Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1890-02-02
OUT OF THE SNOW.
RAILROAD OFFICIALS RETIRE FROM
THE FIELD VICTORIOUS.
BY Special Train From Truckee to Reno,
and Thence to This City-Some In
cidents of the Trip.

On Friday morning at S o'clock a special
train, consisting of one engine and the car
California" left Truckee for Reno, thirty
five miles distant. On board the special
were w. G. Curtis, Assistant-G General Mana
ger of the Southern Pacific Company; Ar
thur Brown, Superintendent of Bridges
and Buildings; Superintendent Whited, of
the Truckee Division; G. c. Kellogg. Albert
Worthington. two photographers. aud the
RECORD UNION correspondent. The photog-
raphers have been with Mr. Curtis during
his trip, taking views along the road.
No happier officials ever started out on a
trip. The great snow blockade of fifteen
days, an event unparalleled in the history
of railroading in this country, had been
raised To still further cheer them, dis
patch had just been received from General
Superintendent Fillmore, announcing that
Governor Stanford had wired from Wash
ington his congratulations to the officials
and employees of the road. All on board
experienced the good cheer occasioned by
the above message, and felt as if another
blockade would be tIiffiing matter to
handle.
The train stopped at each of the bridges,
thus affording Messrs. Curtis, Brown and
Kellogg, who were all clad in Arctic shoes
and leggings. and wrapped up in heavy
overcoats, an opportunity to wade waist
deep through snow down the river banks
to examine the bridges.
At the third crossing of the river east of
Truckee the party started on another inves-
tigation. The snow bank was quite deep.
Mr.. Kellogg led, breaking the way for the
other two officials, Mr.. Brown following in
the rear. They had gone but few PAGES
when Mr.. Brown, looking up, exclaimed,
"That bridge is as good as -"
Just then he tripped and fell, colliding
with Mr.. Curtis, and the two upsetting
Kellogg, resulted in landing all three gen.
tlemen distance of about forty feet down
the canyon to the snowclad shores of the
raging Truckee.
Above, on the track, were Superintend-
ent Whited, your reporter and the photo
graphers. The situation was taken in at a
glance, and Mr.. Whited requested both of
the artists to turn their instruments on the
trio at once and take their pictures. The
request was obeyed and two excellent neg
atives secured before the victims were able
to eXtricate themselves from their predica-
ment.
As soon as Mr.. Brown secured his feet
and discovered what was going on, be cried
out to Mr.. Whited to call the artists off
Whited replied that inasmuch as the Incl
dent would never be got into print, perhaps
it was as well to preserve its features by
photography as any other means.
After crawling back to the train the lat
ter again started for its destination, where
it soon arrived. A stop of half an hour
was made, and then the train returned to
Truckee, where it arrived about o'clock
Here wait of a few minutes was made,
and ii continued on toward Sacramento.
Upon arriving at Cascade the train was
side-tracked for the night, so as to enable
the photographers to take views of the
snow banks the next morning. About
o'clock A. NJ. the train again started home
ward making frequent stops, to give
Messrs. Curtis and Brown an opportunity
to examine again the snow-shed system.
After leaving the snow-belt the train
made rapid run to Sacramento, entering
the depot at o'clock in the evening The
officials stopped here but few minutes,
and then proceeded on to San francisco.
While at Reno they were interviewed by
large number of cattlemen, who are anxious
to ship their stock over to this side for the
winter. There are thousands of head to
be shipped, and it will take hundreds of
cars to do the work. Mr.. Curtis assured
the cattlemen that the railroad company
would use its best efforts to help them out
of their difficulty