Semi-weekly herald., 1909-08-30
THEBIG
SLIDE
Description Of the Rock
Slide in the Animas
Canon

A great many people who do not
know the real facts are wondering
why It is taking SO long to open the
railroad to Silverton-to clear the
track of the rock slide which came
down nearly three weeks ago. The
writer had talked with quite a nun.
Der of people who came over the
slide in hopes of obtaining reasona.
bly, clear description, but nine out of
| Ten Just said. MS a terrible mess
and no telling when a train will get
| through" We have been in this sec
lion thirty-odd years and have wit
messed all kinds OF track Instructions,
| the immense snow ayalanches filling
| gulches level. seen the effects of waah.
outs by cloud bursts, etc and to oh.
| tain view of the latest freak OF ma.
| ture we visited the Scene OF the rock
| slide Thnraday, and after a few mo
ment's inspection we concurred with
others that Il is the hardest proposition
railroad men have had to tackle for
many day.
The slide came down in about as
bad a place, for the railroad people
| to handle. as possible, the location be-
| ing a mile or so above the Needleton
station on the west side OF the Animas
close to the stream, over what might
| he termed a hog back" The road
Ded runs through a cut, or the hog
back referred to- This hog back"
extends across the river. The slide In
he first place was between twenty
and thirty feet deeIsl1or distance OF
about 100 feet, damming the river as
completely as though made Of con.
crete. owing to the hog back" ex-
tending across the river the slide
caused the stream to form a lake ex-
tending up stream long distance and
block or two wide. Thus 1t WAS i'm.
possible to build around or over the
slide, To cross the river meant two
bridges and blasting through the hog
back, then another bridge crossing
back To build over the slide meant
bridging the newly formed lake After
| considering all sides only one proposi-
| ton remained open-to blast out the
dam holding the river Work started
TO this end and when the writer visit
been lowered about twelve feet and
blasts fired later in the day took It
down three feet more In the mean.
time work started on both ends of
the slide, flat cars being utilized oh
the Durango side to haul out the rock
and dirt, while on the Silverton side
| wheel barrows are utilized and up to-
Thursday "a dyke 200 feet long and
twelve feet high had been made OF
| the rock and debris. Immense bowl.
ders weighing tons were wedged In
and they have to be blasted which
| makes II slower work. The greatest
problem, however. is blasting the dam
keeping back the stream. This Is alb
solutely necessary, otherwise the road
| bed would become the water way for
The stream which IL unusually high
| for this season of the year. This,
| therefore, explains the time 1t is TAX
| ing to remove the slide Thursday the
railroad iolficials were in hopes OF
draining the lake within four or five
| days and then short work would be
made of digging out the slide, men
being able TO work from both ends.
When the slide took place supt. P.
B. McAtee and Assistant Superintend.
ent Deuel. happened to be In Durango
and they were on the ground early
next morning and have been there
since giving directions and lending all
aid possible, being ON hand from day
light until dark. With them is Otto
Mears, the veteran toll road builder AZ
well as railroad contractor, the latter
directing workmen from the Silyerton
end Mr. Mears says In 40 years Of
railroadlng he never saw anything like
headquarters In Denver to view the
slide and lend expert advice. one man
coming in last week az the personal
representative of Vice President and
General Manager Schlacks--a man
who has dealt with all kinds of hard
propositions, and Thursday Arthur
Rldgway. engineer and superintendent
o; bridges. visited the slide In talk
ing with n Herald reporter Mr. Ridg
way says there have undoubtedly beer
larger slides but no Instance is know
where the handling OF slide wal
made as difficult owing to the dam
ming OF the stream which had to b,
removed before the track Can be en
tireiy cleared. Mr.. Ridgeway returne'
to Denver Friday morning. satisfied
everything was being done that osul