The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1910-07-20
THE Peril OF The BLAST
By FRANKLIN WELLES CALKINS.

way builders in the Snake River Pass.
Three weeks ago we moved up
here, 1865 feet above sea level. We
are blowing rock cuts along the side
Of a dizzy canon. Camp is on one
side, the works on the other now, and
we cross back and forth on a bridge
made of rope over a narrow gorge.
It's teetery business, and no more
than six men are allowed to cross at a
time.
"Just now we are working at a rock
cut that's more than 100 feet on the
upper slope, and there is no slope on
the other side, just a roadbed eigh-
teen feet wide at the bottom.
I'VE throw 1000 tons of rock over
Into the canon at a shot, when our
foreman, old Joe Rogers, pushes the
slide of his battery. We load eighteen
or twenty holes which we have drilled
ten to twelve feet deep, putting TWEEN
ty-five pounds of black powder in
each hole.
"The powder goes into a pocket
which is blown in the bottom of the
hole by the use of stick dynamite.
Then an exploding cap attached to a
wire is lowered to the powder, and
the hole is tamped with dust and
sand. The loose end of the wire is
then attached to a lead wire which
connects with an electric battery, and
all the shots are sent off at once
''It rained hard all last Wednesday,
and while it was raining and blowing
in camp it was showing and blowing
overhead, a fact which we didn't suf-
tciently realize in our drenched quar-
tiers.
"a blast had been ready to fire, or
nearly so, when the rain stopped us
from work, and Thursday morning
everybody but the cook and two of US
who had been detailed to cut wood
were hustled out on the works.
"a fellow named Quin Dawson and
[ were set to chop close to the lower
edge Of camp. We were making the
chips fly when we heard old Joe's
voice rolling across the canon:
""'Ware all! Battery! Battery
$50 we ran out of the woods near
to the first tents to look across and
wei into the canon. It's quite a sight
from the camp side to see big rocks
go bowling into the gulch, knocking
over trees, hitting up pufs Of dust
that squirt out like the smoke of can
non shots. Every big bump sounds
like a cannon shot, too.
"They had in heavy charges in a
twenty-four-hole shot, and the blast
Jared the mountain wen or our side.
We saw a mighty upheaval of dust
and stones and felt the shock under
our feet. and then the echo Of the
shots and the clatter of rocks was
drowned in a bigger roar that sound
ed high over our heads.
"Quin, who had been sitting on a
stone. jumped to his feet and yelled:
Slide! Slide, Snowslide!'
"And then he ran for the woods
back Of us. I was paralyzed for the
minute, and then a big white a
struck the camp in front of me. I saw
tents, wagons, wheel-scrapers rolled
up and buried, and the first of the
slide shot by.
Then in a fash the tide rose and
swept me off my feet. l found my
self suddenly dropping down into the
anon. I rode on the crest of a big
snow wave, lying on my back and 60
ing feet first.
Fl cant say that I felt any fear; in
fact, there wasn't much time to be
afraid in, for my big drift slumped
into the creek channel. and I was
buried so deep that the first sensation
that came to me was of an awful ST.
lence.
L was packed in tight, my ears
and eyes were closed, and 1 seemed
to be wound up in a frozen sheet. But
I wasn't hurt, and I wriggled a hole
to turn round in. l was nearly in an
upright position, and I soon made
standing room. When I got my eyes
open the light was simply a clear cold
whiteness. 1t made my ~eyeballs ache.
THE snow was light and fine, and
not packed so hard as it had seemed
before I moved, and I quickly began
to badger my way upward. Taking
slant that would give me fastest pro-
gress, I dug a hole big enough to
work in, and packed the snow to one
side and behind me while l worked
ahead.
presently my hands and fingers
got so numb that I had to stop and
thaw them out by breathing on them,
When 1 had done this l fshed a big
bandanna handkerchief out of a peck
ct, tore it in halves and wound each
hand in a pieces. That helped some,
and I went ahead till it seemed a. if
must have been buried a hundred
feet deep.
II suppose, though, that 1 didn't
get very far with all my frantic paw
ing. I was pretty tired when the snow
seemed to grow less dense, and my
mind got easier until my hands struck
a hard surface. and l found myself VI
against a solid wall o frock.