The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1900-08-24
FREAKS OF cLoUDBURsTs.
The Trick One Played on q Railroad
IN Colorado,

The TEtCk One fIaye0 on q RAILROAD
| Ia Colorado.
Cloudbursts are sometimes very de-
structive of life as we'll as of property.
| They come up so suddenly that it is al
| most impossible to escape if the wayfarer
Is caught in the bed of the creek. Camp
| ers in the mountain regions usually Sc
| lect the high ground above the creek
rather than pitch their tents close beside
the gently ripping water which may be-
| come a roaring torrent while they sleep,
| sweeping them to destruction before they
know that danger Is near. 1t was from
| neglect Of this precaution that many
| lives were lost in a cloudburst near Nor.
rison, Colo, in the spring Of 1897. Some
people were camping along the borders
of the stream, and, as it was just after
| dark and had been raining heavily, they
| had sought the shelter of their tents.
Suddenly they heard the awful and Pc
culiar roar Of the approaching cloud
burst. 1t grew louder every second
Realizing what had happened, the unfor-
| tunate campers-men, women and chill
| dren-rushed from their tents and tried
to reach the higher ground. In the con-
| fusion and darkness some turned the
wrong way and were soon struggling in
mad torrents, battling with tree trunks
/ and wrecks of cabins and immense mass
eS of moving stone in the bosom Of the
| flood. Thirteen lives went out In that
| dire night. The bodies found later show
ed the marks of buffeting with the debris
| in the flood Of waters, and it is believed
that few II any Of the unfortunates lost
their lives by actual drowning.
Occasionally the sudden downpour of
rain will be precipitated on soft, yield
ing soil, and instead of taking the form
| of a cloudburst with a wave of water
carrying everything before it the whole
| surface Of the ground will take on the
| consistency of molasses and roll slowly
but irresistibly down the water courses.
This happened in Chalk canyon, near
Mount Princeton, in Colorado, some
years ago. Chalk cliffs are a peculiar
| formation at the head of the canyon, the
so called "chalk" being of lime nature,
which, after being dissolved in water,
| quickly hardens again like cement.
A cloudburst began high up on the
| sides of the mountain, washed away tons
| of material from the cliffs and rolled the
mass slowly over the railroad tracks like
the pour of lava from Vesuvius. The
tracks were covered to q depth Of six
feet. A gang of workmen was put to
| WOrk ON tHe uepOSll, out IL OOzSu Ill vi
the tracks as fast ms the men shoveled 1t
out. Finally all work was suspended,
| and the overflow hardened 80 quickly
that a track was built over it. Within
six hours of the breaking of the storm
trains were running over the deposit.
So hard did the chalk become that the
railroad has never penetrated to the old
tracks, and in the eXcavating that was
done in relaying the tracks permanently
| dynamite had to he used.-Ainslee's Mag.
WHY skIPPERs IKE oEREucTs.
| Rich Nowadays.
1.-THE highest ambition of a sea captain
these days is to pick up deserted wrecks
declared an old skipper who arrived in
port the other day. Its the only chance
he has to get RICH"
am the unluckiest dog alive" he add
! ed. 1--WE been to sea for nearly 40 years
now and have never had the good for,
tune to run on q single wreck. That's
the only way for US to make any money
| you see.
''If a skipper can't haul into port one
or two derelicts during his lifetime, he
| stands q fair show of dying poor as q
church mouse. Even one good find will
fix man up fairly we'll, and two or three
will settle him for life. l know several
lucky dogs who haul in something in the
way Of a wreck once in every two OF
three years, but somehow 1 can't land
any myself.
"Why, l spend half my time looking
around the horizon to see il l Gun catch
sight of a deserted vessel Of some kind
| or course, I'd rather she'd be lodged fail
| and square on some sand bank, out OF
reach of the waves, but l wouldn't com
plain at finding her fiat on the bottom
with nothing but the tip of her mainmast
showing above the surface. Even then the
salvage money would be worth having
! "How much a skipper gets out Of a
derelict depends on its condition, OF
course. II he hauls it into port practical
ly uninjured, he gets a big pile Of money,
although the owners of his own vessel
and two or three middlemen take a hand
In dividing the spoils. But he gets some.
thing for just finding a wreck, and II
doesn't make any difference what has
happened to her or why she was deserted.
| just so long as the crew has left her.
| Their leaving makes her a derelict, and
her owners have to pony up to the lucky
cuss that finds her.
Nowadays we shippers get low sala.
aries and lots of work, and we don't
often own shares in our ships, as the old
time masters did. Yes, sir, our only
chance is to pick up wreck, and that's
| what we're all looking for."-New York
Times.