The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1891-05-16
~ lliiiEJCN . TONS OF SNOW.

Tho Fearful Rush 81 = mSlAV1lARCnO 3 1Oann9
lGountain Peak 70 Gulch.
Abo1t two thousand feet from the
Denverg& Rio Grande depot there is 9
mass Of snow ia one lump which con-
tains about one million tons Of water.
The mass represents a snowslide which
came from the summit of Kendall
mountain the night Of February23. The
point where the snow broke from the
apex of the mountain is probably two
and half miles from the railroad track,
and the slide made the run cording
to witnesses who heard the crash at
the start and the crunch when it stopped
In less than two minutes
Monday night was q terror. The
mercury had shrunk away down IN the
bulb, and everyone expected to see the
climax of the storm. About 8 o'clock
great banks Of snow began to accumu-
late and pile up in fantastic shapes on
the mountain tops. Then came puffs OF
wind as strong as q gale, and miniature
whirlwinds scurried here and there all
over the park, toying with the loose
boards and sending up columns Of sport
i've snowfakes, says the Silverton (Col)
Miner.
Higher and thicker and darker the
cloud battlements piled over the Animas
canyon, while those up the Animas,
like castles Of light riding on pillows Of
resplendent silver, doomed in magnif-
cent grandeur. Over and among those
aerial mountains the moon peeped
through fitfully and cast in food OF
dazzling light.
By 9 o'clock the storm was at it's
height. The wind tore through the
foliage on the hillsides, and, battering
at the buildings, hurled defiance at man
kind. serpentine lines Of glittering fire
CLEANED from between the rents in the
clouds, and loud detonations from the
battlements on high proclaimed the
march of the storm.
It was about midnight when, above
the roar Of the elements far above the
clouds upon old Kendall, the loud
'scrac-k-k" was heard. Then a "crooch,
crooch, crunch!'' and then the whole
,nountainside seemed to be coming
with a fearful and indescribable crush.
Thousands of tons of snow were shot
out of that wide space above timber
line and piled into Idaho gulch, and
brushing down every thing before it.
Trees, rocks, banks of frozen earth
all shared in common fate, and to see
that monster coming, as it seemed,
from the clouds, would have been a
grand sight. There was no stop to the
colossal mass when it struck the fat.
Making it's own road as it coursed its
race, filing in all declivities, 1t con-
tinued on it's mad race until it reached
the river.
Instead of stopping there, it smeared
q bridge for itself and continued over
the railroad track, carrying with it two
telegraph poles, the Y and spread itself
finally over the town site, within two
hundred yards from the main street OF
Silverton.
Such slide has never before been
seen here, and to those who have never
seen one and are skeptical Of it's tire
mendous energy, we invite their atten-
ton to this one before going elsewhere.
Once before in the history of this town
has the Idaho gulch slide come down,
and that was in 1879, when it barely
reached the river. The snow now lies
six feet solid on the railroad track.
At the foot of the gulch it is at least
one hundred and thirty feet deep. It is
full of timber-trees from six inches to
two feet in diameter broken into splint-
ers. rocks weighing tons are scattered
through it, while the entire body is as
solid as ice itself. People go every day
to view this giant of the mountains, and
it will continue to be source of inter-
est until it melts beneath the rays of
our July sun.