Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1902-07-10
DISCRETION OF MT. SHERMAN.
Railroad Tunnel Cuts 1t off-Pyramid
Against Sky-Field for Hatters.

Against Sky-Field for Hatters.
Since the great railroad tunnel
through Mount Sherman, Wy, has
been completed and trains now run
under instead of over the giant steep,
there has passed forever what has
been for As years one of the most pc
culiar railroad stations in the world.
Mount Sherman station stood on the
very top of mountain 5000 feet high,
in possibly as desolate a spot as hui
man eye has ever gazed upon. No
where is there ever visible any vege-
tation beyond few scraggy tufts of
alkali wire grass Even this can hard
~ exist in that region, where one may
encounter ALMOST any day in the sum-
mer rain, sleet, snow and hail, with a
temperature that often varies from rs
degrees to 40 and back again within a
few moments; where the wind never
ceases to blow from % 10 20 miles an
hour, and where the nerves of many a
tenderfoot have received terrible
shocks during the passing of storms,
with the clouds touching the ground
and here and there hurting angry
lightning bolts into the mineral rock
Now the map no longer has a Mount
Sherman station. Nothing in the way
of habitation remains to denote the
past existence of man on that dizzy
hight, and it is very probable that the
weird, rockclad spot will never again
be visited. If, however, in some flu
ture age science or quest of adventure
shall lead some curious person over
the summit, he will find standing sill
houetted against the sky massive
pyramid-shaped pile of chiseied gram
lite, 65 feet high and so feet at the
base, erected there years ago in honor
of the Ames brothers, who made it
possible to complete the Union Pacific
railroad. A feeling of sentimentalism
will doubtless now and then creep in
to minds of those who have often
passed this monument, at the thought
that it now stands so far out of the
path of commerce, so far from the
haunts of man, deserted, to remain
there almost as long as time shall en-
dure
Several years ago two tramp tele-
graph operators devised a scheme for
making few dollars without much
effort. They erected a small shanty
at Sherman, gathered pieces of rock
OF different formation, colored some of
them with dyes and over others
poured melted lead in spots and
pounded small bits of copper into the
cracks. These, when finished, were
specimens of gold and silver ores"
and found a ready market. All trains
stopped just in front of the shanty
where the two geniuses held forth, to
have the air brakes tested and the
wheels examined prior to the descent
of the mountain. During these stops
passengers were wont to run over to
the shanty to make purchases of
curios.
If there was ever time when the
it was period previous to the advent
of man up there, and It was this ever
lasting wind that oddly blew good to
the tramp shokeepers. One morning,
when the overland flyer drew up at
the old red depot, an aproned man
stood at the door of the shanty on the
opposite side of the track beating a
gong with vigor which soon attract
ed the attention of the passengers
Heads popped out of the windows, and
in moment people came tumbling
out of the cars and made grand rush
for the supposed luncheon counter.
The wind was whistling a merry tune
over the summit, and in very few
seconds hats were rolling among the
rocks and down into the gloom of the
canyon. OF course, the recovery of
the headgear was impossible. When
lot of passengers had been 'un-
rooted it was the signal for the man
with the gong to disappear, and in his
stead came another with a string of
cheap hats and caps, which were cas-
lily disposed of to the unfortunates at
fabulous prices.