davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-10-03

The cross-cut on the Tom Thumb In
Republic has proved the vein to be fully
nine feet wide and average values over
the whole width may safely be set at
s1S Superintendent Downey is now
engaged in repairing the shaft. 1t will
be straightened and boarded in readi-
ness for active development along the
vein at the 150-foot level. The shaft
house is to be overhauled and the whim
set up in connection with new gal
lows frame. The property will be put
in first-class shape throughout.
The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-12-24

| age resulting is the blocking of the road
until the plows can clear it, but at times
lives have been lost and property de-
stroyed.
In December of last year an enormous
slide almost annihilated the little town of
Rogers Pass, on the Canadian Pacific.
The place was a divisional point and
there were besides the regular station, a
wooden round house. repair shops and a
score of small frame dwellings.
One afternoon, at twenty minutes past
three, several men working near the turn
table heard a peculiar sound in ravine
far above their heads. They stood listen
ing for few seconds then, as the truth
dawned on them, they turned and fled
shrielSing down the track.
The alarm was futile. With an indie
scribable and terrifying roar great mass
of snow and ice swept around a bend in
the ravine, carromed against the opposite
side and came laundering down upon the
doomed town.
In a twinkling, station, round house. re-
pair shops, dwellings and a number of
cars were swept bodily into the shallow
gulch below the tracks. At first it SEEM
ed as if the hundred and odd souls had
been hurled into eternity. but, through
some act of divine mercy the loss did not
| exceed seven. This included one woman
and two children.
The lewiston superintendent who hap-
pened to be in the vicinity, telegraphed
| up and down the line for aid. but il was
several days before the wreckage was
finally cleared away. Effects of the ter
rble slide are still visible at the pass
Two Cinnamon in "a Snow Bank.
During the work of rescue the men
came upon a box car which had been
thrown bottom side up against a clump of
| frs As the party labored in the expecta-
| suddenly heard a voice chanting dolefullv
| The words were strange, but there was
no mstaking the pathos or meaning OF
| the dirge
tt was a song of death.
| Eager hands soon exposed the interior
| In the bottom entangled with tumble of
| dishes. broken furniture, cooking uten-
sis. etc, were two Cinnamon. They were
/ almost hidden from view in the debris
/ hut their voices were still strong-a fact
very encouraging to the rescuers.
The car. which had been utilized as the
| kitchen of work train, was invaded and
the victims lifted TO a place of safety.
1t was observed at once however. that the
| terrible experience had temporarily depriv-
ed them of reason Although every ef
| fort was made to convince the Cinnamon
Of their changed conditions. IL was nor
until week had passed that they recoy-
cred sufficiently TO tell their story. II
consisted of these four tersely uttered
words:
"Ts slide down like helleeg
One Of the curious features Of winter
! necessities on mountain roads in the West
| IS the fitting OF the tnuues and some Of
/ the sheds with tightly closing doors When
the tunnels were first built II was found
/ that ieiclcs formed IN the roofs, sometimes
so large that they actually endangered the
trainmen Ga The engine cabs The provid.
! Ing OF doors, which were closed after
each passing train, served TO retain the
steam from the engine, thus partially
! he9tiug The tunnels.
The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-12-24

