Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1894-11-21
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 where it is al
ways deepest. This is in the mountains,
of course, and at the highest elevations.
Although few of the roads are bothered
to any serious extent il these days by
enormous SnoWfalls, owing to the inven-
ton of the rotary snow ploughs, they
make every preparation to meet uneN-
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
extent 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-
cade range has a more serious struggle
with the snow each year than the Great
Northern, the newest and furtheSt
north of the American lines to the Pa
cific coast. Like some others of the
through lines when first built, this road
crosses the Cascade range by a switch
back system of tracks. 1t is there that
the greatest snowfall occurs. From DC
tober 1, 1898, to April 1, 1894, the snow
fall on the Great Northern'S sWitchback
was, by actual measurement, 81 feet and
8 inches 1t SHOWS almost every day III
the winter there, and often the fall is a
foot in three hours. Still, q delay of
more than an hour or two on account of
snow, even in the seyereSt weather, is
unusual. Three tremendous rotary snow
ploughS are kept in constant motion dur
ing every storm, and these keep the
tracks practically clear. One of these
plOughs throws the snow in the air 4
distance of sixty feet, and so rapidly
that the flying snow actually makes 1T
dark to those who ride directly behind
the plough One of the engineers of the
road, who has much to do with the
switchback, said to a Sun reporter re-
Gently:
There is no longer any serious difficulty
in coping with snowfalls, either in the
Rockies or in the Cascades. The chief
danger is from snow-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, run
ming from the top of a peak straight down
! 1000, and i'll some cases 1000 or 5000
! feet to a pass below. These paths are
as c,ean as if moved with 4 monster
knife The snow starts with slow glide
| that changes to a tremendous speed be-
| fore it reaches the bottom, and 1T cuts
the timber before it clean. When it all
| piles up at the bottom it is 4 tremendous
! L
and days of the most labOriOuS work to
clear the tracks of the accumulated mass
| if one of the slides should land on them
| Therefore it is one of the engineering
| problems of constructing a railroad there
! to build sheds where these slides have
| taken place, and where there are indica-
tons that they will take place again.
Frequently the slides go laundering down
| the slopes, strike on these stout sheds
with q force OF thousands OF tons, and
| then go on their way down to the valleys
| There is now very little difficulty from
| this source, but the precautionary work
costs the railroads many thousands OF
| dollars"
! On the Great Northern there are prob
ably 4 score of these sheds in the Cas-
cades They are rarely more than $50
| feet long. They are buttreSSed with the
stoutest timber that can be cut and
worked in the mountains, and the roofs
are made to slope so that they follow the
tracks are built close under the highest
parts of the roofs, so as to interfere as
| little as possible with the slope. When
slide comes it shoots over these smooth
| ~ rooted sheds with the ease Of a water
| fall over q precipice. A train passing
through a shed at the same time that q
slide was going over would scarcely feel
| the effect There would be a tremendous
roar and an earthquake rumble, but be-
! yOnd that the passengers would scarcely
know that anything unusual was taking
| place However, it takes as much engin>
eering work and as much computation of
weights and strains to build one Of these
sheds as it does to build a complicated
trestle, and the engineers 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 assuring them
selves from day to day that they are safe
and sound in every part.