Morning journal and courier., 1885-01-19
A sNOw-RoUND TRAIN.
A Winter Experience i" Oregon

A Winter Experience in Oregon.
 A correspondent of the Portland Cfegoni- a1,1 writing from Cascade Locks on December 26, says:
 Having left Pendleton one and haH hours late on Monday, 16th, we found snow six inches deep, and as we proceeded westward it steadily increased in depth, until about two miles west of Grant station we came to standstill in snow three and q half feet deep. Here the two engines and half of the train proceeded to Cello, leaving the sleeper and passsnger coaches for four hours Fi- nal1y, with difficulty, we reached the Dalles at two o'clock in the evening. The snow was four feet deep, and with the assistance of about twenty shovellers we were two bo,,rs in the street inside the town limits be- fore we could reaoll1 the UmnfIia House Here we remained until apGut ten o'clock, when the train started on. When ] awoke, several times during the night, the tfal, was in motion; but when daylight came l looked out of the window and found that we were standing in front of the Cosmo- politan Hotel, not the length of the tram from where we were when going to bed. learned we had been five miles down and back again to the Dalles.
 Wednesday morning sbsut ten o'clock the regular train came in from the East and Con ductor Lyon made up his train, consisting or two engines, baggage, express and mall cafs with two slsepers and two passenger cale: taking all the passengers, baggage, etc, Of both trains. It continued to snow and blow all the time. We ran out on to the trestle where we remained all day. We backed up to the Umatilla House for supper, where We remained all night, and Thursday morning about ten o'clock we received B dispatch from Mosier that the snow plough Which had preceded us had arrived there. We then started and without difficulty made Mosler, fifteen miles from the Dalles. There we waited until the snow plough reached Hood river, when we followed them and waited again until we received dispatch that the snow plough had arrived at Wyeth. We then made another start, and when within four miles of Wyeth snowslide suddenly came down, completely burying both engines and partially covering the express and mall cars, rendering the train entirely helpless
 It had continued showing and blowing in cessantly, and the storm at this time was ht- tie better than hurricane. The snoWsHde occurred about two o'clock Thursday Con ductor Lyon (the prince of conductors) took a hasty view of the situation, and was con vinced that we could not move from here un- til the storm abated. He then started Cn foot through binding snow and wind storm for Wyeth telegraph station four miles distant, where ne SStih a uiSpdICA IO i1SON River for provisions to be sent to the train and here let me say that, whatever complaint may be made about neglect or incompetency of management, none can accuse Conductor Lyon, or the conductors and porters of the two sleepers, or in fact any of the employees of this train, of any inattentlon to the wants of the passengers, for everything was cheef- fully done and every want attended to With out murmur or complaint. Every passen ger will join with me in according just praise to Conductor Lyon, well as to all en- ployes of the train, ill exertlnS themselves to their utmost ability to make everyone as comfortable the circumstances of the case would admit. ~
 Next day Rand-sled arrived from Hood River with such supplies could be trans ported under such circumstances. We con tinued to receive supplies from Hood River and Cascade Locks, where thirty men under government employ volunteered to pack III provisions, facing cutting wind and binding snow for eleven miles. Some of the party gave out on the way, and had to be assisted in, and some were considerably frosted. They arrived at the train about dark and were pit fable looking objects indeed. Up to this time all had been furnished with sufficient food to allay any great hunger or 1nconven- fence of any of the passengers, and none felt like making complaint, but submitted grace fully to the condition of affairs and seemed
 
 card-playing and visiting from car to car to while away the time.
 For four days we remained here, the storm raging all the time without and each day seeming worse than the preceding one. It was Monday night, after the supplies had ar rived from Cascade Locks, that Conductor Lyon made his appearance in our car and with much feeling announced that he had come to bid us goodbye, and that on to nor TOW morning he would expect every able bodied man to leave the train, as 1t was use less to try to feed all here longer. Then might have been seen groups of anxious pas sengers earnestly consulting as to the best course to pursue, and each one summing up the probabilities of his being physically able to stand the trip of eleven miles to the Cas- cade Locks over snow drifts and through q terrible wind and snow storm. But on Tues day morning about nine o'clock, after receiv- ing a small sandwich for breakfast, the party commenced stringing out on the trail to the mum Der of about one hundred passengers, leaving behind fifteen women and children and some ten men who were too old or crip- pied to make the trip with safety. All who started, with the exception of four, went through to the Cascades the first day without accident except few frosted and fin gers Four only failed by the way from rheumatism or exhaustion, and were left at farm houses to rest up, and finally came Ill next day.
 At the Cascade Locks all were kindly re- ceived and furnished with comfortable lodg- ings in hotels and at the government quar- ters Here we spent a pleasant Christmas, and were invited to turkey din1ey at our kind hosts, George Gardner's, and the younger portion of the party joined ill a 1aDca Christmas night.