The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1895-12-07
The Rush of the Avalanche.
From the Victoria, b. c. Colonist.

Imagine, if you can, the very roughest
bit of nature ever seen. or take news
paper, crumple it into ball, and, placing
it on table, suppose all its raised parts to
be peaks and the hollows ravines; picture
the sharp edges as ridges more or less
timbered, the hollows bare, smooth, or steep
Us the roof of the steepost house you know
of, and you have an idea of the mountains
and gorges of the Slocan
Let us suppose we are standing near the
summit of one Of these ridges on bright,
sunny day in January. 1t has been snow
ing continuously for days, and the "beau
tiful lies in plenteous profusion every
where, six to eight feet deep in the tim
bered ridges and any depth you like in the
ravines. The sun gets warmer; up above
Won, near the crest of the mountain, little
bits Of crystals detach themselves and go
rolling down the slope; tiny crack forms
al your feet and widens across the gulch ;
in an instant the whole snowy mass is in
motion, and with kissing, rustling sound
and an upheaval along the edges goes hurl-
ING down the gorge. Faster and faster it
elides, the air is filled with snowy spume !;
where you stood it was a rivulet, 1000 feet
below it is mad torrent; the noise in
creases as il gains momentum.
Rocks torn loose, broken to atoms on
ground to powder; trees uprooted and
broken to pieces; logs smashed to splinters
At half Il mile on its path it presents a
crest of 20 to 30 feet in height and moved
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 cloud OF
SNOW and dust follows in its wake; in a
/ Seething torrent it pours over rocks and
precipices, and, moving resistlessly on,
leaves in It's track broken and crushed frag-
ments of rocks and trees The thunder
dies, is gone, and the avalanche passed.
Down at the foot of the slope, mile away,
mountains of snow Tossed up in hopeless
chaos, wild tangle of rocks, earth, trees
and logs remain to mark the side. and
often. alas, too often, the bodies of the
brave men caught in its rush lie buried in
its icy embrace
All around you can hear day and night,
the distant mufled roar of distant ava
lanches. They come and 90 at all times
and at all hours; each year a new one is
created They have claimed their blood
tribute; each has its record of brave men
done to death These avalanches are
everywhere; there is not a wagon road or a
mountain trail that does not cross the path
of several On the Kalse-Slocan Road to
New Denver there are five or six; on the
Winter Road TO Sandon and Cody Greek
four. All trains to the mines cross and
rerross these moving destroyers, yet in all
the season of greatest danger there is more
| traffic on these roads and trails than on
many highways of civilization. Marvellous
escapes are an every day matter.
No one hesitates or delays on account of
the peril to be incurred Often, very
often, the snowslide passes few feet from
the oreladen pack team, but not always
with warning. In an instant men and
animals are overwhelmed and tossed like
straws in the boil of seething snow. 1t is
merciful that death is instantaneous then.
The force of the wind created by one of
these large slides is well-nigh incredible.
In the valley of the Illecillewaet, on the
line of the Canadian Pacific, treetops are
cut off by the force of the wind on the OPP
posite side of the ravine through which
the avalanche descends. The snow is
pressed into the hardness of ice, and liter
ally tears or grinds to powder everything
in its path The many deplorable fatal
tiles that have lately occurred in the Slocan
are partly due to the destruction of the
timber on the wooded slopes by the fearful
fires of last summer, trees holding up the
snow and preventing sliding We read Of
many brave and heroic acts, but surely the
patient courage that daily takes even
chances with death on the slopes and in the
mountains of the SLOGAN deserves more than
a passing tribute.