Los Angeles herald., 1907-01-19
MOUNTAINS CLAD
IN COLD GRANDEUR
SNOW ON PEAKS BREAKS ALL
RECORDS
Miners Are Buried Under Huge Drifts.
Water Supply Is Assured for
Many Years to
Come

Los Angeles awoke yesterday to view
one of the most magnificent sights in
the history of even this land, famous
throughout the world for It's beauty.
As far as the eye could reach
stretched a wall of white along the
horizon. High up, thousands of feet In
the air, where the deep blue of Mount
Wilson, Mount Lowe, Old Baldy and
the ranges had stretched scarcely q
week ago only a great wall of white
could be seen.
But such walll II fairies had deco
rated the grand product OF natures
own making the result could not have
been more beautiful. For more than
week the mountains have been hidden
from view. Low clouds have cut Los
Angeles from its finest view and storm
after storm of rain has kept tourists
from appreciating Southern California.
But while the rain was dTenching Los
Angeles into a city of rare green's and
rainbow colored flowers the frost king
was playing havoc in the mountains.
Throughout the length of the Sierras
a carpet of white from eighty feet to 100
feet deep in the canyons and over
twenty feet deep on the levels has been
spread by the storms Of the past two
weeks Yesterday when the sun came
forth again and swept back the veil of
clouds the sight was marvellous to be-
hold. Every foot of ground between
Los Angeles and the mountains had
blossomed forth Every shrub was In
full leaf every flower in full bloom, and
back and above all, shooting skyward
to a ragged edge of sky line, shot the
snow-c clad peaks, shimmering in the
sun.
Snow Record Breaker
Such q snowfall in the mountains has
never before been recorded in the his
tory of Los Angeles county, according
to statements issued yesterday from
the county supervisors office. In the
Antelope valley, eighty miles to the
northeast, the carpet of snow begins so
low down on the hills that the ranchers
have been having a hard time to pro-
tect their cattle. Eight inches of snow
Is reported from the low lying foot
hills. At the Big Rock creek, which
supplies the valley with its water, the
snow is packed to a depth of several
feet, and then straight up the ridge to
the divide, deepening with every foot
of altitude until the summit, the snow
is lying fifteen or eighteen feet deep. In
the canyons the drifts are from eighty
to 100 feet deep, and in many places no
estimate can be made Of the depth of
the soft white stuff that has covered
the mountains like Shroud.
On the north side of the range and
down to the Mojave desert the noun
tains are impossible and the snow
drifts extend far out across the desert,
according to reports received yesterday.
Los Angeles receives it's water supply
almost directly from North Baldy, Old
Badly and the mountains above the
Antelope valley. Big Rock creek joins
with the head waters Of the San
1N,-tn no will
straight toward this section, creating a
condition of watered land the like of
which has never before been known in
the county. Every inch of space on the
great watersheds where for years past
there has been little or no water will
be filled before the snow has melted
away. Every hidden reservoir, every
little spring, long since dry, every creek
and freshet will be dancing with water
for the summer and other summers to
come. And water means prosperity.
Old Inhabitant Surprised
A. Howard Shoemaker, mayor, post
master and general representative of
Shoemaker postoffice, arrived in Los
nificent ranch in the upper end of the
Antelope valley, just in the foothills
and within easy distance of Big Rock
creek. For the past few days he has
been supplying food to the miners en-
tombed in the snow at the summit of
the range, tunneling through the snow
to them with beef and establishing tele-
phone communication where possible.
1T is the heaviest snow I have any
recollection Of" said Shoemaker, "and
1 have lived in the valley most of my
life. When we were getting rain on
the ranches for the past few weeks the
mountains were getting snow. snow
such as has never been seen in this Sec
ton of the country before. Imagine the
rain of yesterday, as it has been de-
scribed to me, fairly deluging Los An
geles and then imagine the snow piling
into the mountain peaks in the same
manner, coming down night and day
for weeks past and you can have some
idea Of the conditions there. At the top
of the range above my place in the
valley is the Big Horn mine, with many
cabins and barns about the place.
have been supplying the men there with
food for days, for they are buried fif-
teen feet deep in the snow and with no
sign of relief at the present time. In
one barn at the camp horse is locked
up and the roof of the barn is buried
about ten feet deep in the drift. There
is plenty of food there for the horse If
he can only get to 1t, and the men have
decided to make an effort to save the
animal.
Miners Tunnel Through Snow
"The miners have been able to get
along by tunneling through the snow
and working from one cabin to another,
but the drifts are piled high and the
thousands of small canyons and ravines
of Mount San Antonio and it's neighbors
are filled with the whiteness.
zone of the peculiar features of the
snowstorm in the mountains has been
the scurrying of game from the foot
is a stretch of ground covered with
cherry bushes, a scrublike formation
about eight feet high. Black and brown
bears have often spent the winter in
that scrub before, but with the begin