Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1897-10-16
WRECK ROUBIDEAU
The Bridge Was Gone and the Engineer Did
Not Discover It Until Too Late.
Written for The Evening Star by cy warman.
Copyright, 1se7, by on Warman.l

Copyright, 1897, by Cy warman.)
Roubideau bridge was a long, wooden
structure spanning the Gunnison a few
hundred yards to the east of Roubideau
| tunnel. Emerging from the tunnel, east
bound the engineer found a rail curving
to the left hugging the hill that hid the
bridge from view until his engine was al
most upon it. That was when the road was
new. Now the hill has been cut away and
the track Strengthened from the mouth of
the tunnel to the bridge. One day in Au-
gust 80, there came a cloudburst that
flooded the western slope as, ld-timers
said. 1t had not been flooded for years. The
steep watershed, tipping toward the sunset,
spilled the flood into the Cimarron and
Uncompahgre, and they in turn poured 1t
into the Gunnison until the stream was
full to the bank tops.
And while this wild river went roaring
down toward the eataractS of the Colora-
do, No. came screaming up among the
curves that wind away from the Utah des-
ert to the dark and dangerous crevice cali
ed the Black canon. Andy began, 90
n an, who had come to Colorado with u
good letter and one lung, had the first sec
ton OF No. 3. an express, mail and bag
gage car, out Of Grand Junction that night
forty minutes late: When the Mormon had
icst cllmbing Soldier summit, began was
expected to make up going down Cero hill
DoWn there in the canon he was striving
chly TO lose no more time, for he was a
new man running for a reputation Like
all the old Burlington men, he was an ex
Fert driver, and, 1t seemed to me- took
hazard cbeerfully, realizing, it would seem.
INA, that ne mad, at best, only few years to
i've. He had, this night, what we called
a Rockaway engine; a high, short. com
pact locomotive built for the kinks. so nu-
Elerous in the first rough draft of the Den
yer and Rio Grande railroad. The night
was still and starlit, the earth was dry and
the siivery river on his right rippled away
over the rocks clear as crystal The Rock
away made easy work of the three light
cars, steamed like the Sprudel Brunn at
Karlsbad and ran like a deer When the
fireman was not fooling round the furnace
door he hung over the arm rest and watch
ed the he, world go by. began. gaunt faced
ana SILENT sat at the open window trying
the water and whistling for curves. JjncIe
sam servant in the mail car was shutting
. .I and newspapers. He had finished
M Me- Uusay pag' which he would leave at
camp bags to be dropped at Gunnison. and
Salida e po"oh LUZ
began, being east bound, had the right or
way ana only looked at his watch occa-
sionasly to figure where No. 7 would meet
Inem. HIS orders ran him thirty minutes
"a eate. and made it the business Of No. to
NIX ana make the passing point The first
sectfon or No. was probably making forty
inlles an hour. when began whistled for
heuoldeau tunnel. A moment later thew
80, SMHSihs iound the curve where the
dark river lay in the shadow of the hill
VINE began, leaning out of his window
Stralneo his eyes to get a glimpse OF the
Drldge, She Rockaway turned sharply TO
.iie risnt ana headed straight for the open
river. Below the tunnel 1t had been a sill
very Starl1t stream; here it was roaring
river, running bank full of black water
FOR an instant began thought the engine
i ,iau leit the track, but feeling the rail still
beneath her wheels he realized a second
later that the bridge was gone The fire.
man saw the break in the track and leaned
out OF the cab as the engine plunged into
or danger closed the throttle and annIied
the air. As the engine dropped over the
Dank she turned on her side, releasing the
patent coupling and at the same time part
ing the air hose. applied the automatic
pressure to the wheels Of the three light
cars SO suddenly and so efectually that
only the mail car tipped over and hung
with her nose in the water The mali
agent climbed to the side door and finally
with the help Of the bleeding fireman sue
ceeded In escaping from the sianting car
when the postal clerk and the fireman
pounded on the door of the express car the
messenger. waking suddenly, warned them
II they attempted to enter the car he would
shoot. The deafening roar of the river
made 1t impossible for them to hear what
he said and when they began to heaye
great stones against the car door he made
good his word. nor did he stop until a dozen
4o-caliber bullets had crashed through the
door and sides Of the After waiting
for some time the messenger concluded
that the robbers had been frightened away
and cautiously peeped out. well, you
IDIOT said the postal clerk from beneath
the car, ARE you out of ammunition"
began lived a lifetime in the moment
when the Rockaway was leaping into the
Hood, and now, when the engine struck
bottom, twenty feet from the surface, she
in flooded barn yard. The picture of
his past life which had been suddenly
flashed before his eyes now disappeared,
and the engineer, hopeless II may seem,
to slip out of the cab. of the rolling engine.
Now he felt the engine slam up against a
big boulder in the bottom of the river,
and at the same time his hands grasped a
floating something. 1t was the freman's
waste box, and the engineer, holding hard
to 1t. was dragged out of the cab and car
ried to the surface. He had barely time to
breathe when a floating drift swept over
him. forcing him into the water again.
He held to the waste box, having a hand
in one Of the handles and was soon
brought to the breast Of the river again.
All this had occurred in a very brief
space Of time. but began was not a strong
man, and the strain was beginning to tell
on him. Once in while above the pillows
of the boiling flood ne got a glimpse OF the
low banks Of the river, running backward
in the dim starlight. The roar was deaf
ening. The river surged against the sands,
the banks crumbled and great cottonwood
trees that mad stood there for half a
fury swayed to and fro, and finally fell
Into the roaring flood. At times the waste
box swung near the shore eddied back like
girl on skates, and then shot down the
middle OF the mad river at a furious rate.
Unless you have seen a mountain stream
at flood you can form only a faint notion
OF the force and speed of the Gunnison
running bank full. Great rocks, the size
of sleeping car, are rolled along the bot
tom Of the river, as marbles are rolled by
the stream Of a garden hose, and here, at
the half open door of death, began turned
to look, and was awed by the awfulness Of
the wild scene. When first heafound him
self at the front of fast expfess, timing
the train with a touch Of his hand; fixing
the speed by the turn of a lever, he had
marveled, as most men do, at the speed
and power Of the locomotive, but all that
was mean and tame compared with the
force Of this fearful flood.
Here. indeed. was energy; awful and ire
sistible. A mighty force that only the
granite walls of the canon could resist,
and he, a tiny speck upon the heaving
bosom of the seething tide, was fighting,
even hoping for life, for an engineer never
gives up so long as there is breath in his
body. began was feeling strong again and
was now watching chance to pull for
the shore, when the leafy top of a falling
tree caught him and dragged him below
again, Tangled among the horpbs With