Los Angeles daily herald., 1889-12-29

bered eleven. The construction train
delayed about four hours making fill at
side, or Ravenna. This is about fifty
trance of the Soledad caflon.
1t was now 8 80 O'Clock on Thursday
afternoon. The next station at which
the travellers could stop and get rest and
refreshment was Lsng's, eight miles
away; but between there and Southside
were the worst places to pass that they
were likely to meet anywhere. They
were advised to wait, lest night overtake
them, but they insisted on pushing
ahead.
The Soledad csfion is long, narrow
ravine running in southwesterly direc-
ton, threaded by stream which, lower
down, is known as the Santa Clara
river. Countless tributaries flow down
from the mountains into this stream, and
these, flushed by the recent storms, had
made of the little river a terrific food
which had torn through the
canon, changing it's bed recklessly
and gougiDg out new channels
in the soft sand in utter disregard of the
interests of the railroad or anything else.
By this time the flood of waters had
abated, but the river was still high.
Some time ago the railroad found it
necessary to substitute iron bridges for
the wooden ones and these had with
stood the force of the torrent. But in
many cases it was found that the river
no longer flowed under these. 1t had
changed it's course, leaving the bridges
covering space of dry land.
1t may be imagined that walking over
track which in many places was COM
pletely lost under the raging torrent of
the river, in others covered deep with
mud from land slides, and in others
hoisted high and dry in mid-air, the
fish plates holding the rails together and
the ties clinging to the rails, was tiresome
and a hazardous undertaking. 1t was
often necessary to leave the track alto
gether and climb over hills and up steep
granite cliffs. The travellers did not
have rubber boots, and it naturally fol-
lowed that none of them escaped wet
feet.
Three miles from Southside they
came upon an engine piled up against
the hill. This was the train which Con-
ductor HANDLE was managing, whose
adventures up tree in the midst of the
flood were narrated in the HERALD
of last Thursday. From that point
on the track was in q horrible
condition. In one place it was entirely
gone for a space of several miles. The
worst feature of it all is that the damage
is not limited to the track. The config-
uration of the land over which it passes
is so completely changed that to rebuild
it the company will have to secure diff
ferent right of way, locate new bridges
and spend hundreds OF thousands of dol
lars in making over the line.
When the party had completed about
two-thirds of the distance to Lapg's,
darkness came on and they made very
slow progress. At last they came to q
place where the track was washed out
and tilted over on one side in a most
dangerous fashion. Here the courage of
two OF the party gave out and
they built fire at the mouth of tunnel
and camped down for the night. The
others went on some distance farther un-
til they came face to face with sharp
turn in the road, where the stream cut
corner off of a perpendicular cliff. 1t
could not be passed, and as there was
solid granite mountain back of it, there
seemed no way in the darkness which
prevailed OF picking out a road around.
After some discussion it was decided
that Tuthill and Johnson should make
the attempt to get over the ridge, and if
they ever reached Lan2's they should
send back help. The climb to the sum-
NIT turned out to be frightful under
taking, involving hours of labor and
many dangers. They went up an altitude
of about 1000 feet and travelled over sew.
eral miles of distance. At last they
came out on the road only few hun
dred feet beyond where they had left the
party, but they had passed the yawning
chasm. From there it was only short
distance into Lang's.
Men were then sent back from Lang's
to carry food to the party camping be-
yond the chasm, but the party was lost
and it became necessary for Tuthill to 20
in search of them. The rescuing party
was found, but the food never got to the
camp re, and they passed the night sup
PEERLESS,
Early the next morning they came into
Lang's and after getting breakfast set out
for Newhall. Tufhill and Johnston were
carried part of the way in wagon,
WnlCh hdudkcQ " u1dho lLb way dlODK Lu6
river bed. Here, as before, the track was
found to be in an utterly demoralized
condition. Six or seven miles of the
track were found to be entirely gone.
The party got into Saugus at 12 80 on
Friday. Here they were picked up by
an engine which carried Mr.. Wallace, of
the Southern Pacific, who was on hand
to euperintend the work of repairing the
road. Here they were also overtaken by
John G. North, of Riverside, and Deputy
United States Marshal Risley, who had
managed to secure horses and had come
through from Mojave.
The engine carried them as far on as
San Fernando, where they arrived at
sunset. Three miles beyond a construc-
tion train was at work, which they be-
lieved would run back to Los Angeles
that evening. They knew it would quit
work about dusk, 30 the whole party
started on double-quick to catch it be-
fore it should get away. They arrived
just in time and were carried down to
the Los Angeles river, where the bridge
of the northern division of the line once
stood. They made detour toward the
Glendale road to get across into East
Los Angeles, and completed the distance
into town in an omnibus.
The Tyler Grip.
EDITORS HERALD: In 1910, after the