The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1894-02-08
Highest of all in Leavening Powe-Laest u Govt Report
|H!a!:'I.:!! q! BskiRg Bs%dsz
ABSOLUTELY PURE
TRACK OF AN AVALANCHE.

We had gone out from Fort Owen to
open up the pass in the Big Hoe noun
talns TO enable the woodchoppers to get
a supply of fuel for the post. 1t had
showed for seventy hours without &
break: and at several points In the pass
there were drifts twenty feet high. There
were twenty-five Of US, under command
of lieutenant, and about noon we had
dug our way half way through the pass.
The mountain slopes on each side were
rough and rocky, says writer in the
New York Sun, but the snow lay SO deep
that each slope looked as level as the
floor, though the slant was much sharp
er than the ordinary house roof. 1t was
good 900 feet to the cedars growing
on the ridge, and it made one dizzy TO
look up and realize the distance.
I'VE are liable to meet with a disaster
here the officer had said as we began
work with our snow shovels in the morn
ing. There must be no shooting with
your revolvers- horse play-no shout
ing. If the snow gets started up there,
not man Of us will ever be found before
next June"
The pass ran east and west for a dis
tance of 200 feet and then made sharp
turn to the north. At the turn we had
what might be called a third mountain
IN front of US. The slope was as high as
the others and pitched TO the west or
down the pass. We thus had three slopes,
two pitching across the path and the
other lengthwise of it. For the fIst
hour every man was nervous and afraid.
Then the feeling began to wear off, and
some of the men expressed their con-
tempt for the peril. At the end of two
hours the officer had to repeat his words
of caution. At about o'clock a fall of
snow from the left-hand slope revealed
the mouth of a cave about thirty feet
above our heads. It ras believed by all
10 be the lair of panther and at noon,
when the men sat down IN the pass to eat
their pork and hard tack, the officer start
ed to go up and investigate Without a
word on his part | followed him. The
fall of snow had left the rocks bare and
revealed three or four small trees, but il
Was hard climb to reach the cave. 1t
wasn't cave at all, but only al lndenta-
ton III a cliff, with a shelf of rock over
hanging it. This overhang extended out
for perhaps four feet.
The men were not all III bunch, but
some of them were even out of sight
we had been duped about the cave we
stood looking down and across, and were
just moving to get down when one of the
men below us shouted:
"A deer A deer! Hurrah, boys-veni-
son for supper
The deer was above us, but we could
not see it on account of the overhang.
All the men had their revolvers. and as
they began to flourish them and prepare
to fire the officer called out a command
and a warning. If they heard him they
did not heed him. He was still speaking
when three or four shots were fired
simultaneously, and some one cried out
that the deer had been hit. 1t was the
conclusion that started the snow, ard it
started from the very top of the slope,
where the warm sun had softened it
soonest. | felt trembling of the noun
tain and leaped back under the overhang,
and as the lieutenant and [ stood side by
side, the avalanche swept over us. Day
light was blOtted out IN an instant and
the grinding, roaring and crashing were
something terrific.
1t seemed as If tie mountain rocked
and pitched like a steamer at sea, and
the noise was louder than any clap Of
thunder You ever heard. 1t couldn't
have lasted sixty seconds, though the
time seemed ten times as long. Then we
looked down to find the pass at the soles
of our feet. La other w)rds. it had filled
up to height of thirty feet with snow,
bOulders, trees and earth. Two hundred
feet to the west of Us was the lower mouth
or the opening beyond that a plain
The snow bad not only fallen from our
slope, but from tie one opposite. We
were struck dumb for the moment, and
as we stood gazing blankly the snow
started on the third slope. Away up
near the crest ball started rolling, and
ten seconds later the snow on a space
800 feet long was moving Instead of
piling up In the ravine it strnck and fore
ed the snow there to the west and follow
ed after.
1t was great river Of snow sweeping
past us. Logs, trees and boulders which.
weighed tens OF tons were borne along
like straws, and so swiftly that the eve
caught no second glance. All at once
there was check, and right before us q
soldier was shot to the surface. 1t was
Corporal Herts. who was probably fur
tber up the pass than any other man.
He popped out of the snow head first
aud at full length, and for perhaps five
seconds Was within ten feet of us and
looking squarely into our faces. He was
barehe AIDED, his oyercoat gone and his
face bleeding. He knew what had hap
pened, and no doubt realized his peril.
but as he stood there, saved for the in
s3ant, up went his banc in salute to the
lieutenant. As his arm dropped he dis
appeared from sight, 1t was discipline
IL the face Of death-an instance that
will never have its counterpart.
Ont of that narrow. rocky pass poured
the tide with a fury which scraped it as
! rare as floor and tore great rocks from
lis sides. At the west mouth the snow
/ filed a ravine fifty feet deep, and then
/ poured out on the plain for quarter OF
a mile. 1t was no use to look for the
! bodies. Five hundred men could not
/ have moved that mass in fortnight.
Twenty-four men were buried there. 1t
vas idle to hope that any of them still
llved. Along IN the last days of June We
| found them, one after another, and even
! then We had to dig. The snow would
! have smothered them as 1t rushed down.
/ but with the snow came rocks which
crushed some of them to pulp. The cor
/ poral who had saluted as he looked into
the eyes OF death was the last one found
He was at the bottom of the ravine. the
body without shred of clothing, and the
arm he had raised had been torn from
Its socket as he was whlrled along with
that grinding mass.