The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1905-02-05
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the gigantic aerial gateway TO Middle
Park, Colorado park one-fifth as
large as all England. The mail for
this empire is carried by one man, my
friend Sullivan.
To climb Berthoud is winter is the
{ work of a man. 1t is too much for an
engine. The man was at his work.
Slowly up the east side. around the
Big Bend. up to the now deserted mail
! barn. laboTed the mail carrier. The
summit was a mile further up. No ar
ranged pOstar car, warm light and
convenient was the lot of Sullivan.
The car was on his back. a bag of mail.
Contrary TO regulations. devised by
easy-ch5ir postal officials in far-off
Washington. the papers and packages
had been held at Empire. Only the
letters went over.
They'll keep said the Empire post
master, man of vast common sense,
as ne tore a chew of SulliVanS plug.
Then he and Sullivan hid the bag of
''seCond-class" under the hay in the
manger of the mail team until the
thaw was over SO Sullivan Travelled
light-only sixty-fOur pounds on his
back and twenty pounds of wet snow
ON each wet SnOWShOe a foot beneath
the surface.
BY the bleak station labor edSet
BY the bleak station iabored Sullivan
'Only zero, Hot. Whe-cw-wi" gasped
TIE carrier as he wiped the sweat from
his eyes with the sleeve Of his shirt.
Sullivan meant it. Twelve feet of frig-
IL white was between him and the
earth; i'm the shadows the mercury
was solid in the split tubes. yet in the
sunlight the surface was Slush. Sulli-
van was in his shirt sleeves with fur
mittens on his : and6. ICiCieS hung
from his eyelashes. yet his cheeks were
burning. His nose was a blister.
though his face was yelled as heavily as
milady's on an escapade. In the sun
the snow was mush; in the shadow It
was marble Such is sunlight and
shade on the southeastern snowbanks
at tinberline. No wind. And the air
was thin. Silence. The only sound
was the carriers labored breath and
TIE sock rasp-spfOsh of the shoes. And
Sullivan came to the summit-and the
shadow. There tho mercury falls de-
gree a minute when the sun goes down.
y hundred and four at noon. and an
inch % ice at dawn. The ground is
frozen for $40 feet. Such is the sum-
mer summit.
But this was winter. Up the south
gorge like the burst of a volcano, so
cold that the smoke was snow dust,
TOarcd the storm. Sullivan saw it
locked with the Indifferent interest of
long experience. and put on his short
fur coat. AS he retired his ShowShoes
hC looked back-and down. Below him
lay the west fork of Clear Greek, green
in the coming spring. He stood on the
rampant of winter. On either side tow
cred pinnacles of storm-eaten rock,
bleak as the poles Themselves From
their tops white powder Streamed IN
the wind like creSts and Toured down
on the pigmy at their feet. The carrier
was taking a swift. silent gOOdby of the
infant summer. Straight to the south
famed the sun, so low in the clear sky
that Sullivan, standing on Berthoud
felt that IL was below him. that he
stood alone on the top of the universe.
Behind him the swirling heavens were
nurky. The world was black. white
d 10 III. Hs-.r,f ..-g- nd
cold.
But the cold was creeping for Sulli-
vans heart and he swung his arms
Coed for the legs. he remarked to
n stump that in summer was a dead
pine tree. Track looks like hODDled
elephant. Wen. here goes And down
into the gorge went Sullivan. The gale
had started IL Alaska and swept two
thirds of the continent TO the southeast.
In Montana II had torn the anemOme-
ter. the official whirligig, from the sig
nal station, but had left the register;
ana the needle pointed TO eishtyrfive
miles an hour. 1t was stronger now.
Caught by the wide open mouth of the
south fork of the Frazer and jaInmed
into the rocky defile. the white fiend
rOared straight into the air and dou-
bied back on its track. Into this walked
Sullivan. 4 single snowflake. sharp
as a bunch OF needle points. struck his
forehead. bSIt glanced away into the
white TEMPEST. Snow sand cut his veil,
But no snoNvstorm can stop the United
States mail With a belly jerk Sullivan
e. wrenched a breath from the torrent
quite a Colorado zephyr he yelled.
but could not hear himself. There was
almost perfect silence around him, be-
cause he could hear nOthing-only Il
leaden roar. No SluSh there; the sur
face was Sandpaper. Zip-zip-zip. with
his head low, Sullivan butted down the
gulch. Then il eased up. The wind
dropped TO "A mile a minute and it
cleared greatly. Sullivan could see ten
feet ahead. Easier now, he loped over
the crust, down. down. down. leaving
no track; not even a Whiff of snow WAS
blown from the trail. The snow was
hard. sharp and glittering in the white
light as the surface of broken steel
a blast of sUsow sand caught the flying
carrier fun in the face. The ground
ice cut like powdered glass shot from
a battery. Sullivan, his arms before
his head ran into and leaned against
a cracking pine like guilty child
The pine Strengthened with snap.
quivering as il tired; sullivan lowered
his arms; all was still, quiet, pleasant
The snow was smiling; the sun was
shining; there was no wind.
Lovely. amt it? SnOwslide gone off
wrong end up" said voice.
Sullivan Jumped. a quick sweep Of
the near distance showed nothing hu-
man but himself. Did / say that2' he
muttered This bucking snow is about
as good on a mans savoy as herding
sheep. I'll be as lOcOed as a swelled-
necked buck if / keep this up Hello,
''Howd'y2' answered the voice, while
from under a sheltering ledge, crusted
over but filed soft and dry with icy
down as If banked for feather bed,
a sheeted figure appeared and shook
itself. II fairly ratified.
Nice little blow, wasn't it? ! had
an idea I was the only pack animal
Of the 1onE-eared breed on the range;
but see L have company, baggage ana
all Glad to see you. though. BY the
way sorry TO trouble you. but III have
TO ask you for those shoes and that
coat; also any spare change you've got,
your ticker, and that mail Bag Now
don't go off half cooked and empty, or
we'll have trouble
He of the voice had leveled long
six-shooter, white with frost and snow.
>at the mail carrier. Sullivan was not
startled: what was the use2 But he
was annoyed-this lacked mountain
courtesy. Then he grinned-
Not this trip, pardner- Your artll-
1ery's as full of snow as the Arctic cir
Gle. while this instrument 1 have
Flame, smoke and steam exploded be-
q tween the two men. As it foated up
ward. he OF the voice was bent double,
-1,,,oo.;,,o- his. right hand between his