The Washington herald., 1909-01-03

ESA& stage for tragedies and strange occur
RAT7<NAT rences The reader may fancy il ne will
5SNSSE . b-lding $4,000 feet, some twenty
- eight miles In length, lying Ike stu
pendous worm crooked yet motioniess' across e Iop
Of mountain range 5000 feet above the level OF the
sea WITHIN and through this shadOwy passage oy
- - hv night trains Of gold bearing ore trains
loaded with man made goods and trains carrying Steep
ing and waking humanity, passed with their 10" anu
rurbling thunder In sumner the region roleo green
and gray and brown In heaven OF warm Whl'e etheI'
vbfe in winter II was a a realm smitten with
white death, snow heaped, cold, and desOlate
That the officials Of the Western Central railroad
sbo1Id have been burdened with peculiar care re-
spectng this house the mountains may be eas'iy
conceived when It IS stated that the structure ao
cost S14 lneal foot, or some S20O060o a4toSellei
Fire was the menace that always hung over the vast
shed Sparks thrown out OF locomotive smokestacAs
might ignite il trarnps traversing its endless tunnel
and cooking their meals lighting their pipes might
csrelessly give the monster telegraph wires
might become crossed with telephone, electric Agh or
-,oyrar wires and sting II with spark that would
sweep pass with flames CT lightning might SlIIAe
and burn 1t; hence ingenuity and socitude were eH
hausted in its protection
Beginning near Muey Point little station on the
high eastern shoulder the mountain, the VAST sheo
stretched around the slope toward the west ana sg
" downward through the Great Bend, then began 10
ascend By a long, twisting grade toward mohsFOus
dent in the top Of the mountain called the Hopper
thro,zb which It passed huge welt left by the
blow Of a giant whip, ending where the track began
to wind downward to Quartz creek on us way 70 'ne
head Of Peace canon
D,rsctlv opposite the Great Bend and across the
stupendous gorge Of the Muey river, little mouse
was erected high. projecting peak spur OF
Forked mountain. From that swimming helgnl Inc
eve aided BY a heldglass, could command view OF
nearly every foot Of the twenty-eight miles OF she'd
From, the warm end OF May until the middle OF Novem-
Der by night and by day pair Of human eyes looked
increasingly from window in the little stone house.
ever dwelling watchfuIy the curving miles OF hs
On the window sin. which was fashioned like the
1o-er field GA 10 z
md swivel; al the Io0kOuts right hand stood tele
graph instrument; and on the left was telephone
these latter were connected by wires 10
little station the track near the western end OF
the great shed. Thus by the telegraph or telephone
the operator Sag the railway station might be IN
stantIy Informed BY the watcher on Forked noun
tain Of the breaking out OF FIRE anywhere IN the
long shed
Trough four summers Park Taylor and his mother.
the wife and son Of Price Taylor, who died while
station master al Sandrock, lived in the house on the
crsg and watched the shed When the winter came
and they went down TO the haunts Of men-to live
IN their home SandTock that Park might 80 70
schOo-for time the noises OF even 50 small toTn
seemed Earring and bosterous, and for weeks the
silence Of the sky cIung 20 them and made them
seem strange.
PARK, a gray eyed strong umbed laughter loving
youth watched during the night for the most part
while mother kept her az the glass during the
dsv She too. was & merry soul, but they rarely
laughed while on Fored mountain the strain was too
great To look and look and look and never do any
their four summers the mountain the long house
broke into flames and for little space the two
were swept with excitement they flashed the star
ding news 20 Gap, but the department soon sub
dued the flames and again silence fell and the long
waiting. Then, for the mother and son. enc day It
all ended
Over al Gap. fifteen miles distant, time hung less
heavily a FIRE train and engine with steam up day
and night stood side track ready 20 run at
a moments warning to any point in the shed where
a conhagration might be under way The IRE train
consisted OF seven fat upon which were built
big tanks capable carrying collectively $50 tons
OF water and pressure engine The train was manned
nv eight men. lay wait the year round, watch
ing for the monster Near Gap q spring gushed out
OF the side Of the mountain and there water tank
was erected. from which engines a16 ire IRE Tram
CIT their sIpplv Between the siding and the main
track stood small station house in which Todd Mercer
the CAV operator and his wife and baby lived With
them lived Todds nephew, Sloan Mercer the night
operator
TbrouEhout each moment Of night and day OPP
orator remained duty, for once IN every thirty
minutes report OF the condition OF the great shed
came BY wire from the lonely lOOkouts on Forked
mountain. An alarm IN the event Of fire. might also
arrive by telephone from the other Of two track
walkers who patrolled the long house Bat almost IN
evitabIy fire in the shed at any point must cut the
wires OF communication traversing It's endless curves
hence the supreme OF keeping the wires intact
from Forked mountain Cap and OF the human eyes
that looked down from the crag never ralterlng N
wetchfulness-
A half mile west OF Gap lay the property OF the
Fuller Gold Mining company. The company had
private siding connecting with the track OF the West
ern Central near the mouth Of the mine The mine
itself was a drift" piercing the mountain north
ward and striking lode depth Of some 800 feet
At that point transverse tunnel bored the quartz east
and west extending in the direction Of Gap nearly
2 quarter Of q mTs The vein OF water that sup
piled the fire from the mountain IN that
vicinity and, one day-the day Of the fourth FIRE II
the long househe spring ceased 10 flow The precious
artery had been cut in two by the tunnel
ora rra n-Tn
as dry as -four A strong wind from the southwest
hot from the sand and sage brush OF Arizona had
sucked through the mountain gOrges al the afternoon
A fine dust almost as impalpable ether itself was
in the air sky blown siftings of far OF Arizona
sand storm. Park down at the lookout window
on Forked mountain he said 20 his mother
The wind usually falls shutdown, but it seems
10 be rising
Yes; it would De bad night for fire." said
Mrs Taylor. looking Muley mountain
anxiously
Park looked the heaped masses looming and gray
ing and purpling beyond the gorge
-Listen." ne said; hear the pines in the Hopper;
they sound like the sea, don't they?"
Yes: I heard the when there
storm il sounded good deal Ike that" She moved
away and began preparing supper.
toward evening John Berg foreman Of the train
over at the Gap decided to empty the tanks and
charge them with fresh fluid. The the tanks
sSA not been changed for nearly two months had