Waterbury Democrat., 1901-06-13
CHAPTER YI.
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Comes tumbling and foaming down from the north a stream that is little more than big brook eight months of the year, but is advertised all the year round as one of the scenic attractions of the Seattle road, much to the dis gust of the general passenger and tick ct agent of the Big Horn, whose right of way.is, in his opinion, twice ,invad- ed, first by. the stream itself and then by the Seattle. Following the north bank of the Red Water, the Big Horn had to encounter all the engineering difficulty of laying out stable road way across the mouth of this little trib- utary that in the months of melting snows became a boiling torrent and the expense of constructing a massive bridge, while the spectacular effect was lost on it's passengers because that right of way was scooped out at the hase of steep, rocky cliffs that shut en- firely the view of the cascade and rap sds. until the car was directly under them and was then too close to get the best effect. whereas from the opposite bank the passengers of the Seattle line, sweeping round a fine curve, concave to the north,' were treated to capital view not only of the foaming, spray Tossing little cataract and the leaping rapids back of and above the Big Horn bridge, but of the fine bridge itself and fhe really magnificent gorge of the Red Water between the lines. Big Horn people thought it rough that the Seattle should so profit by what was practically their property. Some of the directors advocated boarding up the whole north side of their steel truss, thus hiding the sight from Seattle's eyes. But, said others, that would spoil it for our own patrons, besides making it dangerous for the bridge, for whenever a blizzard did sweep from the north-a rare occurrence near Brentwood it came for all it was worth down that selfsame crosscut gulch and beat in fury against the bridge at Its foot. The massive stone piers were of double strength, and the stanch truss of tempered steel, that would stand any vertical strain the possibilities of railroading could heap upon 1t, had twice been perceptibly shifted by this lateral pressure. It was. for this treason that a siding had been: let into the bank for quarter of a mile west of the bridge, and train of flat cars, heavily laden with railway iron, was kept there until certain guys nnd anchors could be made and set and the bridge stifrened laterally-a long operation. The object was to run those cars out on the bridge, set the brakes and by9this vast increase of weight so add to1its stability as5 to bid defiance when the clements threatened. The re- pairs had been made and that auxili- ary train removed before the manage ment was called on to resist a storm of far greater magnitude and very diff ferent character. But the siding was still there 'It may come in handy some. day." said the division superin- fendent, and the day appeared to have come. Old hands minded them of that old train, and some flat cars were r1oaded up." The American is never satisfied with the powers of his own verbs to add, to load, to open, to sad ale and others of that ilk. He must, as he conceives, strengthen each by the superpcsition of "up." despite the fact that when correctly done there is no difference in the result of adding up or adding down. The schoolboy still talks of adding up column, the section boss t1oads up" his teams, the railway ~opens upv the new region, the trooper -'saddles up's his steed, and the news paper sanctions and follows the exam pie. Old hands knew it wouldn't do to hinder the mail trains, so the bridge was not destroyed or even blocked against them, but on the rumor that troops were coming conservative fel- lows among the strikers ran those iron laden cars down grade to the siding and there held them in readiness to be showed out on the bridge the moment it was known the dreaded train had started from Gunnison, 20 miles to the east One by one the heavy cars were then showed across the bridge until the east approach and the span itself were covered Then the more determined took things in their hands, also picks, crowbars and shovels, and so under mined the track at a point some 20 yards west of the bridge foundation that, should the troops succeed in reaching the bridge and then attempt to move the obstructing flats westward out of the way, their weight would break through the weakened roadbed and pile up barricade of tangled rails and ruined fiat cars that, without dam- age to either engine or troop train, would effectually block their passage, since men and tools and the wrecking train would be needed to clear the track, and as matters stood on this 2Sth of November these were not to be had
 And now at 4:30 in the wintry gloam- ing. silent save for occasional mutter- ing, shivering bit from mingled cold and excitement, hundred or more of Ithe hands, backed by twice their num- Der of ''toughs'' and tramps, were gath cred about the bluffs at Bridge siding, listening with all their ears for the first sound of the coming train. The rush of the Red Water over its rocky bed in the gorge below was the only sound that steadily bore upon the ear. Some few of the men, panting not lit tie, were laboring up the steep with hats or hands full of rocks. Over on the opposfte-the southern-shore the concave curve of the Seattle was lined