The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1893-07-06

and the height from the ground to the
foot of the flagstaff is, if my memory
serves, $50 feet. Now pile six Pulitzer
buildings one atop the other and start
from the battery in little bucket,
smaller than an ordinary clothes
hamper, and go to the top of that mass
suspended On a single rope, and if you
nifcance nothing viii ever bring you to
that realizing sense.
BY this time I had entered into the
full grandeur of the scene and all ner-
vousness disappeared, strange to say,
right at the most dangerous part Of the
journey. -Four hundred feet below me
! could see a train of those most abused
and yet invaluable little burros slow
ly and painfully climbing the mar
row trail laden with supplies and tim
bers for neighboring mine. Two miles
down the valley lay Telluride, looking
like child's plaything, and still fur
ther away miles and miles of dazzling
mountain peaks against the blue sky
of Colorado-bluer than Italy ever
6lIcdiilCO "a. anu clDouS AfiS WAY A~|~~
unique and picturesque colorings peep
ing out from the uncovered patches OF
the mountains.
The day was absolutely perfect, the
sun warm, and, despite the constant
danger of loaded buckets breaking
away and dashing all of us to the abyss
below and needless of the possibility OF
l.; ;.1 MIGHT honOpn |
thoroughly enjoyed this wonderful
view. l am free to confess, however,
to feeling as though an intense strain
had been removed when l finally
crossed that gigantic tower and found
myself only hundred feet or SO from
terra firIna, and only then did l dlscov-
err that my hands had been clutched on
that bucket with a deathlike grip and
were wet with perspiration, while with
my feet l had been exerting tremen-
dous pressure against the front end.
We soon came in sight Of the upper
terminal, and upon arrival there l
found the men had decided to remain,
accepting the slight reduction, and
there would be no party to reward me
than the trip itself were necessary.
Let me add, however, that the mouth
of the mine was still mile and half
further up the mountain, and that the
ore is brought from the mine to the top
of the tram by burros, each carrying
two sacks weighing one hundred and
twenty-five pounds each. Well. my
mission being fruitless, we reentered
our buckets on the down trip. l feel
perfectly sure that had the order been
reversed and the down trip come first I
would have backed out at any cost, but
my rp-journey gave me confidence, and
it was with considerable .equaninity
that l gazed down to the tiny terminal
two thousand feet below.
AS Mr.. Green entered his bucket re-
marked to the man who fastened it in
place: ''Get that good and tight, my
boy"
He answered: 81 am a thousand
times more anxious about this thing
than you, and will not breathe freely
till you're down."
1 then learned from him that since
lie opened tIlS LEdlu uNCIty -Asc CAlOu-
sand buckets had passed a.given point,
with only three runaways. l did not
then 90 into the detail of the damage |
done, but climbed into-1ny bucket once
more, figuring the number" of times
three goes into twenty-fve' thousand
Arriving at the high tower'again, and
entering upon the fourteen-hundred-
foot span, horrible sws!ying of the
bucket commenced, and finally it came
to dead stop right at the worst place on
the line. The stoppage was but mo-
and was done purposely to
give me the full benefit.
There, on the same span, were the |
tiny buckets, with two other boys, and |
the thought came to me of the hor-
rible results of a runaway atfthat par
ticular time, for while the first bucket |
containing Mansfield was but six hun
lred feet ahead, it was at the sarne |
time over two hundred feet below me,
and l could just see him waving his
hand to me by peering over the front
end of my cab. Well, we reached the |
ground again safely, and then looking
back once more l fully understood /
where we had been and wondered at |
the foolhardiness of it all, but | |
wouldn't take great deal for the ex-
oerience, just the same.-D. j. Flynn,
IN N. Y. Railroad Men.