The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1880-12-16
A Snowshoe Journey Along the Sierras,

n eho"shOe tourney Along the SierraS,
Near the end of March I resolved tf
leave Eureka Valley. Sonora, Tuolumnt
County, was fifty-six miles distant. Tha1
was my goal. Thirty miles of the way
lay over deep snow, and was to be tray
eied over on snowshoes. The Norwe
glan snowshoe is long wooden skate
or runner, turned up at the forward end
creased on the lower side, with strar
III the middle to hold the foot. The In.
dian snowshoe is fiat network, fast
ened to frame, in shape something
IKE an enlarged battledoor. The prin.
clpal use of the pole, carried in the
hands with the Norwegian shoe, is te
serve as brake and helm while poino
down hill. Some put it under the arm
and others straddle it while MAKING 2
descent. The arm position is the most
dignitied. The legs smust be kept
straddled at a ridiculous distance apart.
and the first few days practice seems
10 split person nearly in two. If YOU
tumble down on side hill it is almost
impossible to get up again, and the an
fortunate must remain in a recumbent
position very much like that assumed
by the heathen when they go down ON
all fours before their god, until some one
unstraps his shoes. | preferred the Nor
Weg13nT shoe, and these determined to
use on my contemplated journey. A
pack was lashed to my back. 1t held a
blanket, some meat, bread, coffee, SUI
gar, one fox skin and my worldly ward
robe. The morning light had not
dawned when started. Itwas intensely
cold. Eureka Valley soon disappeared
behind me. never saw it again and
| probably never shall. But its picture
IS indeliblv 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 my prog
lress was very slow, The road for miles
ran along steep mountains It was
buried many feet. in the snow. It was
all a sheet of snow inclined at an angle
most difficult to travel. In places acres
OF snow had slipped in a 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 oyerwhelm a
fly. l saw whole groves Of pine whose
trunks had been cut off by these slips
ten or twelve feet from the roots. L
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 9. River
Hill' side became sleeper and sleeper,
the snow more hummucky from success
sive slides and the way more disorgan
Ized. 1t was very slippery. The snow
had an ice finish on the surface like
hard coating of enamel. i took off the
snowshoes and bore them and the
balanclng-pole on my shoulders, picking
my way 1aboriously, step by step. Below
me extended very long, smooth steep
slide like white mansard roof several
hundred feetin height. Finally / was
obhged % 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
l felt tendency to follow
suit. At the point where Il
did slip the view was magnificent.
Over full thirty miles of peak
and pine the setting sun was shedding.
| saw these peaks disappear like flash. |
The grand curtain of Nature was not
rung down at the call of night. 1t was
l who fell before the curtain. 1 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 diverginga a 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
LOrmty anu 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 a dozen phases Of the situation
and as many past memories and future
possibilities. I saw the stumps seeming
to rush past me uphill, while 1 was real
" rushing past them downhill, and the |
reflection came to me that If I 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 I 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 I 60 off one Of
these precipices, | may make my last
appearance on any stage in several
pieces. remember, also, the sensa-
tion caused by the seat of my outside
pantaloons tearing out through the ex-
cessive friction. I had on two pairs of
pantaloons when started thought,
also, during all these risks and light
ningg-like escapades of my far-away