Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-03-19

not cut off from the rest Of mankind for
ever.
Besides the fearful loneliness of winter
on Pixies Peak there are the dangers of
the elements to be faced at all times. one
never knows when a great storm is going
to howl about the rugged pile of rocks
seemingly in a frenzed attempt to hurl
the great, broken pieces Of granite into the
chasms below. The day may open with
the fairest of smiles and it may close with
the grimmest OF natures froWus. The flag
on the summit house may float idly I'm a
Zephyr-lil:e breeze and in a few minutes
may be rent TO ribbons by the clutchlng
fingers of the i'alkyries Of the upper air.
With its great Esd thrust among the
clouds, Pixies Peak is constantly the center
of furious storms whose intensity can hard
ly be srasped by the people who live in the
well-sheltered towns at the base of the
Rockies
Electrical storms rag about Pixies Peak
with a fury that is equaled nowhere else
in the world. There is much iron in the
mountain, and this plays no snail part in
drawing to the peak an almost continual
play of electricity during the stormy
months of winter and early spring. The
records OF the old-time officials in charge
of the Pixies Peak station show that cleo
tricity was the constant terror of those
who spent the winter on the summit. One
man reports Il curious phenomenon one
day in spring when he had burro at the
summit. snow and electrical storm came
up. and every time a wet snowflake would
hit the burro it would make spark whose
fash was distinctly visible. During one Of
these storms. if a man holds his hands
over his head the ends of his fingers will
cracke. Every morning so the govern
ment reports read, the stove will play a
certain trick. 1t will transform itself into
a reservoir of atmospheric electricity dur
ing the night. and IN the morning will
transfer the nimble fluid to the person who
attempts to build a fire, giving him a
we're shock
Danger From lightning.
Such is the danger from lightning on the
peak that the government installed light
ming arresters on the building These are
supposed to divert the lightning, and gem
orally do their work well. In one severe
storm, however, an agent reported that
lightning struck the building and actually
fused every nail head in the structure.
HOW the agent escaped death from such
tremendous shock is only one of the nu-
merous pranks of lightning which can
never be explained.
Here is description of a storm on Pixies
Peak. taken from the records of 1874. and
showing what the brave man in charge had
to face not once, but scores of times III a
season:
February 25-At noon the summit be
came densely enveloped and sleet fell in
short showers until evening. while the
rumbing of distant thunder was heard Ia
the south. A pm. a storm began. which
will long be remembered by the present oc-
Cupant of the station. \ violent thunder
storm. accompanied by heavy sleet, passed
over the peak from the southeast to north
west. 1t came up so suddenly that there
was barely time to cut out the telegraph
instruments before binding flashes of fire
came into both rooms from the lightning
arrester and stove, while outside the noise
of thunder-claps was almost drowned by
the noise of sleet on the roof. The rubber
insulation on the telegraph wires was
melted by the fierce play of electricity
Hardly had the storm fairly passed over