Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1900-11-22
Trainmen Had TO Crawl to Inspect Bridge
Before Crossing With Their
Heavy Train.
IT WAS A TERRIBLE CALF
COLORADO DEVASTATED BY WIND AND WATER-HEADL IeHTs
BLOWN OFF, TIME TABLES WRECKED
RUNNING IN DARKNESS.

Denver, Colo, Nov. 22.-Delayed trains
bearing tired and frightened passengers
brought fragmentary news of the storm
at Colorado Springs and along the road
from Pueblo to Denver. The last two
trains to arrive in Denver reached here
about midnight and brought reports that
up to $3.50 O'Clock the hurricane was still
raging. AS far as could be learned
no fatalities occurred, but great damage
was done to property.
All along the Denver & Rio Grandc,
Colorado & Southern and the Santa Fe
roads the wires and telegraph poles were
blown down, and the engineers were
compelled to grope their way through
the storm belt without train orders,
running on the rights of the train num-
bers and taking chances of collision
Only by good luck and through the ex-
ercise of exceptional judgment were col
lisions and the added horrors of wrecks
avoided. Nearly every train that came
into the Union depot bore marks of the
storms fury. Coach windows were blown
out, the glass in the engine cabs broken
and the headlights and coach lamps ex-
tinguished.
From Fountain to Monument trains
were run through the storm with sand
blowing in such dense volumes that at
times the engineers could not see the
smokestacks of their engines.
Engineer F. F. Desmond Of No L. on
the Denver & Rio Grande, was the last
engineer to run safely through the hur-
ricane. He left Pueblo at 7o'clock and
after leaving Fountain ran into the hur-
ricane. From that time on, except dur
ing a stop at Colorado Springs, he was
compelled to run by guesswork. 1t was
only at intervals in passing through
cuts that the track ahead could be seen.
The cab windows were blown out by the
wind, and it was impossible to keep the
headlights lit. A lantern was placed in
the headlight, but the wind was so
strong that even this we'll protecteo
light was blown out. 1t was not until
Monumen. was reached that train
orders were to be had. The storm was
left behind after Palmer lake was
reached.
Just ahead of No. was train No.
of the Colorado & Southern. Engineer
George Gray reported that he had never
seen a worse storm.
1T was impossible to see ahead of the
engine" said he. ''The sand was flying
SO thick that l could not see the stack
The windows on the left side of the cab
were blown out and the headlight could
not be kept lighted. Telegraph poles
were down all along the road, and we
had to run without orders. I saw many
houses blown down in Colorado Springs"
The two sensational runs We're those
made by train No 2 and train No. 10, on
the Denver & Rio Grande. Engineer
William Cook was on train No. 2. He was
unable to get orders after leaving Pueblo
When he reached Sand Creek at Kelker,
the sand was flying so thick that he could
not see the bridge, and he stopped in the
cut to wait in the hope that the storm
would abate. He laid there for nearly an
hour. and, at last, one of the train crew
volunteered OF crawl over the roadbed to
the bridge and inspect the structure. The
bridge is nearly two hundred feet long,
and is about quarter of a mile the other
side of the station of Kelker. The train
man managed to creep up to the bridge
and found it safe. 1T was impossible to
walk, and the trip occupied nearly an
hour, the distance being about a half
mile. No. passed over safely, and after
waiting at Colorado Springs until certain
right of way could be had, ran through