Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1890-01-23
THE IMPRISONED PASSENGERS.
Splendid Achievements of the Cali
fornia Railroad Men Under
Adverse Conditions.
Showing again !

The words flashed over the telegraph
wires yesterday morning from the scene of
the great snow blockade in the Sierra Ne
vada, and carried dismay into the camp of
the tired and worn railroad officials.
Yes, the snow king had sounded another
charge, just as the army of snow-6ghters
were about to raise a mighty shout of
triumph. Had this renewal of hostilities
been delayed but few hours, the disas-
trous blockade would have been broken,
and the delayed trains would ere this have
been bounding along on their journey.
But like cat with a mouse, the snow
king only desisted long enough to fill his
prisoners with hope of escape, and then
pounced upon them again with all the fury
of fend.
A heavy wind sprang up shortly after
midnight, and carried the surface snow
about in clouds up and down the mountain
sides and through canyons, depositing great
banks upon the recent-cleared tracks and
undoing the work of days of the hardest
of labor. As morning approached the wind
subsided slightly and fakes began to fall
Soon it had developed into as hard storm
as has been seen since the trouble COM
menced, the snow falling all along the line
from Colfax as far east as Truckee, in some
places at the rate of two inches per hour.
AT first the army of snow fighters began to
despair upon seeing the results of their
days Of toll completely undone in few
hours, but, cheered on by the knowledge
that upon their efforts depended the liberty
of many, renewed the attack desperately
They knew that there was a possibility, in
spite of the fresh outbreak, of liberatipg at
least one of the imprisoned trains by
final mighty effort, and they went al it de-
terminedly.
The rotary plow headed this work, and
for while good progress was made. But
the fates were evidently not in sympathy
with the snow fighters, and it was not long
before the big plow and one of the
driving engines were dereiled. The rails
were caked with ice, and it was
only with the greatest difficulty that the
engines could remain on the track, even
under slow speed. Work, of course, was
greatly delayed while the plow and engines
were being replaced on the track. Once in
position again the great rotary resumed
work, but only to get off the track again
half an hour later.
This was the experience nearly all day.
The track was so completely ice-clad
that derailments were of frequent occur
renee. Still, in the face of these dismay-
ing obstacles, the railroads forces worked
nobly.
These derailments occurred about three
quarters of mile east of Shady Run, and
at last accounts this morning the plow had
encountered heavy slide, which derailed
it. Three engines and 100 men, provided
with all the necessary paraphernalia, were
then at work replacing the plow. The
casting of the tender of one of the engines
was also broken by this slide, and this will
cause the delay to be unusually long.
The situation at the hour of going to
press this morning is this: The shoyelers
throughout the storm district have man.
aged to keep the track clear, in the face of
the storm, east of Blue Canyon-with the
exception of the mile and half strip at
Cascade, where the sheds are down-and
west of Towles. This leaves but four
miles to be cleared between these two
places, besides the mile and half strip.
With fair success, the rotary and shoyelers
will clear up the entire road before noon
to- day, and the first of the delayed West.
bound trains will arrive in Sacramento to-
NIGHT