The wageworker. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1904-????, 1906-06-08
TRAIN HELD BY SANpsToRM
Hard Winds Along Columbia River
Cause Conditions Unusual
to Railroads.

At recent meeting Of the GeoloE-
ical society in Washington there were
a number of papers on scientific topics
geological survey. contributed hu-
man-interest story. describing the way
the black sand got back at him and
held up the train on which he was
travelling over the Oregon Short Limo
last season for II hours.
DR.. Lay has been at work on the
black sand analysis of the Pacific
coast for many months, and has OBJ
tanned some remarkable results, show.
ing the value of the sand from tho
amount of gold, silver, platinum, mag
netic iron and other minerals that 1t
carried.
On the strip in question, he said,
the sand had a chance to turn the
tables and did it in good shape. 1t
was at the time of the nearest up
proach to blizzard in the east, and at
the same time there was one of the
most violent sandstorms on record in
the section of the west through which
DR.. Day was travelling.
The June flood of the Columbia
river, he said, deposits upon the lava
floor of the present river valley large
quantities Of silt, and after the water
had subsidized the prevailing summer
wind blowing through the gorge of the
Columbia blows the dried sands into
the enormous sand dunes, which are
the characteristic feature of the seem
cry along the Oregon Short Line where
it follows the Columbia river from
Umatilla to the Dalles. The railroad
company has found great difficulty in
keeping this sand from the track,
where even an accumulation of two
inches on the rails is frequently SUI
ficient to overturn a train, with dis.
astrous results.
Among the efforts to prevent the
sands from drifting from one dune to
another are, particularly, the planting
of quick-growing shrubbery. The
most successful device has been plac-
ing low board fences two feet high
and 16 feet long at an angle of As de-
grees with the track so as to use the
force of the wind to direct the sand
away from the track on both sides.
This has proved fairly efficient for
the prevailing easterly wind. But on
March IL of this year a blizzard of
unusual velocity blew down the Co.
lumbia in the reverse of the usual d.
rection and piled large amounts OF
sand on the track, stopping the trains
for the greater part Of day.
The position of the sand fences in
this case was such as to produce a
funnel effect and blew the sand direct
ly on the track instead Of away from
it, and the effective work of the sand
boards was very evident. The amount
of work done by this windstorm was
very great Unfortunately, little data
could be obtained from the weather
bureau as to the exact velocity Of the
wind at this point.
At Walla Wal1a, up the river, II
blew 40 miles an hour, and at Port
land 80 miles an hour, but Whatever
the velocity its effect was to fill the
air with sand so that the sun was
entirely obscured from morning till
night, with the exception Of an hour,
when it could be dimly seen, although
the weather man reported clear wealth
er at this point on that day.
The amount of sand blown can Do
indicated by the fact that two cattlA
cars with their doors open to tina
windward side were filled four feet
deep during the night.