The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1901-02-16


81 an atmospheric vacuum and the sud-
len salrcharge of that vacuum. Miners
are prone to take too great risks, and
two years ago a prospecsor living in a
hut at the foot of a range so steep he
! must have known his chances was caught
hy an avalanche. The rush of snow lifted
his hut up bodily, swept it in o the valley
and carried it 800 feet up the side ofGthe
opposite mountain. Except that 1t was
tilted off the horizontal, with the logs
at each end slightly bulged in by COM
preston Of air, the hut was undamaged.
When a rescue party broke In they 1ound
| the man sleeping peacefully IN his bec'
pne hand against hts face, a knee drawn
I'D and the blankets barely dtsarranged.
Not a hair of his head had been injured.
His cheeks had the rudy glow that SUIT
fuses the skin in frost, but the man was
sleeping his death sleep. q
That a human being could come scatn-
less through one of these wh1r5 poo's OF
SNOW and lock would seem as impossi7
Die as the fording Of Niagara But the,
West is essentially the region OF the mn
! possible. There one sees the son CT an
english lord acting in the capacity Of a
| cook. and the man who should be cook
acting like a lord. and mOuntalneers VINO
! have been buried in aValanches rising
rom the dead. A case, which any one
skeptical as to facts may verify, for tho
nan is still alive and we'll known in the
silver mining country occurred one
| spring before aerial tramways and tres
ties had superseded the mule train. A
packer was driving a train Of mules and
horses along a narrow, winding path
up one of the high divides, when he came
% a spot where there was always dan
ger of an avalanche. The mountain side
lad been scooped out, leaving a hollow
| strip. Heavy forest was elsewhere, but
| here the slope was clean swept as if
~ broom. Above were vast snow
ields debouching from the upper am
oitheater just where this swatl had
oeen cut through the forest. 1T was
pretty gin up said the packer. '"rhe
. spruce and pine had stopped and the
arch began. Owing to the winds r. m
| The west, it SHOWS continually that
slope all winter, not a storm, but soft
| furry, furry, everlasting furry of SNOW
rom November to April, till the trees
Are SO weighted down lots Of the branch
IS snap. You see, where the snow had
Slid down the mountain was sort OF
eveled off. and not so steep. Though
we knew that trail was dangerous when
he thaw began we'd make zis-zag
:witchback across the cleared place
| three or four times, till we get uD where
t wasn't so steep. I noticed all the iorch
trees were bending toward the valley
and realized what a lot of snow there
was.
HORSES KNOW THE SIGNS.
my pony was ahead. and led right
across that clearing. The rest followed
Ind was walking behind whistirg and
telling at the mules. don't. know that
they were a particularly lazy lot thost.
mules but9it was SO mighty still and UNI
natural like up there. L guess I was MAX
ng noise to keep from being lonesome.
IL, T.
taken a turn and doubled back on the
trail Just above where T was walking.
when the little bell mare halted, brought
The bunch to a stop, prtcked forward he.
:ars and locked her eye up at that mcur-
ain. Those animals have some sort oe5
feeders tor tell tn EN- tting s men can't
znow, and when that little beast looked
20 suspiciously at the mountain I stopped
ind looked up too. Pom my word, sin all
ny life on the mountains don't think I;
sver felt anything. so dead still and
leavy, chunky heavy, as the atmosphere
. ap there that afternoon can't tell you
low the knowledge first came, but al, at
once hurricane was roaring through
he forests, tearing up the biggest trees
~ the roots, and the air was ssudden;y.
filed with fiery, singing. needles like
electricity The horses and mules reared
1r, kicking and snorting, crazy with fear;
Ind something like a big white snake
ZANE wrea thing and coiling4 and swishing
Ind rampings out of that opening in the
mowfield above. I hadn't time to yell.
or get scared, or do anything, for the
next thing knew I walked up in the
Catholic hospital with one Of the nurses
at my bedside
" The packer did not tell that he had
been insane three mon .Is from, the sho k
Packtrain and driver were caught in the
swirl and hurled into the valley. The
theory-but it is only a theory-is t'4a-
he, was caught In the rush Of air, liftel
above the grinding Of boulde-s and drop
ped in some soft drift at the valley bot
tom. His clothes were torn to shreds, but
that was the only evidence he. had been
on a slope which was not only swept
clean of trees but deeply excavated by
the plowings Of enormous powders. 1t
was known that he had been on the
mountain when the avalanche fell and
there was not the slightest hope that he
could have escaped. Twenty-f Eur hou:g
afterwarq, to the amazement of the min
ing village, he wand red hume gesticuiai-
ing. laughing and singing IN a frenzy.