Smyrna times., 1903-02-18
BATTLING WITH HEAVY
SNOW DRIF is OUT WEST
HARD FIGHTING FOR RALROADM9N,N Tnp
PASSES OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS
KO'ary SNOW PlOws aud The Mem Who Run
Ihem-Bucking Through Tremendous
Mountain Drifts

Mountain Drifts.
every western railroad is eouinnad
with a large force of snow fighters
notary snOwplOws and men who know
now to run them can cut tbeir wo,
through drifts that in the early davs
OF western railroading would have
resulted i'll complete blockades. Tho
rotary snowplow is one of the mar
Fels OF the railroad of today. and if is
HDeral education in the art of snow
nghung to see one of them eating its
way through white drift that threat
eHS 10 cut OH communication between
Ine east and the west. There are sev-
eraI passes in the Rocky mountains
Wnlch for six months in the wear or
more form a constant menace TO train
crews. These passes are situatad Of
the top of the Great Divide where tbe
elements have full sway. Roreas nass
IN Colorado, is a fair example Tho
sno" Degins falling at Boreas late in
august or early in September, and it
does not cease until we'll into Nav and
sometimes June. There will be inter.
mlttent snowstOrms in the midsummer
months, but these are trihing affairs
ana are not to be mentioned in the
same breath with the tremendous
snowfalls Of January and February
rev men make their homes at Roreas
II Is nothing for them to get I'D in the
morning and find themselves cOmnlete-
" 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 on
gagged IN the strenuous work of fight.
ing constantly changing drifts. SNOW
at Boreas does not fall; it RACES # is
blown about in swirls and eddies and
is forever forming new drifts as treacb-
erously as a river that is constantly
shlIung the sand banks of its mouth
neSe url1ts are not little affairs that ,
VIII barely cover a stake and rider ,
renee. They are piled ten, twenty and !
tnlrty feet high, and they spring up in :
a night.
To the "tenderfoOt' it would seem
impossible to plow a way through these r
drifts at Boreas, but when huge ro-
lary snowplow comes whirling up the
track with three or four engines nusb-
ing vigorously behind it. the GENDER a
loot reserves his decision. He is c
sun inclined to favor the snowdrift II
put ne prefers to await DEVELOPMENTS b
pefore committing himself. With q n
rush ana plunge the big rotary is al
hurried into the white mass of snow ol
BACK smoke pours from the engines. er
ana the huge blades of the snowplow
eat relentlessly into the drift. The OF
snow shoots out of the orifice at tho In
side of the plOw, forming a huge white q
semicIrcle constantly moving forward HI
one can keep track Of the progress or
the plOw by following the advance be
ment of this rainbow of snow Foot hr ~
loot the rotary eats its way forward ke
anu nhally 1t and the engines ere
purleu IN huge trench of white. Only an
Ine STACKS OF the engines can be seen. tel
Delchlng their blackness on the virgin hi,
garD about them. But the great white no
semlclrcle never fails to 20 forward M
until finally the 'tenderfoot'' knows
that the drift is being conquered
Nhen the regular overland limited
comes along few hours later. the mas de-
'engers do not know of the battle tha+ do
mas Just been fought. They travel ju:
-hrough canyon of snow as they mass fal
Boreas, but they have no idea of the ine
tremendous force required to cut this en-,
Ehite path over the ridge Of the con- wh
lnent; so they go on, all unconscious tha
n their Pullmans, while the railroad foo
men at the next siding ahead oil the GOV
Otary ana gird up their loins for the rur
lext battle. which they know Boreas L
VIII be prepared to give them in a few ing
ours. -
Inc experiences at Boreas pass dur do1
ng hard winter are duplicated at mil
many other railroad passes in the IN
tocky mountains, to say nothing of far
reat stretches at lower attitudes which
ave always been the favored haunts
f snOwdrifts and which have ALWAYS IT
|, tbo ,,',u ,,-'" lliei great trouoie. 1t has
- 80 ,P". eleIiiehl at these bee
oints that brings a serious aspect to eo1(
le situation. At the passes over the is :,
ireat Divide railroad men are prepared nov
Or trouble, and consequently serious . a
lockadeS arc few. but when word g. :
omes that a train has failed to fight tIo
8 way through the drifts 100 or per thr,
APPS 200 uf -.e nearest ovoiI- INV
BILE rota.. .... is ,orsto.,,, 'eI
on ,ro 4 - consterna- at a
locl,o1o3 ,O'"i! Pio" 10 lhe deat
100 p+ir,o 49, - uiie' anu III tne nan
, +bo - '-.'' arc accuil luiauhg sire
rings new menaces to railroad men
nd passengers alike.
sometimes even the rotary plow has ~. "
cen known to be caught in a snow % Dan
ockade. One instance occurred in eisn
'yoming. An engineer who had a ro- ~
Try plow on ahead and who was max VI
g good progress during a fierce snow eoil
orm was compelled to run back a few - d
lies Tor water. Instead Of taking the mt