The Evening dispatch. [volume] (Provo, City, Utah) 1891-1895, 1894-11-20
A MYSTERY SIZED.
ONLY A STRAW IN TT }THWAY
OF THE AvALAfF

$4,000 Worth of Goodsf ed Out on
the New Route Over the ltains.
The route was from N lille along
the right bank Of the Y river, over
the Sierra Nevada noun and down
to Washoe City and GoHill, haul
OF nearly 200 miles. Exc in the dead
OF winter there were alys freighters
going and coming. The.ad been talk
OF cutoff route over tbaountains-a
route which would savflany miles Of
heavy harng and of unIading and re-
Iading the great wa5ns-but the
still stuck 1.-THE old trail.
-7yery mile Of it was roth and rugged,
ai-' 1any miles of it dagerous to man
ana rise as well as vehcle, but there
mlghhe more danger irthe new route.
In u spring of 1863Eord was sent
out thP Captain Joe Hanes was load
ing nh Ia wagons for ne Gold Hill
country I'D would be thfirst to try the
cuVon' 1me men sagly shook their
heaos AM recalled thestories of emf
grants iosin the grim Sierras; others
appIaudea he captains nerve and
wlshed MN good luck. Six heavy
norses OF mus to a wagon, Il drivers,
Two BOSSES . cooks, five men giving
Ohelr serylceTee to get out to the Ne
yaoa mines. wenty- three men and 90 |
heao OF i've SIX, and the value of the |
goods IN the wons was $50, 600.
Nla3.@
One spring dc the caravan took the |
road Word cal back from it almost
every day until left the trail leading
up 70 the pass tough which the rail
Eoao track afterWi1 found its way. At |
certain point lSniles short of the
oeno IN the trail ne caravan turned
enarp 10 the east to y the cutoff route.
A trapper saw the ,apons among the
foothills, and Indian hnnters saw them
TWO DAYS later Afer that no man saw
them and lj%sS ta-tI Of II. DAYS and
weeks pass by, and the weeks had run
1nVo nlonIhs nefore it came to be gen.
eralIy oelleve, that the Haines outfit
hao met with see disaster. That never
a man had returad to Marys lille and
never man had reached the eastern
slope meant more than disaster 1t
meant terrible trageor
One searching party followed the
wagons into the foothills and lost all
trace of them. A second tracd them nm
one valley and down another, hut at =
certain point time had oblitelated all
further evidences. Winter came. and
they were forgotten. Spring returned.
and the hunters and Indians sent out
reports that the disappearance of the
outfit was a mystery beyond them. Then
the runor gave out that Captain Haines
had safely reached his destination, but
would return no more to Marysville. 1t
was wartime then, and people scarcely
thought of aught else but war. In an.
other year all was forgotten, save per-
haps by the shippers who had had 10 re-.
turns and were hoping against hope.
Two, three, five, ten years passed
away. Old men died; boys grew to
manhood. The railroad came, and the
wagons disappeared from the trail. One
--4a,1Ines',r aa-r h17ntnr who had become
separated from his companions sat
down ON a rock in the heart of the
mountain range to rest To the west of
him there was only narrow trail; TO
the east and north there was more room.
As the hunter rested he scanned the
hillsides to the east and north. The po-
sition of the powders, the size of the
trees, the queer CONFORMATION of the
slopes-a dozen signs gave him to under
stand, for he was something Of geolo-
gist, that the spot was not as nature
left it. He clambered up the northern
slope and uttered an "Ahl" of surprise.
Once upon a time the ground below him
had been a valley rich in grass and
flowers.
1t was a narrow, tortuous valley not
over 10 rods wide-a valley connecting
two larger valleys. To the east noun
tain reared its head 8, 900 feet high-a
mountain of many mountains. Two
thousand feet above him had been the
starting point of landslip Millions Of
tons of earth and rock had been set 10
motion by the rolling over of a stone
which might nothdveweigheda hundred
pounds. The discharge of rife, the
neigh of horse, the shout of nan,
sven the feet of a bird resting after a
flight, might have caused the avalanche
after a long spell of wet weather. 1t
had rushed down into that narrow val
ley to fill it up as dirt fills ditch, to
bury the green grass and the tender vio-
lets Is, 90, 80 feet deep. The rush, and
the roar, and the crash must have been
terrific.
The man looked and descended to the
trail To him it was only point of
geology. With his own eyes he had seen
one Of the tremendous changes nature is
constantly making in tho mountains.
All, what's this? He has been absent
less than half an hour, and yet during
that time the waters from a hidden
spring have gushed forth from the hill
side and formed a creek, which is twist
ing and turning along the trail The
hunter kneels down to drink, and his
eyes rest upon a rusty gun barrel. As he
pulls it out of the soil he sees the hoof
of a horse with shoe yet firmly hold
ing to it.
away at the bank on each side of the
spring. They find the bones of a horse,
the skeleton of man, the ironwork of
a wagon. They solve the mystery sur
rounding the fate of the long lost Haines
party. Dead, every man and horse
dead since the night they camped in
that mountain cove and the awful ava
ianche came rushing down to destroy
everything in its PATH OF what use for
others to dig? Men must die, and men
must be buried. They were buried so
deep that trees took root and threw out
great branches above them as they slept
Twenty three men, 90 horses and mules,
IL wagons, $50, 600 worth of cargo
only a straw in the pathway Of the ava
lancha Detroit Free Press