The herald., 1898-01-29
The Santa Fe's Mountain
Lime Kiln
THEIR ENGINEERS N0NPLUSED
HOG ENGINE TURNS COMPLETELY
UPSIDE DOWN
Capt. Cross Has His ojai Road Almost
Completed-A Tale of Woe From
the Desert-Local Notes

Inc santa II e has SCb q hiOhAAeNi'A S@A
fire in Arizona and is in the most per-
picking situation that any railroad ever
faced. In fact, so serious is the problem
that the company has summoned all the
best engineers into consultation as TO
means and methods to be used to make
the road available again for traffic, for
as it is now, all Of the company's trains
have to be operated on the Southern Ia
cific companys tracks between MARI
copa and Deming, or between Cotton
and Deming, the former route being
used for freight trains and the latter for
passenger traffic.
The trouble is with the tunnel through
the mountain at Johnson's canyon, near
Williams in Arizona. This caught fire
some ten days ago, and, as has been
stated, the company has been put to the
greatest expense in fighting the blaze
and operating it's trains meanwhile over
the Southern Pacific road.
Thursday it was announced at the
general offices here that the tunnel fire
was extinguished, the woodwork re-
placed, and that trains would be oper-
ated through it from that day on. Thurs
day evening, however, few minutes
before the time for the first train to ar
rive at the mouth of the tunnel, the op-
orator at the station there thought that
he would better take look at the place,
and, on walking to the entrance, found
to his amazement that the interior was
nothing but a roaring furnace, the new
woodwork being ablaze, and while he
watched, in a space of not two minutes,
II became evident that the entire work
that had been done was thrown away.
In half an hour the heat from the fire
was so intense that no one could ap-
proach within a quarter of mile OF the
opening, the flames and gases spouting
out for many feat at each end.
Investigation showed conclusively that
the new fire was a case of spontaneous
combustion. In short, the tunnel is now
nothing but the flue for an immense lime
kiln, the largest, perhaps, that the
world has ever known, for it is really a
mountain that is being burned.
The geological formation of the noun
tain through which the tunnel passes is
chiefly limestone of a high degree of
purity The lime is part of a series of
strata, lime, lava and volcanic ashes sue
CA
week, together with the natural moist
ure of the soil and the water which had
been used to extinguish the former
blaZe-all these things together have re-
suited in starting the lime in the noun
tain to Stacking" This would not have
been so bad if the casing of the tunnel
had not been put in place in air-tight
shape This served to confine the gases
from the Stacking" lime, and finally
they broke out and, flaming up, set fire
TO the casing again. But this is only
portion of the difficulty. The lime, as it
is Stacked" is dissolved into gas, liquid
and ash, which, falling out of place, re-
lease the stratum adjoining of volcanic
ash and lava. These fall down, catch on
fire. and add to the conflagration.
The railway people fear that they may
have to abandon the tunnel, and there
does not seem to be any way by which
they can avoid its use-at least, with
out an expense that would mean almost
financial disaster. The whole mountain
is made up of this limestone, and there
is no reason to believe that 1t will stop
Its stacking" operation until it is ex-
hausted; meanwhile the caving- process
is continued There does not seem to be
any way by which the fire can be
stopped. The caving-in will con-
tinued so long as the lime is on fire. The
heat is too intense to allow of the ap-
proach of man or apparatus within
working distance from the place, and sc
the company engineers are nonplussed
AS stated, they have called in all the
noted mining and consulting engineers
tn Ari1 nd 20 T.,
situation. AS things look now, their only
hope seems to be to wait until the noun
tain is consumed, and then build their
track on the surface. The matter of a
tremendous daily mileage bill from the
Southern Pacific company, however, is
not pleasing to the general officers.
AS Chief Clerk Walker said yesterday:
'"The situation is like the man who was
playing poker and found out that bad
luck can hang onto a man for an awful
long time, and then it can grow worse"
NOT STARVING NOR ILL
a. Adolph of this city, who returned
yesterday from a trip to Mammoth tank
on the Colorado desert, brought q sad
story of the sufferngs of Mr.. Joyce and
his family of six children, who had been
found at the tank in what was described
to be most pitiful condition from thirst
exposure and want. They had walked
all the way from Prescott, Ariz., and
were trying to get to Chino, where Mr.
Joyce said he owned some property. He
did not explain why, if he had property
he was making the journey in such a
trying way as to walk. Mr.. Adolph, how
ever, was so impressed with the sad con-
dition of the people that he brought the
matter to the attention of the Southern
Pacific company through Assistant Su.
perintendent Prior, who at once tele-
graphed to the agent at the tank to in
vestigate and to pass the family to this
city if they were found to be in the con.
dition described. The reply came in the
afternoon that Mr.. joyce and his family
We're all in healthy condition, and thar
they said they We're simply waiting there
for a pass which some friend had of.
fered to send to them at this place They
did not seem to be in want and none o.
them We're i'll. They had had hare
walk of it from Prescott, it is true, bu
their condition was not such as to war
rant the agent in passing them to thi.
however, to be on the right side, sen
word to send the family along.
THE OJAI RAILWAY
Captain John Cross will have his Ven
tura and Ojai railway completed in plen