whenI started Itwas intensely
cold. Eureka Valley soon disappeared
behind me. never saw it again and
probably never shall. But its picture
is indelibly craven on my memory. 1t
was my calculation to get to Hulse's
empty log house, twelve miles distant.
and camp there that night; but nv prog
ress was very slow. The road for miles
ran along steep mountain-side. 1t was
buried many feet in the snow. 1t was
all sheet of snow inclined at an angle
most difficult to travel. In places acres
of snow had slipped in body from
above, covering the ordinary level five or
six feet in depth. These accumulations,
while coming down, would have brushed
human being away with the facility
with which a cart-load of sand dumped
on your cellar-door would overwhelm a
fly. l saw whole groves of pine whose
trunks had been cut off by these slips
ten or twelve feet from the roots. |
felt small and Insignificant, and specu-
lated whether, after all, l was of any
more Importance than a fly or any
other bug in the sum total of things
generally. l thought of how much more
Importance man was in the newspaper
Office than in the solitude of these
mountains. Then the sun hurried
toward the west and the cold blue and
brassy tints of the winters eye merged
together. The route along the % River
Hilr' side became sleeper and sleeper,
the snow more hummucky from success
sive slides and the way more disorgan-
lied. 1t was very slippery. The snow
had an ice finish on the surface like q
hard coating of enamel. | took off the
snowshoes and bore them and the
balancing on my shoulders, picking
my way laboriously, step by step. Below
me extended a very long, smooth steep
slide like white mansard roof several
hundred feet in height. Finally | was
obliged to stamp an indentatiOn in the
enameled surface at every step, with
my heels, to secure footing. The
slippery and regularly graded descent
below broke off occasionally into preci-
pices fifty or sixty feet in height. A
person slipping here would, of course,
accomplish portions of the descent on
mere empty air. The trouble was not
so much in getting through the air as in
bringing up after going through. A
fall never hurts anybody. It's the sud
den stoppage when you're through. l
expected momentarily to slip. The sun
was rapidly going down and
felt tendency to follow
suit. At the point where 1
did slip the view was magnificent.
Over full thirty miles of peak
and pine the setting sun was shedding.
l saw these peaks disappear like flash.
The grand curtain of Nature was not
rung down at the call of night. 1t was
who fell before the curtain. | went
down perhaps three hundred feet of the
incline, generally in a sitting position.
My long Norwegian snow-shOes, jerked
from my grasp, sailed down ahead of
me, one diverging 4 little to the right.
the other to the left, and the balancing
pole scooting straight ahead. All of US
went together with a beautiful UNI
formity and regularity of formation.
The whole descent of three hundred
feet did not occupy more than six sec
onds, yet in that brief space of time my
mind appeared to photograph on itself
at least dozen phases of the situation
and as many past memories and future
possibilities. | saw the stumps seeming
to rush past me uphill, while was real
ly rushing past them downhill, and the
reflection came to me that if l collided
with even one of them the result would
be worse for me than the stump. This
did not comfort me. As each successive
stump hurried up the mountain l said,
by the unspoken operation of thought,
There goes another stump. A miss is
as good as mile | may bring up in
one piece yet, though, if 60 off one of
these precipices, / may make my last
appearance on any stage in several
pieces" l remember, also, the sensa-
ton caused by the seat of my outside
pantaloons tearing out through the ex-
cessive friction. l had on two pairs of
pantaloons when started. thought,
also, during all these risks and light
ning-like escapades of my fsr-away
Eastern home, of the girls had left be-
hind years before, of the dear old cool
stone door-steps on the sycamore-em-
powered Main street of our village, on
which the girls used to sit on warm
summer and Sunday nights. Yes, in
this inappreciable space of time and I'M
der such extraordinary conditions, l
thought of this, and even wondered if
the other fellow sat there now with his
arm hidden in the darkness of the hall,
where they kept no lamp in summer for
fear of drawing mosquitoes, trying to