Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1894-11-22

now the Railroads Guard Against Snow
slides in the Mountains
IL IS the custom of most of the trans
continental railroads to make an aeon
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 in These DAYS Inv
enormous snowfalls, owing to the inven-
lion OF the rotary snow ploughs, they
MAKE every preparation to meet uneX-
pected emergencies. The snow in the
mountains begins to fall in the middle
OF OF, september on the peaks. 1t is not
TIL October that it is observable to any
extent in the passes such MS the railroads
use IN crossing the mountains. Before
nat ume, however, the ploughs are put
III order and made ready for use at Il
moments notice
Probably no road that crosses the Cas-
cade range has Il more serious struggle
with the snow each year than the Great
northern, the newest and furthest
north OF the American lines to the Pa
enc coast. Like some others of the
through lines when first built, this road
crosses the Cascade range by switch
back system of tracks. 1t is there that
tober l, 1893, to April 1, 1894. the snow
tall on the Great Northcrn's switchback
was, by actual measurement, 81 feet and
y inches 1t SHOWS almost every day in
the winter there, and often the fall is II
foot in three hours. Still q delay of
more than an hour or two on account of
snow, even in the scverest weather, is
unusual. Three tremendous rotary snow
plouShs are kept III constant motion dur
ing every storm, and these keep the
tracks practically clear. One of these
ploughs throws the snow in the air a
distance Of sixty feet, and so rapidly
that the flying snow actually makes it
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 II 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
pathways from 100 to 200 feet wide, rum
ming from the top of peak straight down
1000, and in some cases 1000 or 5000
feet to Il pass below These paths are
as clean as if moved with Il 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 Il tremendous
mass of debris. 1t would require days
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 Il railroad there
TO build sheds where these slides have
taken place, and where there are indlca-
tons that they will take place again.
Frequently the slides go laundering down
the slopes, strike on these stout sheds
with Il force of thousands of tons, and
then go on their way down to the valleys.
There is now very little difficulty from
this source, hut the precautionary work
costs the railroads many thousands OF
dollars"
On the Great Northern there are prob
ably Il score of these sheds in the Cas-
caCles. 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 FOOLS
are made to slope SO that they follow the
grade of the slide as far as possible The
tracks are built close under the highest
parts of the roofs, so rs to interfere as
little rs possible with the slope. WhGn
Il slide comes it shoots over these smooth
ly rooted sheds with the ease Of a water
fall over a precipice. n train passing
through shed at the same time that a
slide was going over would scarcely feel
the effect. There would be Il tremendous
roar and an earthquake rumble, hut be-
yond that the passengers would scarcely
know that anything unusual was taklnS
place. However, it takes as much englll,
cerng work and as much computation or
weights and strains to build one OF these
sheds as it does to build n complicated
trestle, and the engineers are Just a.
proud of them as they are of the finest
trcstle work From now on to sprinS
thc 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.