The Dickinson press., 1888-03-31
THROUGH THE DRIFTS.
RIDING BEHIND A SNOW Pillow ON
THE WESTERN PRAllNEs.

s
Snow Drifts in the Home Of tlr n,:s.
zard-Work Done on Western Railroads
in Midwinter.
"lt is not every engineer that can run a
snow rlow," said II locomotive engineer the
other day. you can take the hest rum, r
on the road and put him on II SHOW pillow. and
very likely lie would resign his Job in an
hour if he could, just because liz is not fitted
for the place. Nowadays SNOW plowS are DIFF
fercnt from what they were back in thu sin
ties. l was then on the ST. Paul road, and
they turned n SHOW pillow ont of the SHOT, and
put lie aboard. The engine was :: wood
burner. with Il big stack, and the SNOW rlow
excited the admiration of everybody that
saw it. 1t was made of rivctcd boiler plates,
AMI reached about two feet over the top If
the stack. 1t was Y shaped in front and was
bolted to the pilot and the manhead of tho
boiler. II did fairly good VOL k, and was SO
much more effective than the former ones
that it became noted. \ snow rlow nowa-
days will do more work III one hour than I
could do with the old Fearless in IL day.
The last snow pillow that | ran WAS the new
Storm King on the Northern Pacific. 1t was
made of wood witha steel shoe and %cutwatcr,
or cutsn"w. as We called it. Instead of being
attached To the engine, it was built OH u car
and pulled behind the engine. This car was
warm, lad II stove, and was piled half full Ct
pig iron to hold it down.
$50 give You some idea of the work a snow
pillow has to do, you will suppose that a biz
Zard has been blowing for three days and
traffic las been entirely suspended. At last
the wind stops blowing. TIL" morning is
clear and cold-oh, so coldl The snow pillow
is ordered out. Gangs of men are ut work
shovclins off the turntable and clearing tho
yard. You .jumpintothe cab of your engine,
and your fireman incidentally remarks: It's
40 dcgs. below, Hank That's pretty chilly,
but you don nlipl it because you are dressed
for it. | weigh lG5 pounds in tho buff, but
when | an dressed for 40 dogs. below zero
with n snow plow 1 appear to weigh 800.
'Now we are ready to start. Slowly We
move out of the round house to the main
track, where we couple on Il car filled with
provisions and show shovelcrs. In the town
we find everything clear, but the minute we
get beyond habitatioiiS, which doesn't tako
long up in Minnesota and Dakota, our work
begins.
1.-The sun looks like q frozen ball of butter
in the air, and on each side is seen the sun
dogs, that invariably show up ON such cold
mornings. They are very beautiful, with
their rainbow colorS, but We hate to sec them
all the same, for they ~foretcll Il continuance
of the cold weather. The rays of tho sun
emit 10 warmth and the air is full of littlo
needle like particles of frost. The curtain of
our cab is let down and tightly buttoncd.
Our windows are battcncl, and we are COM
paratively warm. The side windows are i'm
mediately covered with frost from our breath
and the steam, but the fireman keeps tho
front windows clear. May be we go along
smoothly FOR Il mile before We strike Il drift.
AS far as the eye can reach there is n track
less waste of snow, white and glistening.
Fences are oblitcrated in Ahite drifts that
are sometimes fantastic in their shapes. The
snow cutter on the engine pilot is cleaving
its way through the SHOW, occasionally strik-
ing Il drift that makes it jump q little, and
behind the Storm King is sweeping it up
from the rail and two feet on each side, send
ing it up and outward like jets from Il foun-
tain.
"'There's a big one, Hank says the fire
man. Sure enough, Il quarter of a milo
ahead is Il big drift half as high as n house,
that has blown through a gap in the fence.
We are going about twenty miles an hour.
1t would he easier to go through that drift if
our pace was accelerated n little. l pull out
WV StiiN we III ttlIulS tulIIS. UUe1l
forty miles an hour, until we are upon it.
and II little extra yank at the throttle and we
dive into it. That was fun, and how tho
snow did fly. 1t was only a couple OF rods
long and six feet deep, and we cut through it
like a sharp knife through a piece of cheese.
again we have clear sailing until we
reach Il cut. This cut is from six to twenty
feet deep and nearly q quarter of a milo
long.
"NGet stuck hero, Hank says the fireman,
and you can bet he was right. 1 let her go
Gallagher, and we light into that cut like u
thousand of brick, but this time the snow is
tho victor. Even the big Storm King, with
its heavy weight behind, does not help us,
and we come to a dead stop, and only a rod
or SO into the cut, with SHOW in front, each
side, and on top-we are literally buried. 1
reverse the engine, but the wheels only slip,
and sand doesn't do any good. Atoot of tho
whistle, and the shovelers come swarming
out. They work like beavers for ten minutes,
and then run for the car, and IL relief gang
comes out.
"May be i'll an hour they dig us out, and we
back up a mile and take another header into
the cut to meet our former fate. A person
would think that u snow pillow dashed against
II drift of snow at the rate of from forty to
fifty miles an hour would be apt to go
through not only snow, but through u pile
of rocks, but it doesn't. 1t goes just far
enough to make the men swear, and get out
and shovel.
sit is n common thing for cattle to take
refuge in these cuts when they get caught in
the billiards. Several times we have run
into them. Once we dug out t%hirty-two head
of cattle after my engine had jumped the
track from striking the frozen body of one of
them. You can bet the boys had steak in
the car that day.
"The revolving snow plows now i'll use are
u great invention. They work on the pre-
peller blade style, and cut swaths about eight
inches deep and throw the snow out. Now,
tho only thing that is wanted is a machine
that will pick the ice from between the rails.
Ii II man could invent such q machine he
could sell 1t for 81, OO0, 900 and a royalty that
would make a prince of him.
"What l mean is this. In some cases a
road is showed up for months, as the Hast
ings and Dakota division of the st. Paul road
was, | think, i'll 1850. Over 100 miles of road
was closed west of Bird Island all winter,
When Il case of that kind takes place ice
forms between the tracks, caused by tho SUI
OH warm days melting the snow, the water
. draining through and freezing. This ncccs
: states picking it out with IL pick by llant
labor. No engine can lun, for the ice come
higher than the ash pan, and also freeze
next to the rails, so that the tlanges on th
wheels won't set down.
The coolest place for q train to he snowe,
J, i'll at is between Mandan, D.. T., and the Ba,
Lands, just east of the Little Missouri. Thi
: country is Il bleak, arid waste, with not
l. tree i'll sight fer 100 miles, and nothing t
break the wind, which comes from the Ar.
Is tic ocean.-Ncw York Sun.
o To perfume your apparel, put n few drol
IS on small pieces of pumice stone and place i
il drawers and boxes and among dresses i
IL wardrobeS.
n a Patent Medicine Almanac.
" The volume we now have before us fc