Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1889-05-11
ON THE SIERRA.
GRAPHIC ACCOUNT OF THE LATE
SEVERE STORM.
Mountaineers on snow-Shoes Seek
the Viliages-An Abundance
of Water.

All accounts agree that the recent storm
in the Sierra Nevada was never before
equalled for ferceness in the month of
May. A correspondent a. Emigranr Gap
corroborates this opinion, and furnishes
the following interesting description of the
storm and incidents connected Herewith in
that section
Thinking that your many readers might
be interested in an account of the great
storm that lately visited this section,
and of just how much of the beau
tiful that fell and now remains to dazzle
the eyes of q sojourner in these elevated
regions, / will say that on Saturday morn,
the 4th, the snow began to come gently
down, increasing as the day advanced, and
through the night Sunday morning found
but slight sprinkle of snow on the ground,
the old snow having long before disappeared,
the ground being SO warm as to melt it as
fast as it fell. There was, however, on the
| level ground from four to six inches of
slush. On Sunday the snow came down
thick and fast, and the storm increased in
violence until Monday, when it reached q
point in fierceness rarely witnessed by the
Oldest inhabitants. In the early part of the
evening there was prospect of its breaking
away. This, however, proved to be only a
| feint, for in less than one hour it came
down Though without wind) thicker and
| faster than ever, continuing almost inces-
sanity until about o'clock on Wednesday
| morning, and when the sun rose in its
| splendor over the snowclad peaks TO the
east the pine trees, with their foliage COW
cred and bending with their load of snow,
| presented to the beholder
A SIGHT MAGNIFICENT
In the extreme. Limbs not able to longer
| sustain their loads would crack. break and
precipitate their immense loads of snow
down hundred feet or more, rebounding
| In clouds of crystals only to again fall and
mingle with that which had preceded it.
| AS the day advanced lumbermen, miners
and woodchoppers, who had not been able
to reach tine town for four DAYS. began to
pour in to get their mails, square meal, y
a little grub" and a good deal of some
thing else. mixed in with cribbage, pedro
and an occasional -four aces" which made
our little town lively. The place is filled
to oye,fowing and still they come, and to
| one not accustomed to the mountains they
came not as white men usually come-they
came with shoes twelve feet long and five
| inches wide, and with loEg poles or sticks
in their hands. True, they looked like
men. but their faces, from their eyes down.
| were black, while from their eyes up they
were white. That your readers NAV I'M
derstand to what race of people they be-
longed, | will endeavor to make it thus
clear. The shoes are snowshoes, made of
| wood and turned up in front like the run
ners of a sleigh. Upon these the men
mount and work their way up the noun
tain sides. and when at the summit they
| slide down the other SIDE at lightning
speed. The sun shining upon the snow
| blinds their eyes SO that it would be i'm
| possible for them to see did they not take
charcoal and blacken their cheeks; thus
they are able TO go in defiance Of the daz-
zling ''the beautiful"
HEAVY FALL OF SNOW.
Early in the morning some discussion
was had concerning the amount of snow
that had fallen during the storm, so the
writer proceeded to measure, weigh and
figure. The place selected was an average
one, and by actual measurement the depth
was found to be thirty-four inches Then
we cut out carefully block, from the top
to the ground II inches square. This meas
ured 12x12 by "a inches. the depth of the
snow, which weighed 425 pounds. This
when reduced to water, would represent 8
block of water 12x12, and SIG inches deep
thus showing that the snow now on the
1
cover the ground by sheet 16 inches
deep.
WHAT IT REPRESENTS AS WATER.
1t has been satisfactorily demonstrated
that it requires from twelve to fourteen
inches of snow to produce one inch of water
This beiog the case, we can readily see thai
the snow on the ground this morning rep
resented over eight feet snow, falling in or.
binary winter weather. But we must bear
in mind that the snow falling in the first
twenty-four hours does not enter into this
computation, it having all melted away
so, allowing that had the ground been GOV.
cred with snow when this storm com.
menced, there would have fallen in twenty.
four hours at least twelve inches. This
would make the total snowfall of the
storm over nine feet, equal to GIG inches Of
water.
There is no record of such fail of snow
in May, and men who have lived here fol
nearly forty years have no recollection Of
ever having seen such storm at this sea-
son of the year. Business. in consequence
of the storm, will be considerably retarded
and stock men who drive their stock over
the mountains will suffer serious annoy,
ance from the great depth of snow which
will confront them when nearing the Sum
, Unit