Tensas gazette. [volume] (St. Joseph, La.) 1886-current, 1916-05-05

summit OF Sn0Qualm1e pass.
The winter of 1912 win long be re- |
n embered by mountain railroad men
and mountain linemen. Il brought |
SHOWS that tied up trafnc Of all sorts.
trains were stalled everywhere by
the big drifts Rotaries got lost and
buried by the slides. One freight train
was lifted bodily on its shelf on the
mountainside and thrown into the bed
of the Snoqualmie river at the foot of
the cliff by q snowslide.
Lineman Mayo went out into one Of
the worst storms of that January.
Wires to the east Of his station had
gone down and 1t was his job to get
them up. When he left the storm
was at its height, but 1t was his job
to keep that line open. A railway
man and line patrolman are alike in
one thing. In times Of stress they
have an obsession stronger even than
religion-come what may. the line
must be kept open.
So Mayo, who is a husky young
mountaineer. kissed his wife and three
babies good-by and. strapping on his
snowshoes, stepped outside the door
of his little cabin at Laconia. When
he had shufiled ten feet from the door
he was lost to the sight Of those
anxious watchers in the tiny home.
The wife turned back to her house
keeping and the care of her babies.
And the snow fell. The day passed
and the night passed and the snow
fell, but the hours brought no word
from Mayo. The drifts rose above
the windows of the little house at
Laconia. No longer could the doors
be opened.
Imprisoned BY Snow.
Another night and another day and
the snow falling steadily. The rail-
way was tied up and the rotary crew
worked all hours. There was no idle
man or woman to dig paths for Mrs.
Mayo or even to see how she Jared.
Now the snow was above the caves
Of the little house. 1t was quite dark
inside and the wood was running out.
The wood pile was ten feet from the
back door, but 1t might as well have
been ten miles. Worse still. the snow
had pushed open both doors and the
woman could not close them.
A week after Mayo left J. L. Coyle.
district foreman for the Postal. got to
Laconia. He knew the general direc-
ton in which the little company house
was located. Looking across q plain
of white he saw a tiny black speck.
the gable end of a roof. A little curl
of blue smoke marked the spot. It
was there the lineman's wife was
waiting word of her husband.
When Superintendent Coyle arrived
at the home and dug his way in he
found the last of the fuel had been
put into the stove. He brought the
first word that Mayo was safe but
storm-bound at the next station east
| of Laconia. He had been there q
week. called to safety by orders Of
the wire chief. That was one time
that the line stayed down while and
at least one woman won't forget It for
q long time.
Four years ago Lineman g.. w. Hull
was stationed at VOLTS cabin on Lake
Keechelus. Somewhere to the east
the wires went down. The snow was
deep and still falling. Hull got in
structions to locate the break. He
got Wolf to accompany him. The two
started east on snowshoes.
The wire chief. watching his board
at Seattle, noted q second break IN
the line not long after the men left
Keechelus. The bridge showed the
new break to be behind the men. They
were cut on from communication east
or west, somewhere out in the storm
Ben Hunegardt was the lineman al
Easton. He was sent west with q
helper. At noon the helper turned
back.
"You may be q - fool, but I'm
not going to have my friends stand
ing around and saying, Don't he lool
natural after they find my body" h
declared.
"All right, Bill: good-by." said Hume
gardt briefly. He set his face to thu
storm and shufled on.
Refuge In Deserted Cabin.
Night came and the storm close<
In about him. He stumbled forward
It was past midnight when Hunegard
made out dark shape In the snow
Il proved to be q portion Of the roo
of q deserted cabin. The weight o
the snow had crushed in one end o
the building. The gable Of the stand
ing end, which also held the freplac'
chimney. stuck bravely above tn
drift.
Hunegardt burrowed into the drift
and. crawling under the wreckage
reached the unframed portion Of tn
cabin. He started Q IRE in the firs
place and stripped his socks TO dr.
them. Sitting In the warmth he gre,
drowsy. Fight as he would he coul
not keep his eyes open. When b
awoke with . start he found thu
morning had dawned.
The fire had burned to ashes on th
/ hearth and his socks had burned wit
1t. Sockless, Hunegardt thrust hi
!. feet into his heavy mountain shoe
. strapped on the snowshoes and u
q out again, his face to the west.
. At about eleven o'clock that NOR
ing he found Hull and Wolf in q d
r serted cabin. where they had take
n l .hoI<or Thev had broken A uair {