The Kalispell bee. [volume] (Kalispell, Mont.) 1900-192?, 1903-06-23
BATTLES WITH SNOW
HARD FIGHTING FOR RAILROAD MEN
/ IN THE ROCKIES.
Rotary Snowplows and the Men
Who Run Theu-Buclxing Through
the Monster Drifts That Pack the
Mountain Passes.

Every western railroad is equipped
with Il large force of snow fighters
Rotary snowplows and men who know
how to run them can cut their way
through drifts that i'll the early days
of western rail~oading would have
resulted in complete bockades. The
rotary snowplow is one of the mar
wells of the railroad of today. and it is
a liberal education in the art of snow
fighting to see one of them eating its
way through Il white drift that threat
ems to cut off communication between
the east and the west. There are sew
eral passes in the Rocky mountains
which for six months i'll the year or
more form a constant menace to train
crews. These passes are situated at
the top of the Great Divide, where the
elements have full sway. Boreas pass.
in Colorado. is Il fair example. The
snow begins falling at Boreas late in
August or early in September, and 1t
does not cease until well into May and
sometimes June. There will be inter
mittent snowStorms in the midsummer
months, but these are trifling affairs
and are not to be mentioned in the
same breath with the tremendous
snowfalls of January and February.
Few men make their homes at BOrcaS.
1t is nothing for them to get up in the
morning ana find themselves complete
ly buried in SNOW. The one store is
usually at the end of Il tunnel cut
through an immense SnoWdrlit. The
population of Borcas during these
snowy months consists, for the most
part of the railroad men who are en-
gagged in the strenuous work Of fight
ing constantly changing drifts. Snow
at BorcaS docs not fall it RACES. 1T IS
blown about in SWirlS and cddicS and
is forever forming new drifts as trcach-
erously as a river that is constantly
shifting the sand banks of its mouth.
These drifts are not little affairs that
will barely cover stake and rider
fence. They are piled ten, twenty and
thirty feet high, and they spring up in
night.
To the "tenderfoot" it would seem
impossible to pillow Il way through these
drifts ut Boreas, but when Il huge TO-
tary snowploW comes whirlng up the
track with three or four engines push
ing vigorously behind it the tender
foot reserves his decision He is
still inclined to favor the snowdrift.
but he prefers to await developments
before committing himself. With a
rush and Il plunge the big rotary is
hurled into the white mass of SNOW.
Black smoke pours from the engines.
and the huge blades of the snowplOw
eat relentlessly into the drift. The
snow shoots out of the oritice at the
side of the pillow, forming huge, white
semicircle constantly moving forward.
One can keep track of the progress or
the pillow by following the advance
ment of this rainbow of snow. Foot by
foot the rotary eats its way forward,
and finally it and the engines are
buried in a huge trench of white. Only
the stacks of the engines can be seen,
belching their blackness on the virgin
garb about them. But the great white
semicircle never fails to go forward
until finally the 'tenderfoot' knows
that the drift is being conquered.
When the regular overland limited
comes along Il few hours later, the pas
sengers do not know of the battle that
has just been fought. They travel
through a canyon of snow as they pass
Boreas, but they have no idea of the
tremendous force required to cut this
white path over the ridge of the con
tinent; so they go on. all unconscious
in their pullmans, while the railroad
men at the next siding ahead oil tn,
rotary and grid up their loins for the
next battle. which they know Rorca'
will be prepared to give them in Il few
hours.
The experiences at Boreas pass dur
ing hard winter are duplicated n
many other railroad passes in the
Rocky mountains. To say nothing OF
great stretches ut lower attitudes whicl
have always been the favored haunt'
of snOWdrifts and which have Away:
given railroad men great trouble. /
is the unexpected element ut thes,
points that brings Il serious aspect t,
the situation. At the passes over th'
Great Divide railroad men are prepare,
for trouble, and consequently serious
blockades are few, but when wor,
comes that train has failed to iigh
its way through the drifts 100 or per
haps POO miles from the nearest avail
able rotary pillow there is consterna
ton. To get Il rotary pillow to tn
blockaded train takes time, and in tn
meantime the drifts are accountability
Oh the unused road, and each hou
brings new menaceS to railroad me-
and passengers alike.
Sometimes even the rotary pillow Ia
been known to be caught III Il snON
blockade. One instance occurred i
Wyoming. An engineer who had a re
tary pillow on ahead and who was mai
ing good progress during a fierce snow
storm was compelled to run back Il fey
miles for water. Instead of taking tn
rotary with him he uncoupled and ia
his engine back, and in the meantim
the snow gathered so fast over tn