The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1886-01-08

trying to grasp him, but in vain. The
sailor was hauled out at length by
means of the line, much exhausted.
80 depressing an effect did the death
of Mr.. Trewavas have at Astoria, that
when man hired with the Lighthouse
Board to work at Tillamook, people
told him invariably that he was going
to his death.
ga Mr.. Ballantyne succeeded Mr..
Trewavas in the effort to make the sur
vey, and about month later the Cor
win again returned to the rock, this Lime
better equipped. A spar buoy was now
anchored just off the east side of the
rock; and after Cherry had again landed
IL, IN the cast slope, four-inch hawser
V. ras slung from the deck of the steamer
to the peak of the rock, and along this
ca bic, by means of puIleys and lines, a
'tri weller for getting over both men and
mai erial was rugged.
g Yet so profoundly did the vessel
heav on the strong, turbulent water,
that al every lurch the middle of the
haWsar, along with the traveller,
dipped under, so that everything land
ded-the men rs well-was soaked in
:sea-water.
"For hauling across the men, de-
vice called the breeches-buoy' was
rugged, consisting of pair of stout
canvas breaches, with large circular
Afe-preserver round the waist of them
az a. girdle. After buckling these upon
the person, the passenger was pulled
over, but never failed to get ducking,
and commonly landed spluttering and
blowing like aporpoise.
"It was finally decided by the engi-
neer to blast off twenty-six feet from
the summit of the rock, thus reducing
its height to ninety fe ct above sea level,
to form fiat foundation, or site, for
the stone light-toWsE, which it was pro-
posed to build on top of the rock. The
Stone courses fer the tower were cut
and runabered, ready for laying, at
Astoria
"On tie tWenty-sixth October, ten
workmen, myself among them, with
Mr.. Ballantyne and good supply of
food, blankets, toCfsy ETC., were landed
from the 'Corwin' as previously de-
scribed, and the work Of blasting off
the top of the rock began in good earn
est. But am free to say that | hardly
expected to get off that ledge alive.
at took us fifteen days to drill in
for iron rods and ring bolts and build
a stone house for our provisions,
powder, tools, etc. For our own shell
ter, very thick, strong canvas double
tent was pitched at the top of the rock,
dashed and secured every way by strong
lines to ring-bolts.
"The work OF blasting then began.
Often, while getting round the west
face of the cifa, we had to work from
swing-stages, suspended out ninety
feet over those boiling, roaring waves.
So tough was the basalt rock, that the
best drills of English steel required to
be re-sharpened for evervtwo inches of
hole drilledl A blacksmith worked
constantly with US, sharpening drills.
For the blasts giant powder was
used; with each blast we were obliged
to retreat down the east side of the
rock.
''Our orders at first were to- pile the
fragments of rock from the blasting
into the great fissure ON the south side,
above spoken of, so as to fill it up. But
that idea was soon abandoned; our
filing would not stay there, for though
we tumhled rocks in there which
weighed many hundred pounds, the
waves whisked them out as if they were
chips;
''Thus we went ON there, day after
day, 'pecking' holes and blasting off
rock which tumbIed into the depths
below, with little to cheer us save the
scream of gulfs, the harsh 'yO4k! youki
youEP of sea-lions, and the ggrgling
plunge of the water beneath us.
"No> nice place to spend Thanks
giving, Christmas and the holidays,
ehP The work never stopped. The
cutter came down once week in fair
weather, bringing fresh provisions and
the mail, and getting our letters for
home-folks.
"On the first day of January, five
new men were added to the force.
''At last came the storm of which |
began to tell you. 1t was on the night
of The seventh of January. All that
, day and, in fact, for three days previ-
ously, it had been blowing, with snow
and sleet. The sky was dark and
gloomy, the winding blowing too hard
for man to stand ON the top of the
lodges.
1--WE had not been able to do much,
and kept to our tent, wrapped up in
all the blankets we had, to Keep warm,
for the wind was bitterly cold and
piercing. The site of the tent had been
shifted about twenty feet down the
slope, on the landward side, to little
Level which had been blasted out for
it, Our provision-house stood fifteen
or twenty feet lower down, this latter
being no more than sixty feet above
the sea.
Edwards night it began to blow
even harder; and as darkness settled
over us the gigantic forms of the pillows
rolling in looked terrific.
"But as nine, ten and eleven o'clock
came, the gusts yelled (for [ can select
no more fitting word) louder and loud
er 1t seemed as if even the wind
would tear us off the rock. We lay
there muffied up. No one talked much.
The new men looked wild.
"Mr. Ballantyne tried to reassure
them, saying that we were all right.
''No words of mine can begin to con-
vey any idea of the horrible Shrek and
roar and gurglingi But it was the jar
of the lodges which startled us most,
when with an explosive shock, like the
report of heavy gun, the enormous
waves struck. And the worst of it was
we could feel that the hurricane was
gaining strength steadily.
"At last, about half-past eleven,
there came down our side, perfect
deluge of water-hogsheads of it-Soltd
water! That raised panic which had
been gathering for an hour. The men
| jumped to their feet and fairly yelled!
| they were so scared. A wave of
solid water had broken clear over the
top of the rock
"GenNemen, about that time [ would
have sold my body to medical college
for four cents! i didn't believe one OF
us would be alive ten minutes later. In
about half minute, another wave
struck over and washed down on us.
We were soaked through and through.
And we heard at the same moment The