Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-10-27
CHAPTER XVI.
The Shadowgraph.

Fortv-two miles southwest of Angels.
At q point where all further progress
seems definitely barred by the huge bar
rier of the great mountain range. the
Red Butte Western, having picked its
devious way to an apparent cul-de-sac
among the foothills and hogbacks, plunges
abruptly into the echong canyon of the
eastern Tfmanyoni.
For forty added miles the river chasm.
throughout its length a narrow, tortuous
crevice. with SHEER and towering cliffs for
its walls. affords precarious footing for
the railway embankment leading the
double line of steel with almost sentient
reluctance, il seems, through the
mighty mountain barrier. At its western
extremity the canyon forms the gateway
to a shut-in valley of upheaved hills and
inferior mountains. isolated by wide
stretches of rolling grassland To the
eastward and westward of the great val
ley rise the sentinel peaks of the two in
closing mountain ranges: and across the
Shut-in area the river plunges from pool
to pool. twisting and turning as the
craggy and densely forested lesser heights
constrain II.
Red Butte. the center of the evanescent
mining excitement. which was orlgina II V
responsible for the building of the rail-
road. lies high-pitched among the shout
dering spurs of the western boundary
range. Seeking the route promising the
feweSt cuts and fills and the easiest
grades, Chandler the construction chief
Of the building company, had followed
the south bank of the river to point a
short distance beyond the stream-frOnt-
ing cliffs of the landmark hill known as
Little Butte. and at the station of the
same name ne had built his bridge across
the Timanyoni. and swung his line in a
great curve for the northward climb
among the hogbacks 10 the gold-mininG
rs,.t,
cipal camp.
Elsewhere than in a land of Sky-pierc-
ing peaks and mountaineering high
lands, Little Butte would have been
called a tree mountain On the engineer
ing maps of the Red Butte Western its
outline appears as roughly described
triangle with five-mie sides, the three
angles of the figure marked. respectively
by Silver switch. Little Butte station ann
bvidge and the Wire-Silver mine.
Between Silver. switch and the bridge
station the main line of the railroad fol
lows the base of the triangle. with the
precipitous bluffs of the big hill on the
left and the torrenting flood of the Ii
manyoni on the right. Along the eastern
side of the triangle. and leaving the
main track at Silver switch. ran the spul
which had formerly served the WIRE
silver when the working opening OF the
mine had been the eastern slope OF
the ridgelike hill. For some years previ
Gus to the summer OF overturnings thi!
spur had been disused, though it's track
ending among a group of the old mine
buildings five miles away, was sun II
commission.
Along the western SIDE of the triangle
with Little Butte station for its point o
divergence from the main line, ran TIT
new spur. built TO accommodate FlemiSte
after he had dug through the hill. Ousteo
the rightful owner OF the true Wire-Sil
yer vein and had transferred his labo
hamlet and his lSant-or the major par
of both-to the TeStern slope OF the butte
AT this point no more than marrow
ridge separating the eastern and western
gulches.
Train 2O5, with eX-Ensineer JudsOn ap