News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1886-03-25

long as he man1tests q willingness 4
brave the terrors of the season. Tn
ayalanches of the last few days havt
been more destructive than any know
in recent years, and mail carriers, a
well as freighters, miners, and prospec
tors, have become SO thoroughly alarm
ed that it is with difficulty that they
can be induced to take the risks o.
travel at ALL Almost all OF the mai
carriers arriving here within the pas
week have had slides down the noun
tain sides that might rejoice the hear
OF tobogganer, but which will answer
for life time so far as the actual vic
tins are concerned.
A new man named Cherry was put OF
one of the routes the other day, il
place of a carrier who had been injured
by falling about 5000 feet, with 200 o.
400 tons of snow and ice, and rs moth
ing was seen or heard of him, it wai
supposed that he had gone through
Day before yesterday party of mer
who went out in search of some miners
who were supposed to be in danger, saw
an object up the mountain side, and
after deciding that it was a man, the
undertook to get near him. As the,
came within hailing distance they saw
that it was the mail carrier He haC
secured Judgment in the branches O
a tree and was hanging on for dear life
although at that time he was nearly ex
hausted. One of the party asked:
care you hurt?"
mo, was the response.
''Then, what's the matteI2n
Nothing, only I've got an almighty
big scare on"
''What for?'
Because l can't move without start
ing an avalanche. I've tried it forty
times, and she begins to slip every time
Imove."
The men laughed at each other lit
tie at the comical features of the fellows
situation, but knowing too well the
dangers of the snow, they tried to coax
him down from the tree.
Its no use," he said; ''the moment
move | start a slide. More'n twenty
of them have gone whooping by here
in the last forty-eight hours. l never
saw things hang on hair trigger like
this before. Don't you go to shaking
anything now, or Wen all go down"
In reference to a question as to what
he intended to do the carrier said he
didn't know, but he knew that he was
not going to try to crawl out of that.
81 amt no cat" he continued, land l
tell you that butterfly could do more
mischief here now than train OF cars
could anywhere else"
After a short consultation the men
determined to get him, and one of them
volunteered to creep down to him and
give him rope which was to be held
by the others. Picking his way slowly
over the snow, all the time warned by
the mail carrier that he was bound to
get the whole party murdered, the res
cuer finally reached the tree, and after
a good deal of persuasion induced the
man to come down and make an effort
to escape. The journey back was safe
ly accomplished, and the postman, over
joyed at his good fortune, set out for
Silverton with the determination of
throwing up his job.
The mail carrier between this town
and Ouray, Lum Patterson, came in
here the other night, looking as though
he had been used as q snow plow ON
locomotive He had been out in the
whole of the last storm, during which
more tlaaIa=zh xe- fSet- OF spOFS- fell in
three days. He lost one of his shoes in
a slide which came very near being his
last, and would have been unable to pro-
coed at all if he had not found a board
from a wrecked shanty with which he
had improyised a very respectable snow
shoe.
II never saw the snow so touchy," he
said, after he had been thawed out and
had realized that the assembled crowd
were anxious to hear some particulars of
his-trip. Il started half dozen slides
myself, and that's something that |
don't do. Besides these | saw and had
plenty of others. I'll bet that day be-
fore yesterday u man who could yell
loud could have brought down half the
snow on the mountains. 1t seemed to
hang just right, and the least move
ment would set it going. / got out of
the way of q slide Tuesday afternoon
In q pretty slick way. heard it com
ing, and my first thought was that l
was a goner, but Just then it occurred
to me that if | skipped straight ahead,
at right angles with the coming sweep,
I'd have chance of getting out of its
reach. 1t was all done in a minute. l
gave jump, and another, and another,
and almost before could get breath she
came crashing by me. l believe it
took the buttons off my coat-tails, but
If it didn't it was a great oversight
Nothing of that kind had ever happened
to me before, and as soon as l could
get my nerves settled 7 jumped up to
take my bearings, when blamed if l
didn't start another one which tangled
me up in great shape, but which didn't
last long or amount to much, as it soon
ran into the course of the other and let
me out without doing much damage.
1t was in that one, though, that | lost
my shoe.n
Speaking about the miners who are
passing the winter in their cabins along
his trail Patterson said: "a good
many of them are down at the bottom,
I'm afraid, but | found one outfit who
thought they had themselves insured
against Slides They are in a very ex-
posed place, and if they ever get agoing
they'll think there's no end to it. When
/ came along the other day stopped in
awhile to rest and ask the boys If they
wasn't afraid of the slides. They just
got up and took me up mountain a
ways, and pointed ut a barricade that |
they had made. 1t consisted of logs
well anchored, and about six feet high, /
joined in the shape of V with the |
point up, and it's pretty sharp point,
too. Now, says one of the boys, if a
slide ever starts up above she's bound |
to go to pieces the minute she strikes
this fertilization and pass by on both
sides of us l asked them if they had
ever run foul Of snow slide, and they
said no, and then l said 1 thought so,
too. l guess I worried them a little,
but they are satisfied, and l can't help
it. But let me tell you, if a slide ever
strikes that heap of timber it'll go end
for end as quick as q wink, and the
miners wont be a second behind the
logs in getting to the bottom"
One of the mail carriers in the San
Miguel district, George Winders. had a
experience last week He
had been out in the great storm, and as
nothing had been heard from him he
was given up as lost. He came into
Telluride on Saturday in sadly dis
able condition, made his report and
said:
'I've got another mail carrier out
here"
"Out where7" asked the Postmaster.
"Out in the sleigh that 1 came in
with from Haskett's. Come and see
him; perhaps you know him.
Going out to the sleigh, the mail car
ricr threw off blanket that covered |
the box, and there lay the skeleton of |
man with a mail sack strapped to it, |
the bones and the sack being covered |
with ice and snow. A LARGO crowd as