The Greeley tribune., 1905-12-21
DEATH IN A SNQW STORM.
-" interesting Account of a Winter
spent In the Wllds of Idaho'

a"e "ooa hre around which we had
S,'nV''' utter our days hunt in the
""'ne woods ANA thrust il In the
"o"i oi his pipe, have hut little idea
OF the heavy snow fnus of ,ha
ROCKIES aud the Sierras, or What
uainase ~ often caused from the ,c.
eumulated weight.
Ieliiehber well, he added hearing
my rather tell how in Aork Sat.
oaek III the thIrties, that the fail was
ol've so great that the men were com.
peAed 10 organize relief parties to die
away the biz drifts from many of
'Ie houses, and that when driving
eAuhs tue streets one could almost
'ooA' IRON the level. into the second
story window, Eut as l passed the
irSt twenty years of my life in that
| 'oNh ana witnessed nothing more
leii'arkahle than drifts over the ton
iINs or fences and the temnorary
o'oeNIhg OF the scarcely rayeled
oaek roads, | conclude those stories
must have gained somewhat from the
lapse of years.
lie smoked rapidly and quietly for
u moment, perhaps To gather his
| thoushls little and resumed, 'Why
Tue lall was so excessive and contin.
uous once In Idaho Territory upon the
steep roof of our mill, that the large
timber of l2x1i below which the en-.
sine had been built. was bent almost
to breaking. We feared our extra
! weight would surely break it, but
fortunately the weather changed, the
warm south wind blew up the canyon
ana the snow below the caves of the
building settled so that we could DIG
under the huge mass and by night
had caused miniature snow slide and
| relieved the strain, l believe, how
ever the timber never rcgained its
normal position, But in the mining
| town in the Sierras where wintered
in the early sixties, our first snow fell
during October and in the morning lay
four feet on the level. The storm
lasted about forty-ciGht hours and we
then had beautiful weather for sey-
eral weeks. When the snow had par
tally melted, the frame of a ten
horse wagon. from which the wagon
box had been removed. was found to
be crushed to spliuters, even the
spokeS of the wheels being torn and
twisted out of all recognition. From
the last of November until May. sa-
we're storms were of very frequent oc-
currence until, hy actual measure
ment, the snow lay nearly thirty feet
on the level. TO travel any distance
whatever was OF course impossible,
without snow shoes, and every man,
woman and child became more or less
of an expert. We used the Norwegian
shoe exclusively, for with them tho
sport is fast and furious. Eleven feet
long and about four inches broad,
with a leather band about one-third
from the toe by which the foot is
firmly held by its forward pressure,
the toe of the shoe gracefully turned
UPWARD, we learned to hrag of them
and cherish them, as the rider does
his horse, as well We might, for with
out them we were helpless. The bot
tom of the shoe is made as smooth
as glass and covered after each trip
with mixture of tallow and hees-
wax. 4 stout hickory pole. chosen
with great care. about six feet long
and with a knob on the end. is the
guiding rudder, and the expert soon
learns to pass near, and often be-
tween. objects where the slightest
miscalculation would mean death.
As the speed. down any steep noun
tain side. often exceeds Il mile Il mn-
ute the modern cyclist or auto is not
in il.
Of course in these deep SHOWS the
one story cabin of the miner would
soon be buried, hut care Is always
taken to shovel away as far as pos
sible the accumulatlons that come
with the earlier storms. When there
are niles everywhere and shovelling
becomes useless, the snow is per-
mitted to lie where 1t falls and in
gress and egress To the cabin is made
by way of the chimney. No fires for
warmth are needed, as not breath
of air can enter the cabin and none
are made except such rs can be kept
in the large camp kettles, hung In
the fire place on II crane. l'he chiil-
ncy is kept free from snow by means
of a wooden roof fitting over Its top
and above it, and it is absolutely es-
sentIal that between it and the roof
the snow must he kept cleared away,
Steps are arranged in the chimney
for easy climbing and when the miner
enters his cabin he stands his shoes
In the snow bank short way from
the chimney, as otherwise his home
could not readily be found.
Once more he paused, rehlled and
lighted his pipe and said as if to him
self. And it all happened over forty
years ago.
THE two Carlton brothers. veterans
of. the Civil War from Maine, where
they claimed to have some snow
storms of their own, lived in cabin
some little distance from the man
street. The huge banks of snow mad
long since covered it and. like many
others. for several weeks they had
,rawled in and out of it through their
cbimneys. This was their first WIN
for in these mountains and they hau
been often warned to keep the place
hollow the chimney clear from snow
lost the top be covered some night