Richland beacon. [volume] (Rayville, La.) 1869-1890, 1880-04-17
HALF A MILE A MINUTE.
A Rapid and PerilOus Descent on SnoW
shoes.

A Rapid and Peri.ou. Descent on Snow
The Leadville (Col.) Chronicle gives the
following account OF The perilous Jour
ney of Mr.. F. G. McCandless, who made
the trip from Ute City, in the Roaring
Fork district, to Leadville on snow-shoes,
ninety miles. in tour days and a half:
" The first eighteen miles occupied three
days of hard labor, and brought him to
Independence Camp. Two days out of
this three he wss without food, having
taken but one days supply on starting.
The difficulties in the road were appal-
ling. Heavy, wet SHOWS had laden the
trees in the canon and soaked them full
of water. Cold weather frore them solid,
and strong winds cracked them OH their
stumps like so many matches. This
caused the narrow gulch to be COM
pleteiy filled with q dense brush or
thicke! of their snOw-laden branches.
The high, perpendicular, and heavily
timbered walls oi the canon forbade any
attempt to scale them and tC PISS this
81! but insurmountable obstruction Nc
Cand!ess saw that he must cut his way
through or return. He chose the former
course A light GEO axe" was his
| only tool, ana was almost useless from
the fact that the wood was almost equal
to rock in hardness. lie had calculated
on making Independent Camp the first
night. His provisions were gone, and
there was nothing to do but toll on, or
lie down and die. nj lt came on, dark
| and cold. No wolves hOwled to keep
him company, nor was the roar of the
mountain lion heard. Nothing broke
the dea.h.iike silence sa' the sharp
thud Of his little axe, as he cut his way,
inch by inch. and loot by foot, through
the gloomy detie. so passed the night,
| the day, the second day, and late in the
afternoon, McCandless, hagsard, pale,
starving. and completely worn out,
crawled up to the door of a cabin in In
dependence Camp. He was warmly
welcomed and tenderly cared for, so that
on the next morning he felt like pursu-
ing his way.
After a hearty breakfast he started
again, reaching the foot of the range at
the head of Independent Gulcb st 9:30
o'clock Tuesday morning. Another hour
took him to the summit. He had draw
knife with him, and he stopped to fix
his snOw-shoes. The edges were shaved
down and the pole was sharpened. Then
securing everything about his person
carefully, and bracing himself for the
perilOus descent, he made the start.
| The crust on the snow was like ice, and
neither shoes or pole made any impress
1 z,a, Thio ran1oroI Of
tempt at steering or slowing up useless,
and an idea of the rapidty with which
that descent was made may he had when
We state that it was just 10 clock when
he left the summit, and four miles be-
low, where he passed a cabin, he pulled
Out his watch, and it marked seven
minutes past, showing speed Of over a
mile in two minutes. 1t was while on
this descent. and at the ighest speed
attained, that McCandless passed
through the most imminent peril of the
whole trip. As he drew near to timber
line, a tall and sturdy pine, fully three
feet in diameter, doomed up directly in
his course. His hair stood on end, as
every effort to swerve to one side of it
proved vain until when within a few
/ feet of the tree, the snow had become a
little sOftened by the sun, and slight
grip was taken by the shoes and pole.
/ Expecting instant death, and with the
mentally uttered prayer of Good bye,
Mae the man threw himself over until
his shoulder touched the surface Of the
snow. A sharp zip and the tree was
passed in safety. On down through the
timber flew the slider, and soon the foot
of the range was reached in safety.
From there on he used his legs with such
good effect that the Twin Lakes were
/ reached at ) O'Clock in the afternoon of
Sunday, misunderstanding made thirty
) eight miles that day. Monday morning
( at 1890 he left the lakes, and at 1890
two hours later, he was eating dinner at
the Grand Hotel in this city.
"The snOw-snOes on which the trip
was made are worthy of mention. Nc
Candless hewed them out himself at his
cabin. Their length is thirteen feet nine
inches each, while the guiding pole is
thirteen feet long. McCandless is an
expert in their use, having travelled,
perhaps, thousands of miles upon them.
! In addition to his travels in all the note
worthy mining regions Of America, he
has visited and mined in the gold fields
of Australia, the diamond beds of Africa,
and other notable foreign mining
countries. He unreservedly declares,
however, that his last trip, as detailed
above, is by far the hardest and most
perilous he has ever made. He will re-
turn to Roaring Forks in few days by
the same route and means"