The Eureka sentinel. [volume] (Eureka, Nev.) 1902-current, 1910-03-05

hours to get there. Mr.. Crowley re-
turned to the Summit station house and
learned from Mr.. Bassi, the section
foreman at that place, that the supply
of provisions he had on hand would not
last the men over that part of the
journey, and not wishing to leave him
without sustenance for himself, deter
mined to back the train towards Eure.
ka with all possible haste. 1t moved
from this place homeward bound at
o'clock in the afternoon, and returned
to Garden Pass without much difficulty
at 4 O'Clock in the evening. The train.
backing. al into q snow bank at this
place, and the difficulties increased.
1t wal showing heavily and the cold
wind rushed through the canyon a per.
feet blizzard. The track, which had
been cleared the day previous, was now
thickly encrusted with solid ice. and the
snow in hard and soft layers had again
drifted on it, banking three to four feet
deep. There was nothing left to eat
but a few potatoes. q little salt and a
pound or two Of corned beef. The men
despaired of ever getting back to town
again, and were afraid that they would
all perish right there. Conductor Crow
ley declared that he was really fright
ened, and that during the whole Of his
IS years of ~railroading he had never had
such rough experience before.
No. 8 engine was disabled the greater
part of the time, and water had to be
supplied to each of the locomotives by
shoveling snow into the tanks. In this
fearful dilemma all hands worked with
the energy of despair. yet it took fully
"a hours to move the train a single mile
Of the road. To accomplish ever this,
it became necessary to reverse the posi-
ton of the snow plow, which was heav.
lily loaded with iron to hold it down on
the track. To do so at this juncture
was no easy task, but Mr.. Crowley ad.
ded fresh laurels to his reputation by
the manner in which he managed 1t.
| His men said that it was the best piece
Of engineering they had ever seen. The
train was at the Garden Pass switch at
this time, and he had the forward trucks
Of the plow run mp the side track, leav-
ing the rear trucks resting on the main
track. The oenter bearing was then
blocked up, and with the aid of ropes
and chains the pillow was in a few mo-
ments ditched, swung around ~andlpulled
back entirely onto the track.
During this time. from Friday night,
the entire crew were IA hours without a
single bite OF anything to eat, but with
hearts of oak they bravely pushed along
The train left Garden Pass, homeward
bound. q. 4:25 on Saturday afternoon,
covering nine niles to Diamond Station,
bucking the deep snow all that distance,
arriving at the latter place at 9:20 In ths
evening. 1t laid at Diamond over night
and the men again resumed work clear
ing the track at 7:3O on Sunday morn
ing.
The first joyful news OF the trair
again in sight was brought us by Harry
McTerney. who had espied it in Dia
mond Valley while on his return from
the Eureka Con. mine to Eureka.
At the Six Mile House the track wal
entirely covered with solid ice, and her,
with the train moving at a rate of speed
Of 40 miles an hour, it ran clear off th,
track. on top of the ice. for a short dis
lance. Velocity. by good fortune, KEEP
the pillow straight, and when the trair
was stopped it was a comparativel,
slight task to replace it on the rails. Blu
a mere turn might have brought disas
ter and death to the entire crew. Abou
1 O'Clock p. m. the train had reached
the Eureka canyon grade. about three
and q half miles from town.
Mr.. Crowley, leaving Engineer Fer
guson and Brakeman Crane in charge o
the locomotives now resting at tn,
mouth Of the canyon, started with tn
balance of his men for the depot, arriv
ing here Sunday afternoon. Mike Muir
ply, coming in ahead Of all, frs
brought the pleasant intelligence tina
! all hands were safe and we'll, but such
hungry and worn out looking lot of fel
: lows are not often met with arount
here.
At this end 1t was impossible to tel
how far the train had got from here a
! any time after it had left the depot unit
: it was seen last Sunday morning return
: ing through Diamond Valley, and N
> plan had been matured to send out
messenger. In fact there appeared n
way Of getting information until las
t Saturday evening. when the storm hav
. ing subsided. Mr.. Cotton, railroad audi
tor and acting superintendent durinI
Mr.. Gilman's absence. arranged witt
II. b. Mckee to get out with the buck
! board and take John McKernan alonI
r with him. provided with telegraph iu
: struments and equipment to tap tn
wires at any point down the road. MI
Mckee started out &C 10 o'clock ON Sat
urday night. but making little Roadway
q / ha returuad Ra laff aUain tha 49,