Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1891-10-16
A LOG AVALANCHE.
by ERNEST A. YOUNG.

ID.
was the reason the lumbermen chose the
spot for the location of their roll-way.
At the summit of the incline they piled
the logs to the greatest height had ever
seen.
Great rs the pie was in the winter the
first time that Lyddy Gains took Inc to
see it, it continued to grow day by dav
until spring arrived, and they began to
talk about the ice breaking up in the
river.
Lyddy was tall, ungainly, simple girl
OF fifteen. She was not quite simple
ton, or would not have been had she not
been worse than motherless, and with n
father who abused her when he had
been drinking and ignored when he had
not.
AS it was she was great romp, and
the companion of children younger than
herself. For even in that sparsely set
tied region the girls of her own age
thought her hardly worthy of their
notice.
But thought the world of her. I
suppose that was because l was only
child of eight, and so incapable of max
ing the finer distinctions. She was ever
continuing new and novel schemes for
my amusement and in many of them she
was quite clever. She was something OF
mechanic, considering that she was
girl, and could white and carve out
wonders with her jsck-knifc.
She invented one or two mechanical
toys which, us remember them now,
were worthy of protection under u
patent.
But of course such things were thought
little of, coming from Lyddy Gains. She
came handy when n neighbor wished to
call her in to take care of the children,
or to do some drudgery about the house.
And when the lumbermen were Mt work
she would sometimes run of errands for
them, and although they liked to crack
jokes ut her expense, there were few
among them who would say that Lyddy
wasn't bad girl after all.
started to tell about the logs and the
steep roil-way. Lyddy took me over to
see them, and told me how the logs
would be rolled and tumbled pell-mell
down the steep incline to the river, after
the ice had broken up. She described
in vivid language that set my imagina-
tiou on fire how they would thunder End
crash down the roll-way land plunge into
the rusa;:a. -.-oL. 1t seemed us if
--u.u hardly wait until the time should
come for the ice to disappear, was SO
eager to witness the spectacle.
Toward the last of the season we be-
gan to coast down the roll-way, which
was still covered with ice and snow, on
Lyddy's sled. We would descend with
breathless velocity, and they being no
obstacle in the way, the momentum
would cause us to shoot out across the
frozen surface of the river. 1t was cx-
hilarating sport, and as my companion
knew how to control the sled there
seemed to be little danger III it. Until
the sixth day of March arrived hardly
day passed that Lyddy aud 1 did not
slide down the roll-way and across the
ice-bound stream. On that day Lyddy
said:.
"They say the ice is breakin' down
the river, Ned"
"rhen they'll let the logs down prct.
ty soons' l eagerly asked.
"Soon as the ice is gone
"I3ut we can't coast any more, can
WEI" l exclaimed, the thought giving me
sudden pang of regret.
81 reckon we can to-day, if we're
careful" drawled Lyddy. "That's what
l come over for. l reckoned that you
would want to slide down once more,
and it is SO warm that the ice won't last
long, nor the snow neither"
If any of the lumbermen had over
heard what we were saying, we would
not have been allowed to take the risk.
So we were soon at the roilway, and as
there was no one to suggest thought of
danger, we were soon gliding down the
steep descent, and then cutting across
the crusty ice upon the river
"There's an open place out ycnder,"
said Lyddy, pointing toward n black
streak Of water that extended diagonally
across the stream.
''Thc ice seems to be thick enough
here, returned, for of course was re.
luctant to give up the sport.
But Lyddy was 700 cautious and faith
full to the trust of caring for children
younger than herself to continue a snort
which was nanifestly unsafe.
"a man got drowned here last year."
she said, to Brighten me. "Thc water
runs SO swift mat 1t breaks up sudden.
First ye know it begins to move. But
we'll slide down once more-that's all.
Then We'll have TO do somethin' else till
they let the logs go down. That'll be
the fun"
The rollway, as have said, was COW
cred with snow and ice. AS we walked
up the least slippery of the paths, draw
ing the sled, noticed that in several
places the snow had melted away under
meath, and that the crust had fallen in
between the timbers. In one place it
broke through when we stepped upon it,
and Lyddy screamed, and then laughed
when we found ourselves suddenly
plunged waist deep in the snow and
slush. Some highly civilized girls would
have done the same thing under similar
circumstances.
Your folks will think you got doused
in the river" said Lyddy, when we had
gotten upon firmer crust AGAIN and o,ozed