Omaha daily bee., 1912-03-31
SNOW BATTLES IN MOUNTAINS
Annual Struggle of Railroads with
Huge Drifts In the
Rockies.

The annual battle with the Snow King
1 is on in the Rocky mountains. From
the middle of February 10 the first Of
May the struggle is at its hardest West
ern railroads are hurting their giant
rotaTles against the drifts that threaten
| to impeds transcontInentsl traffic. Snow
slides are booming Gown mountainsides,
| sweeping away valuable timber and
sometimes carrying away mining camps,
villages, stage coaches and trains.
To secure an accurate estimate Of the
amount Of money spent in fighting the
Snow King in the Rockies every winter
and to east up the total amount OF dam
age done by avalanehes is not easy.
Authorities on the subject say that ra.-
o.. .0s would never cover the total.
Every western railroad is under tre-
mendous expense in maintaining snow
plows and their crews. The first cost Of
a modern rotary ploN is about s2S.e0o.
The men who operate a snow plow are
among the highest salaried employees in
the operating department Of the road,
Behind each rotary there must be from
two 10 six engines TO furnish the motive
power for bucking the drifts. the num-
Der Of engines being regulated by the
depth Of the snow and the steepness Of
the grade.
The rotary plow IS complicated piece
OF mechanism and Is apt to get out Of
order. A boulder or a log that has been
swept on the track from the hills above
aud whose presence beneath the snow
Is not suspected by the rotary pilot win
play hoYoe with the whirling blades Of
tine plow. There must be q rotary re-
serve for use In case Of such an accident,
with extra crews within calling distance
In Colorado, which contains the high4
est mountains OF the continental divide,
snow fighting has been developed to q
science. Every railroad In Colorado has
full equipment OF snow plows and
mountain snow-fighting crews for eight
months OF the year.
Necessarily when tho SHOWS are se-
verest attention is eentered on the main
lines. which are kept clear most OF the
time, traffic seldom being impede1 an
hOur by the worst blizzard. The branch
lines. which penstrste the high hills to
the mining camps. do not fare so well
and some Of the Colorado mining towns
Ike sllvcrton and Breckenridge are cut
off from the rest OF the world for weeks
In spite OF the efforts Of the snow
fighters.
Probably the Moffat road. which is the
popular name for the. late David II. Mof-
fats Denver. Northwestern & Pacific
railroad, now in course Of construction
from Denver 10 Salt Lake City. Is called
upon to do more snow fighting than any
other line In the world. The. Denver.
Northwestern Pacific crosses the con-
tInental divide abodt sixty miles ives,
Of Denver at an altitude Of more than
li.ooo feet above sea level.
For miles on both sides Of the divide
the snow plows are required TO dosheavy
service. The track must be swept olean
every day, for the reason that the hgh
winds are constantly fiIiIng the cuts, with
snow. The Hrifts hceumulate an each
side Of the track until the trains an
overtopped many feet and they pass
through miles of snow lanes. yet so sys-
tematicaily Is the track kept cleared thar
traffic y seldom impeded. ...-.
The damage caused by avalanches in
the Rocky mountains each winter Is past
ell accurate computation. These snow
slides are full OF treachery and descend
at the most Inopportune dmes and in the
most unexpected places There are soma
slides in the San Jnan mountains in
western Colorado which follow beaten
trails and which come booming down the
slopes at about the same time each year
Their paths are avoided and they do 1T
tie damage. But the average snowsllde
seems TO be a creature OF whims.
IL forms at the foot of some crag far
above the timberllne Tho winds whip
the snow into deep drifts at the head Of
a slope leading thousands Of feet into
valley below. Under the spell OF the
lengtheBing days and warm suns of Feb
ruary and March the drifts begin 10
loosen. Tiny rlvulets trlckle from be-
meath the white mantle and suddenly
with a roar that is never forgotten BY
those who have once heard It the whole
mass starts on It's journey to the valley.
Denver Letter in New York Sun.