Daily Los Angeles herald., 1883-01-05
4 sIMooN.
Day Turned Into the Darkness OF
Night and the Desert Asitatcd
Like the Ocean.

We clip the following graphic descrip.
ton Of the recent sand storm on the
Mojave desert from the San Francisco
Examiner of the Sd inst:
The southern overland train which
should have reached this city on Mon
day afternoon only arrived at $40 last
night, having been delayed at Sumner
by terrific sandstorm that ragged
through the Mojave 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
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 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 q darkness that rapidly in.
creased until the day began in Stygian
gloom. The passengers, who had been
aroused from their sleep by the fierce
assaults Of the wind and the dashing Of
the sand against the windows Of the
train, looked anxiously for the appear
ance of the sun, but
NO CLEAN OF LIGHT
Relieved the fcrbidding darkness of the
east. Night maintained her sway, and
the blackness Of the heavens grew in
tense with the morning, until the strong
headlight of the locomotive almost failed
to pierce it. The small portion of the
desert which was exposed by the en-
gine's lights only served to discourage
the travellers. The track was lost under
the pillows of sand that were being
storm. The desert moved like q sea,
and when the waves of sand struck the
shivering sides Of the train, they scat.
tered like spray and filled the air with a
dust which made free breathing impossi-
Bile. The travellers fears Of being
stopped by a.sanddrift were soon realized.
After leaving Sumner, which is 3l4
miles from San Francisco, the train
moved cautiously for ten miles through
the shifting waste and then stopped
with a crash.
THE ALARMED PASSENGERS
Hardly dared to face the driving storm
to learn the cause of the unpleasant
halt. The few intrepid persons who
ventured into the binding simeon found
that their express train had run into O
freight train which had stopped in an
sanddrift. The slow rate at
Which the express was moving enabled
the engineer to stop the train in time to
prevent serious accident, and the col
lision was only sufficient to cast the To-
comotive from the track. The pas
senger GERS remained on the rails. II
was then 10 O'Clock. so SLOWLY had
the express proceeded through the
storm after leaving Sumner.
The darkness Of the night had only
increased and nothing was visible except
within the focus of the trains lights.
For five weary hours the passengers
were compelled to remain on the de-
tached train while relief was being OBJ.
tanned from Sumner. Assistance hav-
ing arrived the track was cleared Of
,and sufficiently to enable a relief en-.
CINE to pull the express back to Sumner,
where the passengers found
SLIM ACCOMMODATION
Until the storm blew over. Toward 5
o'clock in the afternoon the darkness
began to disappear. but the simeon main.
tained its vigor until nightfail. Yester-
lay morning the unfortunate passengers
proceeded on their journey. the remain.
Ter of which was made without sensa-
tional incident, as gangs of Chinese had
been at work oil night and cleared the
track Of the accumulated sanddrift.
At Tulare the express. which was due
1t 2:40 P. NJ. Yesterday, overlook the
oelated and weather beaten express,
having passed, with slight discomfort,
through the tail of the simeon. The
breaking Of piston-rod delayed the
irst express still further at Lathrop, and
he two trains came simultaneously to
Oakland wharf, the first over thirty
hours behind time and the second over
,ix. All hands, however, arrived safe,
Ind in the comforts of their hotels soon
forgot the unpleasantness Of their adven-
ture and laughed over it.