The Portland daily press., 1894-10-31
SNOW EIGHTY FEET DEEP.
How the Railroads Guard Against Snow
Slides in the Mountains.

1t is the custom of most of the trans
continental railroads to make an accu-
rate measurement OF the snowfall for the
winter in those places whereit is always
deepest This is in the mountains, of
course, and at the highest elevations,
Although few of the roads are bothered
to any serious extent in these days by
enormous snowfails, owing to the inven-
ton of the rotary snow plough, they
make every preparation to meet unex
pected emergencies. The snow in the
mountains begins to fall in the middle
of September on the peaks. 1t is not till
October that it is observable to any ex-
tent in the passes such as the railroads
use in crossing the mountains. Before
that time, however. the ploughs are put
in order and made ready for use at
moments notice.
Probably no road that crosses the Cas-
ade range has more serious struggle
with the snow each year than the Great
Northern, the newest and furthest north
of the American lines to the Pacific
coast. Like some other of the through
lines when first built, this road crosses
the Cascade range by a switch back
system of tracks. 1t is athere that the
greatest snowfall occurs. From Oct /,
1898, to April, 1894, the snow, fall on
the Great Northern's switch back was
by actual measurement, 81 feet and y
inches It SHOWS almost every day IN
the winter there, and often the fall is
foot in three hours. STILL, delay OF
more than an hour or two on account OF
snow, even in the severeSt weather. is
unusual. Three tremendous rotary snow
pioughs are kept in constant motion
during every storm, and these keep
the tracks practically clear. One OF
these ploughs throws the snow in the air
a distance of 60 feet. and SO rapidly that
the flying snow actually makes it dark
to those who ride directly behind the
plough. One of the eng ineers of the
road, who had much TO do with the
switch back, said to Sun reporter re-
Gently:
4There is no longer any serious diff
Guilty in coping with snow falls, either
in the Rockies or in the Cascades. The
chief danger is from SHOW slides. AS
you pass over the mountains you will
notice that here and there may be seen
enormous pathways from 100 to 200 feet
wide. running from the top of peak
straight down 1000. and in some cases
2.000 or 5000 feet to pass below. These
monster knife. The snow starts with a
slow glide that changes to a tremendous
speed before it reaches the bottom. and
it cuts the timber before it clean.
When it all piles up at the bottom 1T is
a tremendous mass of debris. 1t would
require days and days OF the most laborl-
GUS work TO clear the tracks of the &C.
ounaulated mass if one of the slides should
land on them. Therefore, it is one of
the engineering problems in con struct-
ing railroad there to build sheds where
these slides have taken place, and where
there are indications that they will
take place again. frequently the slides
20 laundering down the slopes, striking
these stout sheds with force of thous-
ands of tons, and then go on their way
down to the valleys. There is now very
little diff Guilty from this source, but
the precautionary work costs the rail-
roads many thousands of dollars.
ON the Great Northern there are proba-
bly, a scare of these sheds in the Cas-
cades. They are rarely more than $50
feet long They are buttressed with the
atoutest tim Der that can be cut and
worked in the mountains, and the roofs
are made to slope so that they foIlow
the grade of the slide as far as possible.
The tracks are built close under the
fere as little as posi- bic with the slope
when a slide comes it shoots over these
smoothly rooted sheds with the ease of a
waterfall over a precipice. train pass
ing through the shed at the same time
that slide was going over would scarce
ly feel the effect. There would be- a ire
mendous roar and an earthquake rum
bic, but beyond that the passengers
would scarcely know that anything un-
usual was taking place. However,, it
takes as much engineering work and as
much computation OF weights and
strains to bulls, one Of these sheds as it
does the complicated trestle. and the en-
gineers are just as proud of them as they
are of the finest trestle work. From now
ON to spring the civil engineers will be
busy watching these structures and in as
surfing themselves from day to day that
they are safe and sound in every part.