The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1890-12-12
WINTER ON PIXIES PEAK.
a United States Signal Service
Mans Thrilling Tale.

had been in the signal service but
little over year, says writer in the
New York Sun, when l was sent to
Pixies Peak, which is considered by the
men in the service as the most disa-
greeable station in the whole country.
In summer it is not so bad, when there
are numerous visitors up every day
from Colorado Springs and the weather
is com paratively pleasant. But from
the middle of October until about the
middle of April it IS very different.
Then it is almost impossible to &c:
either up or down the mountains, and
the only communication with the out
side world is by wire One man takes
charge of the station in summer and two
in winter. My duties were to begin
with the winter season | reached the
station the first day of October, where
found my companion for the winter
awaiting me. His name was Harry
Sands. He was a goOd-looking, bright,
jovial fellow from somewhere down in
Maine. He was fully six feet tall, with
physique that seemed to bid defiance
to fatigue and exposure. II any one
had told me then that he would be the
first to succumb to the rigors Of that
terrible winter I should have laughed
y
means robust and unaccustomcd TO hard
ships of any kind.
The station is located just little be-
low the extreme top of the peak. 1t is
4 low, one-story log building about
twenty feet square. Around it on three
sides is stacked at that season, almost
as high as the cabin itself, the supply
of wood for the winter. To keep the
roof from being blown off rocks are laid
upon it in different places, and two i'm
mense chains are strung across and fast
ened to the ground at either side. The
interior is divided into two rooms by =
rough board partition. In the larger
one the men eat, sleep and do their
work. The other is used as a store
room.
The weather did not begin 10 get very
cold that year until about December l.
1t kept getting colder and colder until
one morning between Christmas and
New Years the thermometer registered
sixty degrees below zero-a spirit ther-
uometer, of course. 1t was so cold that
in spite of all we could do the water
would freeze an inch or more in the
cabin every night. So high was the
wind and binding the SHOWS torms that
often for a week at a time we were un-
able to go outside to take observations.
One morning the latter part Of Janu-
airy Harry got up looking very pale. He
would not eat any breakfast, and before
dinner time he was back in bed again,
complaining Of terrible headache. BY
evening he was in a raging fever. So
dcliriOus did he become that at times
il was as much as ! could do TO hold
him in bed. / gave him such medicine
as l thought he needed; and many an
hour ! spent poring over the look of in
structions accompanying the chest in
search of a proper remedy. But nothing
gave him seemed TO do him any good.
One day early in February I went out
side to remove some sticks Of wood the
wind had blown against the door. left
Harry sleeping soundly, and, | thought,
more naturally than at any time during
his sickness. Returning I few minutes
later, l found him sitting in front of
the telegraph instrument with his hand
upon the key. But the effort had evil
dcntly been too much for him; his head
lay upon his chest, and he was trembling
all over with weakness. | had hardly
got him back TO bed when he began to
sink rapidly, and in less than half an
hour he was dead. As soon as ] had re-
covered little from the shock l started
to telegraph the news to Colorado
Springs l gave the customary signal
upon the key, but received no answer;
1 repeated it. still no answer. l
thought it very strange. | knew the
operator at Colorado Springs was al
ways in his Office at that hour. Again
and again / tried, but with no better
success. ! made a careful examination
of the instrument, the batteries and all
connected with it, but could find moth
ing wrong. Then came the awful
thought: ''The wire was down or broken
somewhere in the mountains" 1t was
not long before | was compelled TO ad-
nit that such must be the case. Bury
ing my face in my hands, | wept like
child. The prospect certainly was
terrible one. The probability was
should be cut off from all communica-
tion with the world for two full months
or more.
The next morning I wrapped up
Harry's body in a couple of blankets
and buried it few yards from the
cabin, among the rocks in protected
part of the peak. Ny loneliness then
began in earnest. Such days and nights
as / put in! My only diversion was
reading and taking observations. Every
day at the customary hour l would try
the telegraph instrument, hoping that
communication might possibly have
been e-established. Every day the
same disappointment My great fear
was that should lose my reason.
One night about three weeks after
HarrY's death was wal1ened up by what
sounded like the distant bowling of
some wild animals. For moment or
two the sound was lost Then it re-
turned louder than over Tho nayt m n