New-York tribune., 1903-01-25

through an immense snowdrift The popuiaN
ton of Boreas during these snowy months cons
sists for the most part, of the railroad men VINO
are engaged in the strenuous work OF nshthiS'
constantly changing drifts. Snow at Boreas does
not fall, it RACES. 1t is blown about IN s"nlS
and eddies and is forever forming new drifts as
treacherously a river that is constantly shlA1-
ing the sandbanks of its mouth Ihese orhIs
are not little affairs that will barely cover
stake and rider fence. They are plied teh'
twenty and thirty feet high and they spring up
in night.
To the ..tenderfoot'' it would seem impossloie
to plough a way through these drifts at Boreas'
but when a huge rotary snow piough eolne0
whrling up the track with three or 1our eislneS
pushing vigorously behind it, the 'tenoeriooI
reserves his decision. He is still 1ncllheo 10 "a
,or the snowdrift but he prefers TO await de-
veIonments before committing himself. with a
rush and a plunge the big rotary is hurled INTO
the white mass CT snow. Black smoke pours
from the engines and the huge blades OF the
snow plough eat relentlessly into the drift The
snow shoots out of The orifice at the side OF the
plough forming a huge, white semi-circle con-
stantfv moving forward. One can keep track OF
the progress of the plough by following the ao-
vancement OF this rainbow of snow. Foot oN
foot the rotary eats its way forward, ana hlaay
it and the engines are buried in huse uehcn ol
white. Only the stacks of the engines can oe
seen. belching their blackness on the virgin garo
about them. But the great white seml-clrc4e
never fails to go forward until finally the tef-
derfoot" knows that the drift is beng conQuereu-
When the regular overland limited comes along,'
a few hours later, the passengers do not know
OF the battle that has just been fought. They
travel through a canyon of snow they pass
Boreas but they have idea of the tre-
menGous force required to cut this white pain
over the ridge of the continent. So they go
on all unconscious in their Pulmans, while the
railroad men at the next siding ahead oil the
rotary and g.rd up their lOns for the next Dat-
tie which they know BOreas will be prepared
to give them in few hours.
The experiences at Boreas Pass during a 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. It is the unexpected element at
these points that brings a serious aspect TO the
situation. At the passes over the Great blVlde
railroad men are prepared for trouble, ana CON-
sequently serious blockades are few; but whcn
word comes that a train has failed to fight it's
way through the drifts one hundred or per-
haps two hundred miles from the nearest avail
able rotary plough there is CONSERVATION. To
4
takes time and in the mean time the drifts are
accommodating on the unused road md each hour
brings new menaces to railroad men aid pas
sengers alike.
Sometimes even the rotary plough has been
known to be caught in a snow blockade Ono
instance recently occurred in Wyoming. An en-
gineer who had a rotary plough on ahead, and
who was making good progress during fierce
snowstorm. 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 mean time the gathered so fast
over the tracks that he unable to fight his
way back to the plough. Such instances are
rare, however and are only owing to the over
sight of some trainman for rotary snow,
plough, with sufficient power behind it, can eat
its way through almost anything in the shape
of drifts. 1t is difficult matter, however, to
cut I way through drift on curve. especially