Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1903-03-09
BATTLES WITH SNOW
HARD FIGHTING FOR RAILROAD MEN
} IN THE ROCKIES.

with large force of snow fighters.
Rotary snowplows and men who know
how to run them can cut their way
through drifts that in the early days
of western railroading would have
resulted in complete blockades. The
rotary snowplow is one of the mar
vels of the railroad of today, and 1t Is
| liberal education in the art of snow
| fighting to see one of them eating its
way through 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 in 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 fair example. The
snow begins falling at Boreas late in
August or early in September, and it
| 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 BOreas.
| 1t Is nothing for them to get up in the
morning and find themselves complete
ly buried in snow. The one store is
usually at the end of a tunnel cut
through an immense snowdrift. The
population of Boreas 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 Boreas does not fall; it RACES. 1t is
blown about in swirls and eddies and
is forever forming new drifts as treach-
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
a night.
| To the 'tenderfoot" it would seem
impossible to plow way through these
drifts at Boreas, but when huge ro-
tary snowplow comes whirling 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 a plunge the big rotary is
hurled into the white mass of snow.
Black smoke pours from the engines,
i ha httn h1odna nf tbn annWnlnyy
eat relentlessly into the drift. The
snow shoots out of the orifice at the
side of the plow, forming huge, white
semicircle constantly moving forward.
One can keep track of the progress Of
the plow 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 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 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 the
rotary and grid up their loins for the
next battle, which they know Boreas
will be prepared to give them In few
hours.
| The experiences at Boreas pass dur
ing hard winter are duplicated at
many other railroad passes in the
Rocky mountains, to say nothing OF
great stretches at lower attitudes which
have always been the favored haunts
of snowdrifts and which have always
given railroad men great trouble. 1t
is the unexpected element at these
points that brings a serious aspect to
the situation. At the passes over the
Great Divide railroad men are prepared
for trouble, and consequently serious
blockades are few, but when word
comes that train has failed to fight
its way through the drifts 100 or per
haps 200 miles from the nearest avail
able rotary plow there is consterna-
ton. To get a rotary plow to the
blockaded train takes time, and in the
meantime the drifts are accommodating
on the unused road, and each hour
brings new menaces to railroad men
and passengers alike.
Sometimes even the rotary plow has
been known to be caught in snow
blockade. One instance occurred in
Wyoming. An engineer who had ro-
tary plow on ahead and who was max
ing good progress during fierce snow
storm was compelled to run back few
miles for water Instead of taking the
rotary with him he uncoupled and ran
his engine back, and in the meantime
the snow gathered so fast over the
tracks that he was unable to fight his
way back to the plow. Such instances