Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1886-09-30
fHg ENGINEERS STORY.
ur srsAN oooIIpaE.

81 susAS COOLIDGE.
q s.This is, about it, said John Scott,
ahe engineer, as the train slowly crest
ed long. gradual grade. you're
atop OF the Rocky Mountains now,
ma am"
Emily Vaughn looked to right and
20 left. and was conscious of a feeling
Of disappointment. She had pictured
The top of the Rocky Mountains as
something quite different from this.
Here were no frowning heights or sud-
kden CULTS, only a wide rolling plateau.
me distant peaks which did not
& pk very high, and far ahead a glimpse
lower levels running down into the
ftins. Il seemed hardly worth while
Hrome so far for so little.
Really" she said. "But where are
ksmountains? They don't look near
yso high as they did yesterday"
NATURALLY, ma'am," responded the
engineer, .'things don't appear so high
when you're so high as they are. We're
atop you know"
But there's no look-off, no wonder
ful distance. as from the topof Mount
Washington. confess / am disap-
pointed
ats kind ofqueer, said John Scott,
with a dry chuckle. show folks from
The east keep abiding to that ere
little hin as If 1t we're the standard of
measurement. We don't think so
much of it this way. Why ma'am,
you're about 1000 feet higher this
minute than if you was at the top OF
: that little shuck OF Mount Washing.
ton that they all think so much of"
Miss Vaughn smiled, but she expert
enced shock, nevertheless. The New
England mind does not easily accus-
tom itself to hearingits sacred mount
ain thus lightly spoken against.
.Have you ever seen Mount Wash
ington?" she asked.
"oh, bless you. yesl" replied John
Scott, cheerfully, II was raised over
to Fryeburg. and grew up alongside
of it. thought it was pretty big
s. concern when / was boy, but now"
He closed the sentence with short,
q oppressive laugh
4 Miss Vaughn changed the subject.
<. - Oe "A 10 10
s. 70 ike this rough, goodnatured engi-
neer in the course OF three days jour
ney. during which, favored as a rela-
s. tive of the directors of the road. she
had several times been privileged TO
ride. as now. in the engineers cab, for
better view of the country.
Have you been long on this road?'
she asked.
Pretty near ever since it opened.
run the third through train that
come out from Chicago, and haven't
been of the line since. Winter or
Summer, except for three months,
when WAS laid up with 8 broken
leg"
"This must look very differently in
Winter" sad Miss Vaughn, noting
the treeless distances, and the SHOWS
It'll glinting on the higher peaks TO
BE left.
you may believe it doesi That
hrst year, when thesno H-sheds wasn't
+ built, it was terrible. | was running
that train that stuck in the snow
seven days-perhaps you'll remember
\ about it; it was in all the papers. /
shan't ever forget that, not if live
1 n hn oil Afa+
he didn't die till be was ninety odd"
i feline about 1T. said Miss Vaughn,
4 personal---very., seating herself on the
high side bench of the cab. with that
air OF attention which is so enticing
TO the story teller; amusements are
lew and far between in the long mo-
notony OF the overland journey to Cal
iiornia; besides which, Miss Vaughn
dearly loved a story.
There amt much to tell, said
John Scott, with something of the
fesiing which, prompts the young vo-
caiist to complain OF hoarseness. 81
alnt any hand at telling such things,
sither." Then won by Miss Vaughn's
Z appealing eyes, he continued:
I've ian all fair and on time till we
was about 200 miles beyond Omaha.
Then the snow began. 1t didn't seem
much at first. The women folks in
the train rather liked it. They all
crowded TO the windows to see, and
the children hurrahed. Anything
seemed a pleasant change after
the sagebrush, / suppose. But
as 1t went on coming, and the
drifts grew deep, and the cars had 90
run slow, the older ones began to look
serio1s, and can tell you that we
who had charge OF the train felt So.
I've was just between two OF the
feeding stations, and put on all the
steam wecould hoping to push through
70 where provisins could be got at In
case we had to stop. But it wasn't
no use. The snow kept coming. !
never see it come so. The flakes look
- as big as saucers, and the drifts
piled so quick that, when we finaliy
stuck, IN about ten minutes no one
eoald see out of the windows. The
Brain would have been clear buried
over il the brakeman and the porters
hadn't gone the whole length over the
roofs every half-hour, and swept 1t OH
with brooms and shove!s. We had a
lot OF shoyels aboard, by good luck,
OF nothing else could have saved us
from being banked up outright. But it
was terrible hard work, l can tell
you- There wasn't no more Laughing
among the passengers by the time 1t
come to that, and the children stop
ped hurrahing."
0h. the poor little thingsl What
did they do? Were there many on
boardi Was there plenty for them to
ea6zss
That was thu worst il. There
xssat plenty Tor any one to eat. we
hsd stuck Just midway OF tbs feeding
ions, and there wasn't great
.ahi<a orrboard besides