Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1897-01-08


mile. the other two being little easier.
and then we struck the river. along which
! we slowly worked finally reaching .
| stretch OF good crust, over which we won't
beautifully on our snow-shoes, until we
got within two miles OF Revelstoke. That
two-mile stretch was heart-breaker,
for 1t was through clearing. and the
ice crust was so thin that we had TO
stamp Through 1t every step. Snow
shoes were out Of the question. We got
there In the evening Of the 18th.
my recollections of the next four
! days are dim. / can remember getting
up to eat and going back to sleep again,
and finally l got fairly awake, and ready
to come on East. I hadn't lost much
time by my sleeping. however. as the
trains wore running seventy and eighty
hours late. owing 70 snow -slides. One
train out there was blocked for ten days.
and that was just about the time. bs-
lieve. that you people here were COM
planning Of the warm weather. We had
touch ar II there, too, as the thermome-
ter made a swoop from 30 below zero
to 40 degrees above in p day. My rail-
road trip east was uneventful. as the
train l was on was only delayed four
hours by the snow.
There's peculiar feature about ths
| extreme cold up there" continued Pro-
ly, land that Is that you don't feel It
much. 1t is very dry. and the cold
doesn't hurt the way it does here The
| cold was the least Of my eufferinRs--
except that once when ] fell into the
Tiver-and the only thing one has to do
| TO guard against Il is 10 set up a sys-
tenn of reciprocal watching OF ears and
noses with his companions, and also to
/ feel of himself every now and then TO
make sure that he still possesses tho
sense OF feeling in his extremities. As
/ soon as be loses that II Is time to be-
/ gin to rub the affected part with snow.
! One may very easily freeze his fingers,
toes. nose, or ears there without know
/ ing Ii. You feel n tingling pain. In your
ear, say for three or four minutes, ana
then you forget about It II you are
careless. Presently you put up your
/ hand 20 feel your ear, and a piece OF
/ Il breaks off In your hand. The fingers
are pretty well protected by the heavy
mitts. but the toes will bear considera-
Bile care. Leather boots are out OF the
! question up there. They would freeze
stiff. and then the feet In them would
/ freeze. Every one wears buckskin
moccasins, sometimes putting heavy
arctics over them But as far as dis
comfort from the cold Itself IL con-
cerned | have suffered more here with
the mercury 10 points below freezing,
than l did there when II was 20 points
below zero. l didn't get touched 10y tho
frost during the entire trip. but we had
almost MINDLESS weather. In blizzard
out there there is only one thing to do.
Crawl into shelter, or make one II you
can't find any. and pray for tho storm to
blow over"
The hydraulic plant which Professor
Mason put in brings water down from the
mountains through 5000 feet OF steel
pipe. The stream Is thrown against the
4 sold-bearing gravel bank and washes
down the gravel thousands OF cubic yards
I'm day. About the lowest grade gravel
worked there runs about cents TO .
cubic foot. From 10 TO is cents Is consid-
cred rich in ordinary mines. Some or the
best gravel I'm tho Columbia Company's
mines and adjacent mines runs as high
as 81 30 cubic foot. The process OF
washing out the banks is not unattended
by danger.
1.-THE steel pipes that carry the water
down" says Professor Mason. terminate
I'm nozzes feet long. Our plant throws
two 5-inch streams with a velocity or luv
feet a second and so powerful Is the
rush OF the water that the pipes have to
be solidly anchored But once in awhile
IL happens that n nozzle bsgins to buck
entrance of air into the pipes, but the ex-
act reason for IL is not undegst stood You
hear the splitting of the air as II comes
out through the nozzle, and then every
thing may be all calm again, or the nozzio
may begin TO buck. IL you can imagine u
pythan with a solid steel neck thrashing
that neck around with irresistible force
and lightning swiftness, now to one side.
now TO the other, then up and down OF
in swooping circles you may have
! weak idea OF what a bucking nozzle II
like. There is just one thing for the
nozzle men TO do, and that Is to straddie
the nozzle and hang on until the water
| can be shut off. The minute IL begins the
| first man to see II yells:
| ".Iook out, she's going TO buck
| THAT'S all that Is necessary AZ that
| cry every man within 400 feet drops his
tools and runs, not away. unless he be
| very nearly out Of range. but directly
toward the nozzle, for that Is the only
safe place. and they never stop running
| until they reach It. Il man might better
| be hit by an express train going sixty
miles an hour than by one OF our placer
| rtreams AT the velocity with which 10
leaves the nozzle. the stream Is like
| steel bar. You can't cut IL with an axe.
heard OF man trying to do II once,
| and IL iore his arm almost on. They
| found the axe hundred yards away
Such a force OF water striking man
would tear him 10 pieces. and therein lies
| the creates danger OF a bucking nozzles
| for while the scope OF the thrashins
| nozzle is small, the stream carries No
feet. and In the wild plunges Of the nozzle
sweeps a big territory. None OF our men
has ever been killed. but two men up
at the Caribou mine. north or us. were
struck by a stream from q bucking no.
zle and hammered to pulp. The wofs0
| OF Il is that there is no way to tell when
the bucking Is likely TO begin"
| Professor Mason expects to return 10
his post as manager OF the mine next
spring II he gets caught by an early
snow In tho fall, he won't attempt TO
repeat MS trip down to Revelstoke.. but
will spend the winter IN the camp. which
he will provision against such a hap
| penine. Once over that sixty miles Of
snow-buried trail, Professor Mason says.
| Is enough for him.
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