The Dalles times-mountaineer. [volume] (The Dalles, Or.) 1882-1904, 1898-05-17


forces of storm and food into peaceful
ness. Each day the sky rose blue and
distant above the bare hills and sage
brush plain. The hills bore no majestic
trees to make petty the distance from
earth to heaven, and men had not yet
cared or were not able to erect lofty
buildings to break the brown mOnotOny
of the valleys. While the clouds seemed
to have forgotten that their duty was to
hold men to the necessities of life and
had wandered away, leaving the child
rem of earth to dream in idleness, un
reproyed bv rain or wind. Day after
dav one might gaze up from the lazy
stretch of those dull plains to the cloud
less blue sky-so blue and so far away
that il filled the senses with indefnable
sadness.
A world of peace it seemed, but the
few who watched saw many signs of
coming storm. The creatures OF the
mountains were deserting their homes
and stealthily gathering in the valleys.
The timid deer, forgetting shyness, ran
lightly past the cabin doors. Clouds OF
fine dust that rose suddenly from the
dry hilltop and ran quickly from sum-
NIT to base, announced the coming of
the graceful antelope to water. The
hardy badger-surely he. in his earthly
stronghold is safe if any is-even he
had donned rough, shaggy coat OF fur
that made his already burly and clumsy
body look grotesquely awkward as he
summed himself before his ground-house
door. Rabbits were masquerading in
snow-white robes, running in and out
among the gray sage-brush or sitting
upright affectedly, with dainty fore
feet held dropping before them like
hands. Watchers saw these signs, rec
ognizing the thick and silvery fur and
the friendliness of the usually distrust-
full as oft-noted heralds of winters long
remembered for their merciless cold.
Soon the promise was fulfilled and the
beauty of late autumn yielded to bleak
ness of winter. Clouds of cold gray
covered everything with a shadow of
gloom. The cutting wind sent men
shivering to the freside and drove the
patient cattle ceaselessly before it o.
huddled them close under shed or tree.
Every living creature sought hiding
place, venturing forth only when forced
by hunger or thirst. The clouds grew
heavier and the cold more intense until
hill and valley lay under a mantle of
snow.
Travel was almost impossible and the
lonely lives of the ranchers threatened
to become even more desolate as the
routes were shortened and changed.
But the mail had been carried without
a failure along one of the most dangerous
lines-the one leading from the "City of
the Reinrock," over the clear waters of
the Crooked river and swift Deschutes,
on up and across the Cascades, near the
stately Three Sisters The mail-carrier
of that road was daunted by neither
heat nor cold. The night of the great
storm found him at the lodging house
in Ochoco valley, and when he awoke in
the morning and, opening the door, saw
the snow follow over the threshold, and
looked out over the white world before
him, he exclaimed
"Well, we'll e! Old Mother Earths put
On her nightcap! Let her sleep; we've
no need of her for weeks to come
Undismayed by the storms severity,
he had mounted his horse, ploughed
through the heavy snow, forded icy
rivers and safely reached his last resting
place before the mountain was crossed.
Then he brought out his homemade
for the horse could go no
arther.
In the bright sunlight of the winter
morning group of men stood before
he juniper cabin, watching the mail
'arrier's preparations for his mountain
limb, each giving his warning or proph- ,
ICY as to the days weather.
81 wouldn't be in your shoes for bit
oday," said Joe. Then added, ''Not as
we got anything against the shoes as
,hOes -