Los Angeles herald., 1905-12-31
|SIIY

VC---- iiS4iiNN'S
lSxSlSAI fathers of the human race. In order
to see Nature in unfamiliar moods, in
aspects that delight, or awe, or terrfy, we will
ingly exchange the prosaic quiet of our hearth
stones for the heave of the steamer or the rush
of the train. Our restessness differentiates even
the methods Of travel The well-dressed general
public surveys the country through the car win
dows. Beneath, riding on the jumpers, the rag
ged hobo breathes with difficulty the dust of
the road bed.
The Portland Exposition introduced good
many Americans to a new way of riding on the
rail-in caboose The Canadian Pacific was
so overrun by expositionists that there were not
enough passenger conductors and brakemen to
look after them. All extra sections put in
charge of freight hands. That meant that the
sturdy little caboose tagged on behind, for the
freight crew and its caboose are as nseparable
as the Dutchman and his pipe, or the Sician
and his stiletto
The caboose is the crews private car-as invio-
late as that of the railway president But to
these men--to whom hello from a passing train
does duty for chat, and a couple OF hours at
the end of run for the unbroken human inter
course enjoyed by most of us-passengers have
the charm of novelty. A few adroit questions,
a small show of interest in their life, is the
open sesame to their sanctum.
81 envy you your daily view of this wonderful
country" / said one day to Uncle Billy an old
trainman out in the Canadian rockies, as we
were riding along in a caboose during the sum
mer, your opportunity to watch the changes
of the seasons on this bewildering labyrinth of
snowpeaks, and rock precipices, and rushing riv-
ers."
''You don't understand said the old conduc.
tor, and his face clouded. 'You think these
ar.nka IL.
but If you them hurling avalanches YOU
would only tremble, Winter means death to the
tranmen."
Then he told me of his experiences and of
the experiences of his fellows. Long before he
had finished, I had begun to look up at the
mountains apprehensively, and to be Gevouty
thankful that it was warm July sun that
changed to rainbow the spray of the waterfall
and painted with purple the distant peaks.
For eight months out of the year the freight
crews In the Canadian Rockies never board their
caboose without thinking that it may be their
last run. No need to tell the trainmen to "be-
ware of the awful avalanche" They know full
well that the White Death lies in wait for them
on many cleaning snow peak, ready for de-
scent swift and nexorable as lightning They
speak OF the avalanche "she" and even re
gard its victims as the more less rghtful trib-
ute to Cyclopean creature, who ruled over
these mountain Businesses long before the birth
of the human and who is angry at the late
intrusion of her sacred places
In that wild country of the north, man and
his inventions seem alike puny and Inadequate:
with infinite toll he builds snow sheds, pnc
mp huge timbers, ballasted with rock and
Sanctioned with iron. The river of snow cut.
through it as if it were made of straw. II takes
four powerful snowplows several days to bur
row way through deep cut where the snow
has piled in hilocks twenty feet high The
storm of an afternoon restores the previous con
ditions.
THE CENTRE OF THE WRECKAGE.
AS Uncle Billy said it is the freight train that
is the helpless victim of winter storm and snow
slide. Its heavy length is too unwieldy TO be
gotten out of the way of a sudden danger. II
must stand for hours on exposed sidings waiting
for the light-moying passenger to pass. And