/ fl is impossible without the most strenu-
Gus efforts to keep the gHstening. frozen
/ pellets from sliding back on to the tracks
Gases have been known when oompar-
atively light fail Of snow has blocked a
mountain track for forty-eight hours.
in the old days when the rotaries were
weapons Of the future and the snow had
10 be literally "bucked7 BY main force
from the tracks. casualties were numer-
ous. The type of pillow used was home
made affair-a product Of The railway
shops. It consisted Of a reinforced and
strongly Draced box car as base, upon
one end Of which was built iron tippei
piow shaped something ike lofty cow
catcher Near the top the sides were so
arranged that the snow masses were dt-
rected into the air at an angle.
When particularly heavy and tightly
packed drift was TO be tackled it was the
custom to place one OF these crude affairs
in front Of from six 10 ten engines and
charge the drift with a flying start of
mile or Two. If the drift consisted Of
GRADUATED snow frozen into separate par
ticles, the enormous mass Of iron went
through it like heated knife through but
ter. In the wake of the plow came an
army Of shovelers whose duty It was 10
tfaAlh Alit eA-dtltAftt MASSES lar FiAO+tei il
from the track to prevent them sliding
back. This was difficult enough and vic
tory come only after herculean labor.
Sometimes it happened that the drift
in the cut was composed of damp snow
and had had time to settle and become
packed. Then the perils Of snow buck
ing became perils in truth
The QUICKER with its powerful motive
force Of seven or eight locomotives was
hurled bodily a the drift and one of two
results followed. Either the drift was
broken or the quicker crumpled up Ike
a toy Of card board. The fate of the crew
of several men depended upon what Ar
temas Ward called their natral born
luck"
Stories are still told of the catastrophes
occurring during one hard winter many
years ago; of how in one instance buck
err" three engines and fourteen men we're
buried In a mass of snow for ninety hours
and that when the rescuing party finally
reached them the imprisoned men were
encased at their posts like. the baker of
Pompei
To-day there are no such narrowing
tragedies The invention of the rotary
plow has made the clearing away of
The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-12-24

schools being held in the homes of the
teachers or elsewhere and the instruction
being very meager
The statistics gathered on the agricul-
tural blanks-of the sugar and coffee es-
tates, the number of cattle and horses and
so on-will be valuable commercially, and
there is good reason to believe that they
were conscientiously collected.
Cubans Were Good Penmen.
Indeed, the work of the enumerators was
thoroughly done throughout. More slowly
perhaps, than Americans would have done
1t, and yet it was not dragged out unduly
to increase the salary allowance for there
were many enumerators in Havana San
tiago and the other cities, who completed
their districts in five or six days and turn
ed in their blanks complete. On the other
hand, some of the country enumerators
where the roads were impossible with
mud and the jungle was thick hardly fin
ished in six weeks To show that the
work was conscientiously done in one case.
at least, l know that the enumerator came
to the hotel in Santiago where | was stop
ping five or six times to see personally
and get the names of every guest, their
age, nationality and so on, although near
ly all of them were "extranieros" And
neater penmanship than that of the sched-
ules all over Cuba was never seen any
where. The schooled Cuban, especially the
Cuban woman. is a born penman and some
of the filed blanks were as ciean and pre-
else as copper plate, with never smudge
of dirt. 1t is difficult to conceive how the
enumerators were able to keep the banks
so beautifully travelling such roads in
such weather visiting mud floor huls and
keeping off inquisitive fingers
No Black Republic in Cuba.
OF late there has been reference to The
danger of a black republic in Cuba SINH
lar to that in San Domingo, but the census
will undoubtedly show that the ponular
impression of Cuba as ver-swarnlina
with negroes is erroneous. The Dronort o7
of blacks and whites is far from being as
large in Cuba as il IS in many states in
our Union. In 1871 there were g blaclgs
out of every 100 of population, but The NO
portion has been steadily creeping down
5075 i'm 1850, AZ in 1860. AZ in 1859. "a in fs-z
and 3055 in 1887. 1t is the opinion Of thee
who know that the proportion wiz annear
even less in the present census. altbough
il must be admitted that many OF ~ 2a
Cubans ordinarily calling tbemsel,,a,
white have a strain ia them of negro
blood.
The completed blanks are now IN ,ho
hapds of the assistant director. Mr. Oln,
stead, at Santa Clara. He will give tbsr,
a careful though hasty examination ara
then they VIII be forwarded To Waahire-
ton, where the tabuatiOns VIII be- made
by machinery, and IL is cxpec Ell that d-d-
mite results may be had before s,r,ne
Counting viii be FASTENED that The ,5ssst,.
Congress may have the figures 10 ala n in
It's consideration Of the Cuban probia,,,
r. < II
The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-12-24
THE YEARLY SNOW FIGHT.
DEVICE OF WESTERN RAILROADS
TO KEEP THEIR CUTS FREE.

