The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1891-12-09
geet and isky animal, and often they are

/ HSSt dIl l tlSkf dlllIul, Huu OlISU InSy ave
killed.
story was told of how a wolf caught in
a steel trap had escaped with the trap, but
was again caught by the chain becoming
entangled in a wire fence. The engineer
stopped the train and the express messenger
and mail clerk tried to kill it, but failed.
The engineer called "time,'' fang the bell.
and the live wolf was left still tangled in
the wire fence.
The antelope still wanders. sometimes,
down into the section of wire fences. Be
ing unable to escape, this fleet animal ruiz
from the train, making one OF the prettiest
races in the west. One engineer told a
story of how. in eastern Wyoming, a pet
antelope was kept on the ranch Of a stock
man. The owner had two fine deerhounds,
but they and the antelope were great
friends. Often from his cab window the
engineer had seen the antelope and the
hounds playing together.
Incidents were related by some of the
party of the slaughter of birds. In the
spring time prairie chickens, on a wet
morning, often sit on the rails and are
sometimes killed by the engine. Quail also
meet a similar fate. Thousands of snow
birds are also killed. An engineer related
an interesting incident of a meadow lark
that WAS pursued by q mouse hawk. The
frightened lark took refuge on the running
board, having less fear of the engineer and
fireman than it's enemy. 1t remained with
the engine till safe from the hawk. and
then left it's perch on the running board.
Owls and mouse hawks are sometimes
killed by breaking through tbs glass win
dows of the cab.
Engineer Willard again resumed, saving:
II think the swift is one of the most inter
esting ANIMALS on tho plaina. / saw one at
Akron, Colo, that was about eighteen
inches long and ten inches high. 1t was
reddish in color. had a white belly and a
hNahV tulI II ID varu Aaok oS ITO ~ =, c;1,
mites. and can outrun a deerhound. Walter
Baxter at Akron, had one, which he sent to
New York. They feed mostly on birds. I
have seen meat held out to this one, but
the swift would not touch it. But turn your
head, and the swift would grab tho meat in
a second. l never heard of a swift being
killed by an engine. Prairie dogs? Well,
they are pretty quick, but they nearly al
ways get out of the way of an engine. TIL
prairie dog" said the engineer. philosophis-
ing. lis being driven westward, like the
Indian. by the march of civilization. The
cultivation OF the soil is gradually driving
the prairie dog from the plains towards the
mountains"
A story was then told Of Engineer Hurd
and his pet mouse, when laying the track
from Holyoke to Cheyenne. The mouse
found its way into the engine and made it's
home in the waste-box. Two or three times
a day it would leave its cosy nest and feed
On the grease OF the swab Of the piston. The
engineer and fireman made a pet of it. The
mouse wGs with the engine about three
months. 1t woul run and play around the
cab and then seek its place in the waste
box.
Az the railroads on the plains begin to
near the Rocky mount ains the light atmog-
phere extends the vision and you can sec
further than in the murky. moist weather
Of the east. An engineer from an eastern
road is at first greatly deceived as to dis
tances. At one section of the Burlington
in eastern Colorado a headlight can be seen
forty miles. A tenderfoot would think it
was not more than two or three miles away.
I'm this clear atmosphere ' said an engi-
neer, when it seems that / am close to n
headlight l look to sea if the reflection of
the opposite light ia on the rails.'
AT Stonham, Colo, u station on the Chew
enne branch of the Burlington, there ia n
straight track of eight miles where trains
meet half way for the side track. 1t took
some new engineers a long time to get used
to it, for at first they would slow up their
trains long before they were near the on
coming train, which at first seemed SO near.
StorleB have been told of how new en-
pineers have whistled down brakes on the
plains, in mistaking the morning star for a
headlight. There may be more truth than
romance in it.