The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1890-02-23

III Tile L tIllNail CdT Ol tile WeSCWdIU
bound express, half way across the con-
tinent, two passengers were gazing list
lessly out over the wintry landscape. 1t
was q bitter morning in February. North
and south the treeless prairie rolled away
in successive ridge and depression. The
snow lay deep in the dry ravines and
streaked the sea like surface with Jagged
lines of foam, between which lay broad
spaces clean swept by the gale. Heavy
masses of cloud, dark and forbidding,
draped the sky from zenith to horizon,
and the air was thick with spiteful gusts
and splits of snow, cracking against the
window panes, making fierce dashes
every time car door was hurriedly
opened, and driving about the platforms
like q myriad swarm of heecy and ag-
gressive gnats raging for battle. Every
now and then, responsive to some wilder
blast, binding white cloud came whirl-
ing from the depths of the nearest gully
and breaking like spray over the snow
fence along the line. Not sign of life
was visible.
The tiny mounds in the villages of the
prairie dogs seemed blocked and frozen;
even the trusty sentinel had deserted
post" and huddled with his fellows for
warmth and shelter in the bowels of the
earth. Fluttering owl and skulking
coyote, too, had vanished from the face
of nature. Timid antelope = Aeetest
coursers of the prairie = and stolid
horned cattle had gone, none knew
whittier, nor cared to know until the
blizzard" had subsidized. Two heavy
engines fought their way, painting, into
the very teeth of the gale and slowly
wound the long train after them up
grade among the foothills of the great
plateau of the Rockies. Once In a
while, when stopping for moment at
some group of brown painted sheds and
earth battened shanties, the wind moaned
and howled among the iron braces and
brake chains beneath the car, and made
such mournful noise that it was q relief
to start once more and lose sound of its
wailing in the general rumble. As fol
the scenery, only as a picture Of sE1ivel
provoking monotony and desolatior
would one care to take a second look.
Ard yet, some miles ahead, striving
hard to reach the railway in time to In
: tercept this very train, q small battalion
of cavalry was struggling through the
blasts, officers and men afoot and drag
: ging their own benumbed limbs and hal
| benumbed chargers through the drift
that lay deep at the bottom Of every
.'coulee." Some few soldiers remainec
! in saddle; they were too frozen to wall
at all. Some few fell behind, and weulC
, have thrown themselves fat upon tn
prairie in the lethargy that is but promo
milton of death by frsezing. Like men hal
deadened by morphine, their rescue de
pended on heroic measures, humane il
, their seeming brutality. Officers who a
other times were all gentleness now fel
! upon the hapless stragglers with kick
and blows. As the train drew up at tn
platform of station in n1id-prairie,
q horseman enveloped in fur ard frost an
i steam from his painting steed reined u
beside the leading engine and shouted t
!. the occupants of the cab:
ssFor Gods sake hold on few mir
o utes. We've got dozen frozen me
4 with us we must send on to Fort Wal
O rener." And the train was held.
o Meantime, those far to the rear in til
. sleeper knew nothing of what was goin
# onahead. The car was warm and con
r Portable, and most of its occupants wei
}. apparently appreciative of its shelter an
coziness in contrast with the, chaarles