One Railroad Has SIO,OOO,OOO Invest
ed in snow sheds-Stoels of Food
Laid in at stations and in Cars.
"Bueking'-What Rotary Plow
VIII Do-strange stories of Great
Fights with snow and snow
SIfdes-Adventures of Two China
mcn-TunneIs and How They Are
Warmed-Forty- Seven Feet of
snow.
Washington. Dec. 22.-Thirty-two miles
OF snow sheds costing siXty-four dollars
a foot or a total Of Sl0sl344o. represents
the price one trlnscont mental railway had
10 pay before a. could run its trains over
the Rocky mountain division Of its road.
That was merely the dIst cost; since that
outlay fully $4,000 have been spent
annually in keeping the sheds in repair AMI
the exposed tracks free from snow.
The various roads crossing The Rockies
have their seasons Of pay and their s a
sons of work. During the summer months
when even in the higher passes the sun
ana warm winds serve to keep the perma-
nent way clear and free there is little to
GO save tie ordinary run u fNp'lA0 anu
reconstruction, but along about the first OF
October all this is changed.
Little hurries of snow on the level and
gradual but continuous spreading Of
white on the tops aud in the upper crevices
Of the mountains give warning that the
hard, desperate battles of the winter
months are at hand. The superintendent
ants and a careful inspection of The sheds
and tunnels is made. In divisional head
quarters the rotaries and the old time
FUCKERS are overhauled and prepared
for use, and as the middle of the month
approaches The watchmen who patrol the
tracks are doubled.
There is no mistaling the signs. Even
a novice could see that something i'm
portant is pending. In the divisional shops,
The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-12-24

ia the offices and even at The smaller sta
tons along the line there are evidences
that the period Of work Is soon 10 SUPER
cede the ease of the summer days.
stocks of Food Laid in.
In the various baggage cars are placed
great wooden safes packed with condensed
foods. Beef in the form of extract can
ned soups, condiments and hard bread,
enough to feed 100 persons for ten days,
are carefully deposited in these moving
store houses. and from then until the
coming of spring they are inspected and
overhaued once each week by men detail
Cd for the purpose.
At the isolated stations and guarded
eidings, reserve supplies of provisions.
coal, wood and water are laid in, then
finally arrives the day when everything
is reported in readiness for the descent
OF winter.
The first call for the fighting contingent
OF the vast railway army is always at
tended by scenes of excitement. Lower
The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-12-24

ing skies and chill winds have foretold
the fall of snow, and while the various
crews arise some morning they find the
earth covered with mantle of white.
IL Is then the work gang boss overhauls
his men and sees that each unit in the
force is provided with the necessary show
81 and spade. It IS then, too, that the
crew of each snow plow and each reserve
engine so over the last time the various
bits Of machinery ana the divers coup
hugs upon which their lives are soon TO
depend
Within twelve hours, II the fan Is con-
unuous, the plOws go out. Each Is accom-
panied by gang of shovelers. and a
straight drive Is made for those passes
ana cuts where experience has foretold
the greatest depth. II the snow IS moist
ana haky quick work is made of the
hanks but u cold weather has really set
in and the snow has been frozen into
rounded grnnules, the proposition is en-
trcly different
Differences Of soit snow.
To the drst case the damp maasoe re-
main where they have been thrown by
us pioW, but under tho latter conditions
The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-12-24
CHRISTOPHER GLACIER.
Icy Tomb of Thousands of the Long,
legged Insects.
Prom de OMAN Bee.


There are many remarkable glaciers in
that part of the Rocky mountain uplift
that crosses the southern border of Mon
tana. A part of this region has hitherto
been unmapped and its more elevated por-
tons were unvisited and unnamed until
last summer, when a geographical party
piloted the way up the mountains and DIS
covered some of the largest glaciers in the
temperate regions of the Western world.
Here rises Granite Peak, which, according
to Mr. Gannett, is the eliminating point
of Montana, 12,S24 feet high.
Among the glaciers found in these
mountains and recently described oy
James P. Kimball is Grasshopper glacier
which derives its name from the enoi-
nous quantity of grasshopper remalh9
that are found on and in the glacier. re-
riodically the grasshoppers that thrive ~
the prairie to the north take their HisiC
southwark and must needs cross tne
mountains Their favorite route seems
to be across this wide glacier, and IN tIle
passage scores of them succunlo 10 ln
rigor of cold and wind, fall helpless upon
the snow, and are finally entombed IN tn9
ice. In the course of time billions OF theuh
have been the victims of this giaclel'
They are. of course, carried by the zee
river down into the valley and depos.teu
at the melting edge of the ice, ana MI:
Kimball says that thousands OF tons u
grasshopper remains are the principal ma
terial at the lower edge of the gacltl.
We hear very often of rocks and SAND as
forming the terminal moraine of glaciers
but here is a glacier whose principal mo
rainal material is grasshoppers.
These insect remains are washed OUT -
the ice in burrows wherever the sun
heat has grooved the surface into rune
of descending water The grasshopPel9
permeate the glacier from top TO bottom
No fragment of ice can be broken -
small as not to contain remains. MOS u
the insects have been reduced TO CORE
powder and the burrows Of them wdsnei
out by the runlets and naturally dispose
In parallel lines are very dark IN co or
The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-12-24

