Alpena argus. [volume] (Alpena, Mich.) 1893-1909, 1894-08-08
The Track of an Avalanche.

|
mand of a lieutenant, and about
noon we had dug our way half
through the pass. The mountain
slopes on each side were rough and
rocky, but the snow lay so deep
that each slope looked as level as
the floor, though the slant was much
sharper than the ordinary house
roof. 1t was good thousand feet
to the cedars growing on the ridge,
and it made one dizzy to look up
and realize the distance.
1--WE are liable to meet with dis
aster here" the officer had said as
we began to work with our snow
shovels in the morning. "There
must be no shooting with your re-
volvers-no 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
distance of two hundred feet and
then made a sharp turn to the north.
At the turn we had what might be
called 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 pass
and the other lengthwise of it.
For the first hour every man was
nervous and afraid. Then the feel
ing began to wear of, and some of
the men began to express their con-
tempt of the peril. At the end of
two hours the officer had to repeat
his words of caution. At about
eleven o'clock fall of snow from
the left-hand slope revealed the
mouth of cave about thirty feet
above our heads. II was believed
by all to be the lair of bear or
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 in vestigate. With
out a word OH his part followed
him. The fall of snow had left the
rocks bare and revealed three or
four small trees; but It was hard
climb to reach the cave. 1t wasn't
a cave at all, but only an indention
| in cliff, with shelf of rock over
hanging it. This overhang extend
ed out for perhaps four feet.
The men were not all in a bunch,
but some Of them were even out of
sight around the bend. After dis
covering that 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
venison for supperr'
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. IL 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. II was the con-
cussion that started the snow, and
it started from the very top of the
slope, where the warm sun had
softened it soonest. | felt a trem-
bling of the mountain and leaped
back under the overhang, and as
the lieutenant and | stood side by
side, the avalanche swept over us.
Daylight was blotted out for an in
slant and the grinding, roaring, and
crashing were something terrific.
It seemed as if the mountain rock
ed and pitched like steamer at
sea, and the noise was louder than
any clap of thunder you ever heard.
1t couldn't have lasted over sixty
seconds, though the time seemed
ten times as long. Then we looked
down, to find the pass at the soles
of our feet. In other words, it had
filled up to the height of thirty feet
with snow, boulders, trees and earth.
Two hundred feet to the west Of us
was the lower mouth or opening
beyond that a plain. The snow had
not only fallen from our slope, but
from the 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 creast a ball started
rolling, and ten seconds later the
snow OH a space three hundred feet
long was moving. Instead of piling
up in the ravine it struck and forced
the snow there to the west and fol-
lowed after. 1t was great river of