Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1882-01-05
Storm at the Signal Station, Mt.
Washington.

Noticing that the sides Of the summit
were strewed with boards, beams, and
ds6rts ofall sorts, my guide explained
that what i saw was the result of the
great January gale which had demol-
ished the large shed used as an engine
house, scattering the loose fragments far
and wide. begged him to give me his
recollection OF it. s.u3.g. A
During the forenoon preceding the
gale We observed nothing very unusual;
but the clouds kept sinking and sinking
until the summit was quite above them.
Late in.the afternoen my comrades, Ser
Sergeant M, came to where was
lying abed sick, and said eThere is 60
ing to be the devil to pay, SO guess TIL
make everything snug. '.sl q. Il ft
i'hBy nine in the evening the wind had
increased to one hundred miles an hour,
with heavy sleet. At midnight the We
locity Of the storm was one hundred and
twenty miles, and the. xpnsed thelInoml-
eter recorded twenty degrees below zero.
With. the stove red, we could hardly get
1t above freezing inside the house. Water
frozewithifi three feet the fire LIN fact
wlere you are now sitting. 81 ;.ars q: III.
LAT this time the noise outside was
deafening. About one O'Clock the wind
rose 10 ons hundred and Fifty miles. II
was now blowing hurricane. The wind
gathering up all the loose ice OF the,
mountains dashedit against the house
with one. continued roar. Il lay wonder
ing how long" the building woi1d stand
I TINS when all at once ueafne a crash
NJ -1shonted to me to getllp, bht1g had
t1mhled ont in a hurry ON hearing the
glass gDgs You see, Il was dressed, to-
keepsniyEelf warnlia bed ]. e 33a.c .is,1
5,tOmr limited efforts were hardly equal
tNclosihgth the storm shutters from the in.
side, but We finally succeeded, though
the light went feut when the the wlAd
came In andswe worked in the dark. :" III
He roseto show me- how the shutters.
OF thick oak, we're first secured by aH
iron bar, and secondly bystrong wooden
buttons firmly screwed in the window
tYYWe had scarcely done this, Z resumed
Doyle, ''and were shivering !; over the
fire, when q heavy grist.of wind again
| burst open the shutters, as easily as if
they had never been fastened at all. We
! spIang totour feet. After a hard tussle
we again; secured the windows, by nail
ing. cleat to the floor, against which one.
end Of a board was fixed, using the other
end, as a. lever, You nndertand. ~. !
nodded. ,"WelI, even then,it was all we
could do 10 force the shutters back into,
elaG s FL RApts we did II We lad 70
2.The rest Of the hight was 6s passed ii
moment fy pectafi ion that the building
would be blown into Tuckermatl's,. ana
we With It. At four o clock IN the morn
ing the wind registered one hundred aud
eighty-sn miles II had shifted then
from east to- 5rtlioast. { From this time
I. itesteadi1y III to ten miles. at nina
O'Clock. This was the biggest blow ever
experienced on ths mountain 2 psaiH
"Suppose the house had gone, and the
hotel stood fast, could you lave effected
an entrance into the hotel ~ asked 81
I'VE could not have faced the gale n
-1cSot for q hundred feet +? not in aniat
ter of lite and death'g'' ~iGsta53oggni =
2"Ifnpossible.: The wind would have
lifted t1s from our feet like bags of wbolg
We would have been dashed against the
rocks and1stsashed like egg Shells was
the quiet repivl1 LEhtE 1s5d1 Tet YbHf
2 ''knd so kTsome hours you expected
(. 10 be swept inteueteraity ?'d qG anhs,u1
qHWeo did what we could. 2 Each
wrappetfihinseh In bianketssand quilts,
binding thesedtightly around him With
ropes, to which were sttachcd bars OF
: iron. soithae il the bouzs went by the
board We might stand a ohance-+a sErr
] one--of snchoring somewhere, some.
! how" .39iaiyt
Somewhere. indeed u Iei84z ST
When. on the following morning II
: busted myself getting ready TO go down
the mountain, I heard q profound sigh,
followed by some half audible words,
pFeneeding from the adjoining room.
These words rang in ms, cars all that
day: .fiai1,ian r,sv sl4aa s
''Ah, this terrible solitatlerE a.
Drake, in Hasper's Magazine. q .ea,