to count on at least a dozen lives each
winter" said a division superintendent
Of the Denver and Rio. Grande Railway.
in speaking of the subject. I'VE lost eight
in one smash up the season before the
first rotary came on the road. Since then
we haven't had a man killed in that par
tcular line of work.
And they cost the company lsss too -
he added. "Of course the first price is
large. something like $4,000. be-
lieve, but that amount Is made
up In no time you might say. Now it
takes only couple of engines 10 each
pillow, where IL used 20 require at least
seven. In those days the coal and sala-
ries, not 10 mention the wear and tear on
the engines meant a great deal"
The new rotary plows are also reputed
20 have been the means Of saving lives IN
quite another way Since their Introduce
ton on the mountain railways. especially
in the West, there are innumcrabla cases
where snow bound trains and even snow
bound villages have been saved from act
nal starvation BY the efficiency Of the 10
tary piows, u
The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-12-24
.S|Oat'S Vegetable BittGrS
S|Oat'S Vegetable BitterS
SIOat'S Vegetable BitterS
CURES STOMACH TROUBLES
MN.SS1oNes

I wish all my friends and customers A
MERRY, JOLLY AND HAPPY CHRIST
MAS AND NEW YEAR, and that they
may see many more, and always be proud
and thankful for their homes, comforts
and pleasures in the same way that am
thankful for the wonderful success have
had in 1899, as it will wind up with the
largest cash sales of any year l have ever
had since being in business, and 1t is all
due to the way 1 strive to Please each and
every one of my many customers ard
friends that have in Georgia, South Car
DINA and Florida. My motto is TO please
you all, and to do that don't think there
is any other way, but TO always give them
The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-12-24
CHRISTMAS
GREETlNGI

goods that will wear. look and feel well;
in other words 1 strive to under-buy and
under-sen. Satisfaction guaranteed or
money refunded. If you are not custom
er, why don't stop until you see or get
prices of the wonderful bargains am CIV
ing in ribbons, hosiery, Coats thread, sta
tionery, books, perfumery, Toilet Soaps,
Chewing Gum, Pocket Books, Belts, Boots
and Shoes, Fancy Goods Jewelry and
notions, and then 1 guarantee you will be
one among the several hundred customers
that are crowding the Little Bee Hive
every day. 1 remain yours most respect
fully, M. A. STOKES.
IA East Broughton street, Savannah Ga.
The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-12-24

But the American census has been con.
Quoted on strictly business principles, I'M
der the supervision of the war depart
ment. BY direction of the President Gen
J. p. Sanger was appointed director of the
census. with his headquarters in Washing
ton. and Victor H. Olmstead, an expert
enced census expert and statistician, was
appointed assistant director, with head.
quarters at Santa Clara, Cuba. Upon Mr.
Olmstead devolved the task of local or
ganization, the appointment of enumera-
tors and the decision of the thousand and
one delicate questions connected with the
work These appointments were made
in August of the present year. and the
census was to begin on Oct 16 and "a
be completed, so far as the enumeration
went. by Nov. 3O-in six weeks. The
blanks we're devised and translated into
Spanish all the rules and orders were
issued In both Spanish and English and
the Cuban enumerators. wholly new to
such work were all trained within less
than two months time. from the middle
of August TO the middle of October And
the work began in every part of Cuba
on the day set and in a way which would
have set the old Spanish census men quite
aeflast.
In the first place a Cuban supervisor
was appointed in each OF the six provinces
men of education, worth and honesty
For instance. the supervisor of Matanzas
was Prof. Claudio Dumas, of the College
OF Matanzas. a gentleman of high attain
ments and culture. Sabas Meneses OF
Santiago was a well known engineer, and
80 on. Then came The task OF appointing
TIE enumerstors. The pay for enumeration
was 20 he S. a day, a salary OF such gen.
erous nror ortiong TO the average Cuban
that Il looked like an absolute fortune.
Consequently. half the men Of Cuba wish
ca 70 he enuhletatofs, ana the examinations
The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-12-24
snow distractions a comparatively cas-
task.
What n Rotary PIoVv Is Like.

