The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1895-04-11
GRAND BUT AWFUL.
SNOW SLIDES IN THE BRITISH
COLUMBIA MOUNTAINS.

They Represent Power for Destruc-
ton, Grand to Contemplate Yet Often
Horrible in Reality-Picturesqu in
its Awfulness, it Presents a Scene
Described.
Imagine if you can the very toughest
bit OF nature you have ever seen, or
take a newspaper, crumple it into a
ball, and placing it On a table suppose
all its raised parts to be peaks, and
the hollows ravnes picture the sharp
edges as ridges more or less timbered,
the hollows bare, smooth or steep as
the roof of the steepest house you
know of, and you have an idea OF the
mountains and gorges of the SLOGAN in
! British Columbia.
Let us suppose we are standing
near the summit of one of these ridges
on bright sunny day in January. It
has been showing continually for days,
and the " beautiful" lies in plenteous
proiuson everywhere, six to eight feet
deep in the timbered ridges, and any
depth you like in the ravines the sun
gets warmer; up above you, near the
crest Of the mountains, little bits of
crystals detach themselves and 90
rolling down the slope; a tiny crack
/ forms at your feet and wdens across
the gulCh !; in an instant the whole
snowy mass is in motion, and with a
Kissing, rustling sound and an up
heaval along its edges, goes hurling
down the gorge. Faster and faster it
glides; the air is filled with snowy
fumes where you stood it was a livu-
let thousand feet below it is a mad
torrent ; the noise increases as it gains
momentum.
Rocks are torn loose, broken to
atoms or ground to powder, trees
upturned and broken to pieces, logs
smashed to spllnters. At half mile
on its path it presents crest oftwenty
to thirty feet in height and moves
faster than an express train; woe
betide any living thing in its way now
Nothing made by man can stand
before it, the wind of its creation is a
hurricane, a cloud of snow and dust
follows in its wake; in a seething
torrent it pours over rock and preci-
pice, and moving resistlessly on leaves
in its track broken and crushed frag-
ments of rocks and trees and the
smooth and polished crevasses in the
gorge. The thunder dies is gone
and the avalanche is passed. Down
at the foot of the slope, mile away,
mountains of snow tossed up in hope
less chaos, a wild tangle of rocks,
earth, trees and logs remain to mark
the slide, and often, alas too often,
the bodies of brave men caught in its
rush lie buried in its icy embrace.
All around you can hear, day and
night, the distant, muffled roar OF
passing avalanches. They come and
go at all times and at all hours each
year a new one is created, for the older
ones are we'll known. They have
claimed their blood tribute each has
its record of brave men done to death
These avalanChes are everywhere
there is not wagon road or a noun.
tain trail that does not cross the patti
of several. On the kaslo- SLOGAN road
to New Denver there are five or six
on the winter road to Sandon and
Cody Creek, four all trails to the
mines cross and re-Cross these moving
destrOyers yet at the season 0
greatest danger there is more traffic or
these roads and trails than on many
highways in civilization. Marvellous
escapes are an everyday matter. Nc
one hesitates or delays on account O
the peril to be incurred. Often, very
often, the snow slide passes few fee
from the oreladen pack team, but no
always with warning. In an instant
men and animals are overwhelmed
and tossed like straws in the boil 0
seething snow it is merclful tina
death is instantaneous.
The force of the wind created b,
one of these larger slides is we'll nigh
incredible; in the valley Of the Illecil
lewaet, on the line of the Canadian
Pacific, tree tops are cut off by tn
force of the wind on the opposite sid
! of the ravine through which the ava
lanche descends. The snow is pressed
E, into the hardness of ice, and literall
, tears or grinds to powder everything il
its path. The many deplorable fatali
! ties that have lately occurred in tn
SLOGAN, are partly due to the destruc
= ton of the timber on the wooded
! slopes by the fearful fires of last sum
mer the trees holding up the sno,
!, and preventing sliding. We read @
: many brave and heroic acts but surel
the patient courage that daily take
\ even chances with death on the slopes
. and in the mountains of the SLOGAN
y deserves more than passing tribute.
Household Treasure.