News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1885-04-02

OLD JOHN FURBUSH'S ADVENTURE
SNOW-CHOKED UTAH CANON.
Chbin that Was Built to Shed Of Ava.
lanches. and that only Partially Disap-
pointed the Expectations of It's Occu.
pants.

Cabin that Was Built to Shed OFF Ava-
lanches. and that only Partially Disap-
pointed the Expectations of It's Occu-
pants.
BIG CoTToNwooD, Utah.-When the
earth begins to tremble in this vicinity
the few people scattered around know
that it is not an earthquake or dynamite;
1t is only the snow moving down the
canons In two or three hundred ton
blocks at the rate of about four miles a
minute. Until within the last few days
there have been very few slides this
winter, though the snow has been pretty
heavy. One reason is that there have
been only few warm days, and another
is that not many men have been moving
around in the canons. The sad expert
ence of last winter, when several men
who insisted on remaining in their cab
ms lost their lives, caused the settlers
| to be little careful this year, but good
many of them are still tempting their
fate.
About four miles up the big Canon
John Furbush and two companions
have been living i'll cabin built
| especially to shed off avalanches. The
boys dug hole in the earth and made a
sort of shelf, on which they built the
hut. Furbush calculated that when the
slide came it would jump the house and
leave it and It's inmates all safe. His
faith in the scheme was great. He had
induced a civil engineer to go up and
take the angles for him, and he put
much confidence in the remark of that
learned man that IT the avalanche did not
sag in the middle, the house would prob
ably stand. The building was stoutly
made, the uprights being of hewn tim
Der, and the roof, which slanted down
the canon and cam at its highest point
up even with the rocks and earth
above, was as smooth as John could
make it. He thou ghtt that when the
snow came 1t would glide right over the
roof as if it were sheet iron.
SIT will roll off tn at ere roof" said
John, ''as slick as shot off a shovel"
Not until about ten days ago did any
thing occur to alarm tl1e jewellers in the
cabin. The SHOWS had been accumulat-
ing rapidly, but as the weather remained
cold they manifested no disposition to
slip down. When the sun came out
warm the other day John looked anx-
iously up the canyon. There was not
less than a thousand tons of snow above
him, as near as he could figure it, and
he calculated that a good share of it
would be down his way before long. He
scraped the roof and got everything in
ship shape. While he and his men were
eating dinner a couple of days later a
tremendous rossr, crash, and rumble
were heard, and all three involuntarily
rose to their feet almost speechless.
"Hang on Tor dear life, bows I''
gasped Furbush, ''she's a-comin'. -
IT WIS a false alarm. After waiting
several minutes they stole out cautiously
and found that the slide had been on
the other 81, lie of the canyon, and that
it had ploweti hole in the earth ten
feet deep. ril Ying up great trees and
changing the EEtslre contiguraton of the
esrtb's surface. When the men had ex-
amined the desc iIsEte scene a few min
Mes in silence. Furbush said he was
afraid a slip of tn, Vt kind might be a lit
tie too much for / US scheme, but still
he had a good deal of confidence in it.
After that Furbusl became very anx-
ious to have a slide. and he even pro-
posed once that they tart one, but his
companions reminded I'M that the man
who went up the cane VI to start one
would have to be mighty quick to beat
it down. In the course of three or four
DAYS following there were tremendous
avaIanches all around, destro, wing cabins,
mine property, and other thi. ogs in their
path. Nothing escaped thel a. When
these facts became known to Furbush
he was considerably alarmed, and his
friends advised him to abandon his hut,
for his time was bound to com g. His
companions left him, but he was too
stubborn to yield, though he man Tested
much less anxiety for a slide tn; IN he
had previously shown. When the boys
lett him he said:
'Step kinder high, now, and don't
jostle things any. There amt 40 use
bringing on a slip for the fun. Of the
thing"
The boys got ont of the way SIS soon
as possible, and were just congrat szlatlng
themselves as well as laughing Or Ter the
change in Furbush's attitude wht N the
earth trembied, and frightfu. roar
burst on their ears.
''She's coming now !" one of them ex-
claimed, and from where they ste cd
they could see the whole Performance g.
It was a grand and awful scene. TIL g
mountain itself appeared to col apse and
dissolve. Objects generally regarded as
substantial, the mighty boulders and
rock-rooted trees apparently assumed
liquid form, and, mingling with the
SHOWS, appeared like a majestic river in
full sweep, its waves dashing high in the
air. The sound was as of a tempest,
and the very earth trembled. Neither
of the men spoke until the mischief had
all been done, and then one of them
managed to lind voice to say:
''That was old Johns slide and no
mistake. Let's so and see how he
weathered it"
They retraced their steps far enough
to convince themselves that the cabin
had disappeared. The whole scene had
changed. Where the shelf had been
built with such care, nothing was now
to be seen but q gouged out place that
looked as though logs had been shunted |
there for ages. Satisfied that Furbush |
was baried at the bottom of the canyon,
the men made their way down as hastily |
as possible, and to their surprise found |
the cabin only about half covered by the |
snow. 1t had hung together in marvel |
lous fashion, and the question now was |
whether the old man inside was dead or
alive.
Digging the snow and earth away |
with such improvised implements as
they could find, they soon came to the
door and dug their way in. The cabin
was about half full of snow and dirt, and
over in one corner they found Furbush |
just returning to consciousness from
the effects of severe Commissions. At first
he paid little attention to his rescuers,
who feared that the old fellow was fatal
ly hurt, but at last when they got him
out he laughed rather solemnly and
said:
1.-The thing sagged. inst as T allus
feared it would. Step softly, or you'll
start another one.
They carried him 10 neighboring
cabin, and after a day and night of
careful nursing No came around IN good
shape.