Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1888-04-20
SHOwSLIDES IN THE MOUNTAINS.
How They Are Started on the Steep Cliffs ofthe
San Juan Range.
Kansas CITY Tunes

How They Are Started on the Steep Cliffs ofthe
San Juan Range,
Kansas City Times.
This Animas canyon, it may be neces-
sary to explain, extends southwark from
Silysrton TO Durango, distance of forty
i've miles, and is one of the most beauti
ful aud picturesque valleys in the world.
The entire forty five miles is a panorama.
But at this time of the year 1t is dan
gerous place to be in. The mountain
sides slope into it sharply on either hand.
Upon these great and rocky slopes the
snow falls and lies until its weight be
comes too great, and then In every spot
where the side Of the slope is smooth and
free from projecting rocks and trees it Is
ready at any moment to stSrt downward.
Once started, IL gathers more and more
momentum, unit. many tons of hard
packed snow, mixed with loose stones,
STICKS, perhaps entire pine trees torn up
by the roots, plunge down with q roar
that can be heard for miles. When the
snow is III the condition described any
little disturbance Is sufficient to start il,
mans tracks through the snow punct
ure 1t like : DIVISION between postage
stamps, weakening its cohesiveness along
Il
large tract of snow may be loosened.
1t Is not often that the snow slides
down the whole broad size of the hili. If
the slant were steep enough aud bare
enough to permit this the snow could
not lie upon it in heavy masses. and,
therefore, could not form Il genuine await
anche, but would slip down little at a
tirie. More frequently its path is com
paratively narrow. Toward the top of
the mountain, usually near or Just above
timber line, an exposed smooth rock
sheds its partly thawed coating of snow
as shawl would slip Off woman's
should ers. 1t rolls in a confused mass or
a bank of snow below. Thus a snow ball
is started. 1t rolls slowly, gathering
more snow and eight In few seconds
it has grown too big to retain glo5ular
shape, and is now mass of Gliding,
tumbling, roaring whiteuess, overturning
everything in its way, cutting a smooth
swath through the forest straight to the
bottom of the canyon, where 1t sprawls
across the narrow valley to the other side,
leaving a snowbank many feet thick,
burying the railroad and river. The
latter soon eats it's way through the white
wall, and the result is an arched tunnel of
A~S NANA SAN"fN' pNhhuPo t"NhNg iNVt NANS
and almost high enough fora man to
walk through it without ducking his head.
But the railroad must be cleared by hu-
man effort, and hard enough work it is,
for the snow is packed as hard as clay.
Tie straight swaths moved through the
heavy growth of evergreen trees may be
seen many miles, and at distance look
like wagon roads cut through the forest
by the hand of man. They usually ex-
tend on straight down the slope as if
laid out by surveyor, being perha ps
not over twenty feet wide. Nothing can
grow in this natural roadway, for the
snow crusbes trees like reeds. Once a
path like this is made it will be kept clear
by successive slides winter after winter,
and it is safer for man, horse, house, or
railroad train to face artillery than to be
III the line of one of these highways of
destruction in the middle of march