Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1885-03-13

the month and year the work has to
be again sent to chief office at Wash
ington. This last duty takes
some time and great care. Fer amuse-
ment, the men play cards for sulphur
matches instead of money, and various
games, such as checkers, etc. Private
| Cahill often enlivens the house with the
| violin, or frightens the cats by sound
ing the bugle calls. The greatest dis
sipation is to pop corn.
mountain were foggy, but the beauty of
the frostwork fully compensated us for
the loss of the view. This frostwork is
formed by the fog being frozen, and
every object exposed to the weather be-
comes covered with delicate white
feathers from an inch to a foot long.
After long-continued fog and cold these
feathers sometimes grow to enormous
size: The telegraph wires look like
long lines of fringe, only the feathers
point toward the wind. The plain little
signal station has the appearance of a
most beautiful frosted cake. Indeed.
everything iscovered with frostwork,so
that the mountain, even when there is
no snow, is of a dazzling whiteness.
One may sit at home and laugh at
the cold of Mount Washington, or one
may go up and down in a thaw and
still be skeptical, but let such a person
walk along the railroad, with the wind
blowing seventy miles an hour and the
thermometer twenty degrees below
zero, and l think every doubt will be
dispelled. The temperature does not
10 1oxy1r, %l1r1 <1,1~ 80 n,0>n 4kl>o -.
places, but the wind blows with a
greater velocity than at any known
place in the world, and, with a strong
wind, the cold is unbearable. A veloc-
ity of one hundred and eighty miles an
hour has been attained by the wind on
Mount Washington, while at Pixies
Peak, eight thousand feet higher, the
greatest velocity is one hundred miles,
and in Boston forty-five miles is a heavy
gale. OF course the air has less power
as the density decreases, and it has been
estimated that four miles at sea level is
equal to five at a height of six thousand
feet. But even with this reduction the
velocity at Mount Washington is ex-
traordinary. The cold is so intense
that if II overs every part of his
body, leaving only the eyes exposed,
these are soon coated with frost which
closes the lids and often makes it almost
impossible to see. The moisture of the
breath soon freezes under the coverings
of the face, and a frost bite is the con-
sequence.
Such was our experience when we
attempted to descend during the cold
snap of January 2. Not only was the
cold intense, but every few moments
we were forced to stop and hold on to
the track to keep from being blown
away. We turned back, resolving not
to leave the mountain until the temper
allure rose.
The signal men have had various
narrow escapes while carrying the
mails to and from the base. On one
occasion Private Cahill started down
the railroad 0. a sled of his own con-
%struction, none of the regular sledaes
having been left at the summit. He
went as far as the place called Jacobs
Ladder, and there the brakes were
found insufficient to retard a velocity
of almost a mile a minute, and the sled
jumped the track. Cahill was shot off
on to the rocks below, where he rolled
oyer and over, breaking his leg in two
places and cutting his head severely.
Here he lay, almost dead from cold and
loss of blood, until the Sergeant, not
being appraised by telegraph, of his
arrival below, sent the cook down to
see what had happened. Sergeant
Beals had ordered the cook to cut
the wire and signal to him if Cahill
was seriously hurt. The cook did so,
and then spliced the wire. The Ser
geant knowing that a dangerous acct
dent had taken place, telegraphed to
the base and to Fabyan's for assistance.
The trackmen Immediately went up the
railroad with two sledges, and, with
great difficulty, carried the wounded
man to the base, where a wagon was
procured, and he was taken to Fabyan's.
The unfortunate observer had lost his
cap in his fall, And to keep his head
warm the mailbag had been put over
it. This, Of course, covered the
weather-reports III the bag with blood,
but Notwithstanding that, they were
sent on to Washington, where they are
now sad to be kept as evidence Of the
trials which the observers have to un-
dergo.
Private Cahill, who seems to have as
many lives as a cat, recovered and
lived to be struck by lightning last
summer while sitting at his desk in the
signal-station. He saw The wires flash,
and thought that he was to be killed,
but, after Il few seconds, seeing that he
was still of this world, and remember
ing his former experience, he tried to
move. This he could do, and, with
the exception of a slight paralysis in
one side, which lasted a few minutes,
he was unhurt.
But enough of the terrors of Mount
Washington. On the night of January
2 the sky was clear and the moon
nearly full. To one standing ut the
door of the signal-station, a magniti-
cent view presented itself. The mount
ains-Madison, Adams and Jefferson
doomed up in the north. Their white
peaks, respondent in the moonlight,
shone with a brilliancy made greater
by the contrast with the deep black
valleys in front of them. On all sides
were mountains, some sparkling white
with snow and frostwork, others black
with evergreens. The utter desolation