Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1885-02-01

H!Rh 60 Of lie side ot 1ise eGm moan
tain L ala4ge rock which stands OUT 10
nold reEeG. is top IS not leeel bat has 40
incline down the mountain. Twenty men
could End Standing room on the crest Of
that stone.
Above fifty feet or more-with not
even . bush Intervening. isa smaller rodk,
and Just in line. On the crest Of this rock
q man could scarcely find room for hia feet
From the base OF the larger rock to the
trail winding up the valley in q distance Of
threequaEters Of a mile, and the ground is
covered with rocks. small pines and scraggy
brushes.
So II was in S~edtember. As we look up
! the mountain side on this April day it seems
| ike a great bank Of Whitest chalk. Pines
| ten feet high are hiddsn under the snow,
and the ugly rocks are buried many feet
deep.
The upper and smsller rocks are wearing
huge hats Of snow-a cone rising FIVE or six
| feet high. On the lower and larger one the
snow OF 200 days have fallea and packed
until the weight mounts to tons
In the valley the snow is soft aud slushy,
| aud here and there the blades OF grass
struggling for life among the rocks are be-
ing warmed into vigor by the sun.
"Now, watch 0ne-three-fve-seveR
men are ascending the trail, having three
pack mules with them. One would think the
warm sun must put them in good humor,
bat it is not so. They look up the noun
tain-side with fear expressed in their faces,
and even the beasts of burden show ~ their
actions that they labored under mental anxi-
ETY..
Indians No! A mountain thunder.
storm? MOI Tho dreaded cyclone? No!
When the leader of the band is almost
opposite the two rock which have been de-
scribed he halts and surveys them, and it Is
scarcsly IN an instant before has thrown
up his hand to those behiud. They rightly
interpret it to mean:
"Sohly-softly, for your lives! The ava
lanche has prepared its trap for Us, and a
word nsy seal our fatel"
1t is too late to retreat. IT the avalanche
starts this will be its center, and iss wings
viii be a mile long.
Softly softly! The men step as if walk
ing upon thin ice.
Now cast your eyes up the mountain-to
the upper rocks. The sun has been beating
down upon the snow for hours, and water ap-
pears at the base Of the cone. The south
side of It has been undermined. At noon
1t was leaning towards the valley. AT l
o'clock the touch of a buzzards wing would
have toppled it over. AS we look q bird no
lrager than q bluejay, weary in its flight, or
thirsting for voter, alights on the cone with
a shrill chrp.
Puff! 1t topples over, and the mass falls
heavily IDOL the lower rock. The sun has
been at work here as we'll, and the bulky
mass of snow is ready to nov
Puff! puff! The air is filed with the
white powder as the mass leeps of the rock,
but the sight is plotted out by what follows.
With such a s-s.s-wish-h-h.h as never met
your ears before-with such a grinding,
c~raunching, tearing as you never imagined,
the tens Of thousands of tons of snow on a
mountain side two miles long breaks loose
and rushes into the valley.
Rocks weighing tons are but marbles to
roll before the white billow. Trees are but
matches to be carried along and ground to
splinters. 1t moves faster-faster-and
now with one awful crash the mass takes
on such motion that the frozen elrth is dug
out in great burrows, and there is no stop
until the pillows meet the mountli opposite,
The valley is still the valley, but it is
higher by many feet. In the June days, as
another party of prospectors come up the
trail, they may find O hoOf-there an arm
here a portion of a pack-there a broken
rihe-here a human body with every bone
broken as if by blows Of a hammer.
The men will stance mp the bare noun.
tain side-from rock to rock-and they will
know the story as well as If one had sur
vived to tell it.