The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1883-01-24
A TRAIN In a SANDSTONE.
San Francisco Examiner

The Southern overland train which
/ should have reached this city on Monday
! afterno on, only arrived at $40 last night,
/ having been delayed at Sumner by terrific
| sand storm that ragged through the Melavo
| 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 be-
come q regular simeon. The wind swept
| across the sandy wastes with such violence
| that the train swayed and rocked
under the violence of the blasts. and seem
ed 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 in
creased until the day began in stygian
gloom. The passengers, who had been
aroused from their sleep by the fierce
ass ults OF the wind and the dashing of
the sand against the windows of the train,
looked anxiously for the appearance OF the
sun. but no CLEAN of light relieved the
forbidding aarkness of the east. Night
maintained her sway. and the blackness of
the heavens grew intense with the morn
ing until the strong head light of the
locomotive almost failed to pierce it. The
small portion of the desert which was ex-
posed by the engines lights only served to
discourage the travellers. The track was
lost under the pillows of sand that
were being tossed across the rails by the
angry storm. The desert moved like
sea, and when the waves of sand struck
the shivering sides of the train they
scattered like spray and filled the air
with a dust which made free breathing i'm
possible
The travellers fears of being stopped by
a sand drift were realized. After leaving
Sumner, which is 314 miles from San Fran
cisco, the train moved cautiously for ten
miles through the shifting waste, and then
stopped with crash. The alarmed passen
gers hardly dared to face the driv-
ing storm to learn the cause of the IN
pleasant halt. The few intrepid persons
who ventared into the binding simeon
found that.their express train had run into
freight train which had stopped in an
impossible sand drift. The slow rate at
which the express was moving enabled the
engineer to stop the train in time to pre-
vent serious accident, and the collision
was only sufficient to cast the locomotive
from ae track. The passenger. cars re-
manned on the rails 1t was 10 o'clock, so
slowly had the express proceeded through
the binding storm after leaving Sumner.
The darkness of the night had only in
creased and nothing was visible except
within the focus of the trains lights. For
five weary hours the passengers were
compelled to remain on the detached train
while relief was being obtained from Sum-
ner. Assistance having arrived, the track
was cleared of sand sufficiently to enable a
relief engine to pull the express back TO
Sumner where the passengers found slim
until the storm blew over
Toward 5 o'clock in the afternoon the
darkness began To disappear, but the ST
noon maintained its vigor until nightfall. |
Yesterday morning the unfortunate passen- |
gers proceeded on their journey, the re |
mainder of which was made without sen
sational incident, as gangs of Cinnamon
had been at work all night, and had cleared |
the track of the unfortunate sand drift.