task.
What Rotary Plovv Is Like.
In appearance the rotary pillow is like a
huge box car strengthened with heavy
iron girders and plates The front end
Is square and open, and within can be
seen a great steel winged wheel some
what similar to the ordinary windmill
The edges of the opening slope inward
and are strongly reinforced with iron.
The "augur" or wheel revolves upon an
axle, and as the plow is forced against
the drift the snow is eaten away and
blown through tunnels pitched at an an
gle above the machine.
1t is seldom that more than two en-
gines are required to push the rotary, as
it works by cutting instead of brute force
like the old-time quicker" Railroad men
as great admirers of the new order of ma
chine, and they never fail to praise its eff
ficlency.
Before our people bought one we used
The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-12-24
story of a Great snow Bank.

] During the winter OF 1SgT-9S, which was
! particularly severe. a gang Of track c-ean-
Z ers which had been sent out to bank tRe
/ snow near Hector station on the Cana
/ dian Pacific Railway, became hemmed IN
Z by Two enormous slides. The great masses
I of snow on the mountain peaks nearby de
I scended with terrific force, completely
( blocking all egress from the cut in which
] The unfortunate men were working.
/ A track walker who had seen the acct
/ Gent carried Information to the nearest sta
| ton, and a rotary backed by number OF
/ shOFelers. was soon on he scene. lt re-
| CURED thirty hours OF continuous work to
/ clear the cuts even with the means at
! hand. Without the aid Of the powerful
rotary the ask would nave taken at least
/ five Gays. ard the gang of sixty men would
I have persisted with the extreme cold
I On what s known as the mountain divis-
/ ion of the Canadia Pacific Railroad, the
/ average annual snow fan Is All feet This
Z measurement docs not mean drifts or filed
cuts, but snow On the level as the rain
/ fail is computed by the National Weather
/ Bureau.
| During the season-that. is from about
J Oct 10 until April 15-ihe snow pfows
make two trips daily The two hundred
and odd miles Of the division are divided
into four sections with a rotary ard
'bucker" TO each section. This system, to-
gether with the aid afforded by gangs OF
q
the road comparatively clear.
Great snow slides.
The ordinary fall of snow ana even the
thanking and drifting are of small import
anCe, however 10 the terrific slides which
occur from time to time. II is these phe-
nomena which send a brill over the entire
line and cause as much interest and eN-
element in the ger eral managers offices Is
in mat Of the section bass of the locality.
Mountain railroads are built for the most
part along the banks of some convenient
stream. This necessitates a long and sin
uous noadbed directly at the bases of in
! Vulnerable mountain peaks.
The almost continuous fail of snow dur
! ing the winter months in the upper reaches
I causes the deposit of great masses
upon the sloping SUBMITS and in The crew
vases. In time a strong breeze from
particular quarter, or a sudden rise of
temperature viii loosen the mass and with
out warning hundreds of tons win slide
down upon the tracks at the foot of the
mountain.
l In the majority of cases the only dam
The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1899-06-19
Iinkering With Lights.

With regard TO a notice that appears
in this issue from the Hawaiian Eiec-
trio Company, it is stated that cases
have occurred where outside people
have been employed TO increase the
number OF lights in places where the
fuses and meters provided were only
adequate for the number originally
put in the building. An instance of
this kind occurred at n recent festive
gathering, where, without advising
the company. an addition was made 10
the lights, with the result that the
fuses were blown and the house left
in darkness. In this case ii was for
tunate that the lights were only mod
erately increased, for had a few more
been added, the meter and transform
er would have been burnt out. entail
ing a loss of $50 to 500, which. OF
course, would have been borne By the
party whose action was the cause of
the accident.