The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1910-01-24

| Line in his comfortable salt Lake Office
recently when he was thawing out be-
tween experiences. My first work on a
wholesale plan with The whitcness was
on Ia" Great Northern in North Dakota
although since ] came to the Short Line !
have had enough Of II 10 keep my liza nd
In, especially this winter.
NORTH Dakota is the worst section Of
| the United states for SNOW. ami probably
the worst in North America with tho pos
sihle exception of the Cascade mountains.
| Snow is Of MANY kinds 10 The railroad
man, even though il looks pretty much
alike TO other people. Now, in North
| Dakota the snowfall is only about ono
| foot on the average, but & is so dry and
the winds are SO high that il drifts cv-
also makes drifts ten to twenty feet high,
! In tho Cascades on the other hand.
! tho snow Is wet and soCSy and does not
drift any 10 speak OF. but it is heavy
as mud and as solid as clay and there
! Is an amending amount OF it,
| 'Farthcr north in Canada tho cold is
about the same as II Is In the Dakotas.
but there is practically no wind in the
! bad snow belt there is less snow
| trouble on tho prairie roads than in the
| Dakotas When the wind gets up VIC Oft
is no use trying 10 run. Then We send
ont rotary and clear the track, but
ii is no use doing 50 while the wind Is
blowing and the snow is dry -four al
in average vertical inches.
II spcak mostly OF North Dakota. hut
the conditions are much the same whcr-
ever there Us wind and dry snow, AND
tho Same work is done much the same
way in hundreds OF places all over the
west.
Men Refuse to Work,
once let "A drift start and YOU have
trouble with il all winter. IN the fall
we used 10 get ont 4 force q men and
pick up every stone the size OF the hsi
cut down all the weeds and then drag
rall with horses AT each end of II so as
to give the snow nothing to begin on.
Thc cuts in the bad sections are all
smoothcd down and made very VIDE at
the top SO that the wind can make /"
clean sweep down one. side and up the
otncr, thus taking the snow with Ut.
Those Dakota pl.zzards arc something
terrible. No one can iancy whit they
are like until nc has actually bcen IN
one. The air is white and the wind Is
n hurricane. BY protecting the eyes Win
the hand In good nght one can see apoui
100 feet, see an engine or dark house,
| mean and once III blue moon wnch
a clear swirl comes along ne can eaten
ii flash Of something dim AZ perhaps 2ou
rect At night Lt Is all blank, even py
the headlight.
try operators saying that they were go
ing To close The Office, but were Sons
To sleep there all night on The hoor al,
| though their home WAS only tWo StraiStt
blocks away. all bccause OF The DllIzard'
nave had men walking the track IN II
| blizzard and set out from between inc
rails say two feet from the track, ana
walk In circles all night trying 20 md IT
again Under such conditions me men re-
iusc to go Out of Inc work car even pS
DAY ana SIMPLY sit around n,,, ana ma, S,nSSe nS@
! them and 1T Is no use TO fire them,
Fancy Il train ditched under such CON
ditions. So we do not rum trains. fN ,
crNbody rests TIL tho Blow is over. and
| 4 hay
| clean up. The Great Northern used 10
spend 5000 a day on snow work alone.
just 10 keep the track clear, To sa! noun
| ing OF indirect cost
I'm the Sierras the snow IS wet ana
much given 10 slides. hence The need loi
the costly snow sheds, but once OUT oi
d cut II stays OUT. In other places, such
| as between here and Denver In spots.
II runs back In again almost like water.
Some Of the worst snow country Is pc
tween Salt Lake and Denver. Here YOU
have all kinds of conditions 10 fight. wind
| In some places. wet and dry snow, slldes
and an alternate freezing and melting con-
dltion that Is the worst oil all
Engines Freeze to the Rails,
'l remember once when We stopped for
water In the Datotas and ii was torty on
| so below Triflc cool, that The lire
man let down the spout from the tank
and by the lime The engine had had its
drink The spout WAS frozen fast. We LOST
! | forget how many gallons OF water all
| wc had In tho tank 10000. think. and
tho ice was four feet thick around and
under thai engine. We were tied up Tor
hours while ihe men picked out the dTtv-
| ers with hand picks, Even the drip
pings VIII otter freeze The engine tight
To tho rails in a few minutes and II mas
10 bc dug out by hand. This happens
on every winter road.
"Hcavlng or the rack Is another trou-
bic the winter brings. Often the track
VIII hump up two feet or more. some.
times under only one rail. This is causcd
by the water in the ground under the
track and fortunately ii almost always
occurs slowly as the frost goes into the
ground gradually, say one inch day, in
the spring ir We dig down, four or five
feet. sometimes, VIC VIII usually find q
pool OF underground wa ter that has caused
the trouble.
The freezing of ihc water HTS mp the
track Just 1t breaks pitcher on the
table, by expansion. And II is II power
nothing can resist. An we can do is tc
try TO keep our tracks as dry possible
but ot course, this cannot always be
done. You cannot put Il rubber coat and
hip boots on a railroad track. so VIC dc
tho best we can by using stone ballast