The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1908-12-06
lFrnm the Arrowhead

a.
Clinglng TO the sheer cliffs Of the
Meadow Valley mountains in south
eastern Nevada, two men braved the
dangers Of the most terrible storm this
part of the desert has ever known. one
night in March. 1907, In an effort to md
"A railroad
Above them roared the devastating
storm. spreading from peak TO peak a
pail of inky darkness. Beneath their
feet, scarcely less loud that the howl
ing storm, rushed and raved, not the
peaceful stream they had seen in the
sunshine Of the day before, but the
freshet-fed storm driven TIDE of the
Meadow Valley wash. mile wide, o;
unknown depth. bearing all before II
and crashing its curling white teeth
above its prey.
The two men were J. A. Shanahan
division engineer Of the San Pedro,
Los Angeles * salt Lake Railroad
company, and his assistant. Down,
down, into the great wash they fol-
lowed the twin ribbons Of steel that
marked the trail Of the overland. until
that trail gave out, vanished into the
black tide OF destruction that was
sweeping down from the hills in wild,
mad rush TO reach the Rio Colorado.
road than a jackrabbit." SAID Shana-
han 10 his companion. but Wen follow
the canyon walls and maybe ind the
other end
Into the darkness. feeling their way
along lodges, crawling around peaks,
sliding down shale slopes. daring death
above. below. on all sides, these two
men fought their way until one OF
them could go no farther, and re-
manned on a lonely peak all night. The
other. Engineer Shanahan, followed the
cliff OF the gorge until he had passed
over the greatest railroad disaster
known 20 the west in modern times
and stood once more on terra firma,
beyond the huge Meadow valley wash
out. nearly $4,000. 900 damage behind
him. done by a power which no fore
sight could have forestalled.
First Night Of Disaster.
This is the story of the first night Of
the Meadow valley disaster, and il viii
live long In the minds of railroad men
in the west, but il viii not live so long
and the telling of il can never be so In
teresting as the story Of how mar
met. fought and conquered nature. in
her most terrible mood, that you and
and all the rest of us might ride in
safety through the hundred miles OF
Meadow Valley wash.
Here, in the lonely desert of south
eastern Nevada. a mountain torrent
itself the product OF the union of tive
considerable streams. has been COM
pletely whipped into submission; tht
entire course of a river has beer
changed and II has been made 10 flow
not where the laws of nature and Of
gravity bade It flow. but where the en-
gineers of the salt Lake route led il
as a little boy might lead tiny stream
with his finger
Here miles OF new bed have beer
scoOped and blasted out OF the living
rock, and the waters Of the Meadow
Valley river led into il. made to flow
into il. held I'm bounds by the walls o
rock which no force short of earth
quake can dislodCe Three hundre'
yards wide in some places. mile wild
in others this stream has been takel
in hand and hammered down to Uni
form, tame little stream whimperini
and whining along its hundreds o
miles to the Colorado. but forgotten
is its battle cry gone It's song of tri
umph. for the men Of the transit an'
the meter rod have conquered II.
Masterpiece of Engineering.
The work accomplished stands besid'
the bridging of the Great Salt lake ant
the construction Of the Rio Grand'
through the Grand Canyon Of the Ar
kansas as masterpieces of railway en-