The Topeka state journal., 1899-03-16
Passengers on the Snow Bound
Cheyenne & Northern Train
Are Rescued From Their Peril
Gus Situation.
ESCAPE IN WAGONS.
Relief Trains Sent Out In
Their Interest
Are BlOckaded All Along the
Line by Ice and Snow.

Cheyenne, Wyo., March 16.-The train
that has been snow-bound on the Chey-
enne and Northern railroad for the
past three weeks was abandoned yes
terday. Today the passengers were
taken in wagons from Altus to Horse
Creek station, where they were trans
ferred to train and brought to Chey-
enne. During the time the train was
showed in the passengers and crew did
their own cooking and lived in the cars.
A number of relief trains were sent to
the rescue, but they failed to get
through the drifts of snow and ice
which are ten and twenty feet deep and
are now blockaded at different points
along the road.
The company had been hopeful of
rescuing the train this week by means
of rotary plows. One of these machines
was borrowed from the Union Pacific
main line and more were expected The
one secured cut a mile of ice and snow,
but was recalled owing to another STORM
on the Union Pacific.
This inability to get plows accounts
for the failure of the company TO DrlnS
the train through. The only ones avail
able are those of the Union Pacific,
and these have been working constantly
for the last month to keep the main
line of the transcontinental road open
The track is covered with drifts OF
snow and ice, ranging in length from 100
yards to one mile, and at an average
depth of sixteen feet.
John Oapeley of Aberdeen, S. D., VIM.
PettigreW of Douglas, WyO., and JOhn
Owen of Wheatland, WyO., three OF the
passengers who reached here last night,
left the train yesterday and walked ten
miles on SnOWShOeS to meet one OF the
relief trains and came to this city on
light engine. They are in a pitifui con-
dition from the hardships they have
endured from cold and exposure ana
TO fn Of md n
able~to tell the day of the week or a
connected story of what they have ex-
perienced.
OapeIey's feet were frozen while walk
ing out from the imprisoned train and
probably will have to be amputated- All
of the men have swollen limbs and are
weak and emacfated from lack OF proper
food. They report that all of the pas
sengers are sick from the meager diet
of the last two weeks and are weak and
disheartened.
STORY OF SUFFERING.
Oapeley says of the experience on the
train:
I'VE left Orin Junction, 154 miles from
here, on Feb. 2, with passenger car
and cabOOse. We expected to make
the run to Cheyenne in one day. 1t took
us two days to reach Iron Mountain,
way section, where there is nothing
but a small ranchhouse and sidetrack-
Here we ran into snowdrifts ten to nj
teen feet high, and were completely
stalled. We had considerable food on
the train, but little water We had five
train men, about twenty-five section
hands, and twenty-five passengers.
Superintendent Rasback of the Chey-
enne and Northern was also with US.
In order to get water we had to run
five miles to a water tank, and when we
started back a storm came up and our
engine couldn't break the drifts, so we
had to shovel nearly all of the distance
We spent the next fourteen days shovel
ing snow to try and get through the
a
food to keep from starving. Our pro-
visions after the third day consisted
of bacon and beans. We had no bread
for several days until Superintendent
Rasback sent men on snowshoes around
to several ranch houses and got a small
supply. He also sent out his train men,
who killed a steer.
RANCHES OUT OF FOOD.
"The passengers on the train were
provided for during the first week at
one of the ranches, but when the sup
ply of food gave out there they were
compelled to return to the train.
The only facilities for cooking were
the car stoves. The cooking was ac-
complished by putting chatting plates in
the fire and heating them red hot. We
then placed them on top of pile of
links and pins in one end of the car and
cooked our meat on them. OF course
this made lots of smoke, but we soon
got used to that. The food was poorly
cooked but we were so hungry that
everything tasted all right.
1--WE had no blankets, and it was i'm
possible to keep the cars warm enough
for comfort There We're no facilities
for washing. and the dirt and cold made
such discomfort that were all dis
heartened.
I'VE had sufficient coal to keep the
engine alive until Monday, when the
fuel gave out and we had to let the
engine die This dispelled all hopes of
getting out of the drifts, and it was
then L started to walk i'm