St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1883-02-10
Experience in. q Sand Storm.

The Southern Overland train. which should
have reached San Francisco the afternoon of.
January only arrived at $3.50 tie right of the
"a, having been delayed at SumHer by terrific
sand-storm that ragged through the MojavG
desert and spread out :over portion of the
surrounding country. The storm began in the
early morning. and when the train reached
Sumner, in Kern County. had become a reg,l-
lar simeon. The wind swept across the sandy
wastes with such violence that the train
swayed and rocked under the ierceness of the,
blasts and seemed ready to plunge from the
track. The moon had become overcast in the
early part of the night, and the journey was
continued in darkness that rapidly increased
until the day began lin Stygian gloom. The
passengers, who had been aro,tsed from their
sleep by the fierce assaults of the wind and the
dashing of the sand against the;Windows of the
train, looked anxiousay for the appearance of
the sun, but no geaG of light relieved the for
bidding darkness of the east. Night MAIN
tanned her sway, and the blackness OF the
heavens grew intense with the morning, until
the strong headlight of the locomotive almost
failed to pierce it. The small portion of tho
desert which was exposed BY the engines
lights only served to discourage the travellers
The track was lost under the pillows Of sand
that were being toss ID across the rails by tho
angry storm. The desert moved like sea,
and when the waves Of sand stuck the shiver-
ing sides of the train they scattered like spray
and filled the air with dust which made free
breathing impossible .a,8
The travellers fears of being stopped by q
sand-drift were soon realized. + After leaving
Summer,which is 3l4 miles frorp San Francisco,
the train moved cautiously for ten miles
through the shifting waste arsl then stopped
with crash. The alarmed passengers hardly
dared to face the driving storm to learn the
persons who vent,ired intos the binding
simeon found that their sexpress train
had run into a freight TRAIN which had
/ SLOW rate at which the express was moving
enabled the engineer TO stop the train
in time to prevent a serious accident. and
1 connective from the track. The passenger-cars
remained on the rails. 1t was then ten o'clock.
SO slowly had the express proceeded through
\ the binding storm after leaving Summer, The
darkness of the night had only Increased, and
nothing was visible excerpt within the focus of
the TRAINS lights. For five weary hours the
detached train while relief was pc ng obtained
from Sumner. Assistance having arrived,
the track was cleared of saftd sufficiently
to enable q relief engine to pull the
express back to Sumner, where the pas
sengers found slim accommodation until
the storm blew over. Toward Hvea o'clock in
the afternoon the darkness began to disap-
pear but the simeon maintained its yigor UNI
til nightfall. In the morning the unfortunate
passengers proceeded on their Journey, the re-
mander OF which was made ;without sensa-
tional incident, as gangs OF Chisese had been
at work all ght and had cleared the track OF
the accumulated sand4drift. AtTulare the ex-
abrtook the belated and weataer-beaten ex-
press, having passed with slight discomfort
through the tail of the simeon. The breaking
of a piston-rod delayed the first express still
further at Lathrop, and the two trains came
simultaneously to Oakland wharf, the first
over thirty hours behind time and the second
CIV de-
unpleasantness of their adventure and laughed
over it.-San Francisco E.Tdnli,,sr. systf q a+es