St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1895-06-22
THE RUSH OF AN AVALANCHE.

Pssils Of Travel In the Snow Mosntaias Of
British Colunbia.
Imagine If you can the very rough
est bit of nature you have ever seen, or
take newspaper, crumplc it into a
ball, and placing it on table suppose
all its raised parts to be peaks, and the
hollows ravincs: 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.
Let us suppose we arc standing near
the summit of one of these ridges on a
bright sunny day in January. 1t has
been showing continually for days, and
the beautiful lies in plenteous pro-
fusion everywhere, six to eight feet
deep in the timbcred ridges, and any
depth you like in the ravines; the sun
gets warmer; up above you, near the
crest of the mountain, little bits Of
crystals detach themselves and go
rolling down the slope. a tiny crack
forms at your feet and widens across
the gulch; in an instant the whole
snowy mass is in motion. and with a
heaval along its edges, goes hurting
down the gorge. Faster and faster
1t glidcs; the air is filed with snowy
spumc; where you stood it was a rivu-
let: thousand feet below it is mad
torrent; the noise increases as it gains
momentum.
Rocks are torn loose, broken to atoms
or ground to powder, trees uprooted
and broken to pieces, logs smashed to
splinters. At half mile on its path it
presents a crest of twenty 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 il, the wind
Of its creation is hurricane. a cloud
of dust and snow follows in its wake;
in a seething torrent it pours over rock
and precipice. and moving resistlcssly
on leaves in its track broken and
fragments of rock and trees
and the smooth and polished grasses of
the gorge. The thunder dies; is gone:
and the avalanche is passed. Down at
the foot of the slope, a mile away,
of snow tossed up in hope
less cnaos, 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, muffied roar of
passing avalanches. They come and
20 ut all times and at all hours: each
year new one is created, for the old
n ones are we'll known. They have
claimed their blood tribute: each has
Is record of brave men done to death.
These avalanches arc everywhere:
here is not wagon road
Or mountain trail that does
rot cross the path of several On
he kaslo-Slocan road to New Denver
here arc five or six: on the winter
Dad to Sandon and Cody creek. four;
Ill trails to the mines cross and recross
these moving destroyers; yet all the
season of greatest danger there is more
,raffic on these roads and trails than
m many highways in civilization.
escapes are an everyday
natter. No one hesitates or delays on
account of the peril to be incurred. |
lften. very often, the snowslidc passes |
! few feet from the ore-laden pack |
cam, but not always with warning.
n an instant men and animals are |
and tossed like straws in |
he boil of seething snow; it is merci-
III that death is instantaneous.
The force of the wind created by one |
i these larger slides is well nigh in
rcdible: in the valley of the Illecille-
raet, on the line Of the Canadian Pa.
ifio. tree tops are cut off by the force
t the wind on the opposite side of the
avine through which the avalanche
escendS The snow is pressed into
he hardness of ice and literally tears
r grinds to powder everything in its
ath. The many deplorabl fatalities
hat have lately occurred in the SLOGAN
re partly due to the destruction of the
imber on the wooded slopes by the
earful fires of last summer; the trees
Gliding up the snow and preventing
iding. We read of many brave and
croic acts; but surely the patient
outrage that daily takes even chances
nth death on the slopes and in the
Of the Sloca deserves more
han passing tribute. Victoria