The San Francisco call., 1899-10-05

x ACRANIENTO. Oct "A terrific
fire raged in the Sierra Nevada
Mountains this morning. and
~ when it had spent its fury
mile and one-sixth of snowsheds
We're but Charred and smoking embers
and over q mile of steel rails were bent
and twisted by the fierce heat.
Two passenger trains. one eastbound
and the other west were stalled. and
the road was practically under block
ade ail day. There is no question as 10
the origin of the fire It was plainly
the work Of an incendiary. The Placer
County officials are at work on the case
aided by the shrewdest Of the Southern
Pacific detectives. and no means will BE-
spared to appTehend the miscreants.
Almost every year the railroad com
Uary suffers from fires in the snow
sheds and they are generally Of a So.
rl7us character. There are long
stretches in the mountains where the
sheds are absolutely needed to protect
the track from ayalanches Of snow
which. were il not for the sheds, would
POLL down upon It. The rotary snow
II0ws invented as a substitute for thu
sheds do not avail in these steep passes
in The high Sierras. and the railroad
company has been obliged to maintain
the long system Of sheds in the face Of
The fact that ii costs an enormous sum
yearly 10 preserve and rebuild them.
Naturally, being constructed of pine
and subjected 70 the drying process Of
the rainless summers in the high alti-
tlde Of the mountains, the sheds he
come very infiammable and it takes but
an application Of the iucendiary's torch
70 convert them into a sinuous serpent
of fire
Profiung by its costly experience, the
railroad company has established fire
trains at the Summit and Blue Can
yon, on which steam is kept constantly
and crew Of firemen ready night and
day 10 respond at a moments call For
the fire train every piece Of rolling
stock must turn aside at the nearest
switch. No train thunders through the
hills at such speed, and the work Of the
crew IS as exciting as il is .Derilous. To
complete the system Of precautionary
measures a lookout station is located
on the crest Of Red Mountain, near
Cisco. Here a man and his wife live
and here every ten minutes Of the
tWenty-four hours, one or the other,
with field glass in hand. sweep the en-
tire stretch Of snowsheds from Blue
Canyon 10 the Summit Besides these
lookouts fire watchmen traverse the
sheds constantly. A telephone line
runs through the sheds. up to Red
Mountain and down again to the fire
train. When the Red Mountain senti-
mel sees a fire, or is informed of one
through the telephone, he sends a mes
sage to the fire trains TO rush to the
scene.
Last night at 9 o'clock the Red
Mountain sentinel sent in word to rail-
road headquarters that the telephone
line had evidently been cut or broken
somewhere in the sheds. The Western
Union Telegraph wires, which are in
closed in a cable running under the roof
of the sheds, about a. m refused TO
work, and It was at once realized that
the cable had been cut About this
time the Red Mountain lookout saw
fire on the shed line near Butte bridge.
The agent at Cisco wired to Sacra-
mento that the sheds We're on fire. Di-
vision superintendent Wright dis
patched the fire train at Blue Canyon
to the scene. When the fighters ar
rived they discovered the incendiary
character Of the blaze. The sheds run
along continuously until they come to
butte near a bridge which is 430 feet
long. There the shed system stops, to