The log cabin Democrat., 1916-03-18

of way through the Cafcades. One oi the stations is at Laconia, at the summit of Snoqualmie pass.
 The winter of 1912 will long ba re- T entered by mountain railroad men md mountain linemen. It brought 3nOws that tied up traffic of all sorts. Trains were stalled everywhere by he big drifts Rotaries got lost and buried by the slides. One freight train was lifted bodily off it's shelf on the mountainside and thrown into the bed of the Snoqualmie river at the foot of the cliff by 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 it was his job to get them up. When he left the storm was at its height, but it was his job to keep that line open. A railway man and line patrolman are Glike In one thing. Ill umes of stress they have ar obsession stronger even than religion-come what may, the line must be kept open.
 So Mayo, who is 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 shuffled ten feet from tte 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 ID 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 fared.
 Now the snow was above the caves of the little house. It was quite dark inside and the wood was running out. The wood pile was ten feet from the back door, but it might as well have been ten miles. Worse still, the snow had pushed open both doors and the woman could not close them.
 week after Mayo left j. L. Coyle, district foreman for the Postal, got tC Laconia. He knew the general direc- tion in which the little company house was located. Looking across a 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 week, called to safety by orders of the wire chief. That was one time that the line stayed down a while and at least one woman won't forget it for a long time.
 Four years ago Lineman w. Hull was stationed at Wolfs 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 second break in the line not long after the men left Keechelus. The bridge showed the were cut off from communication east or west. somewhere out in the storm.
 Ben Hunegardt was the lineman at Easton. He as sent west with a helper At noon the helper turned back
 You may be a --- fool, but I'm not going to have my friends stand ing around and saying. Don't he look natural, after they find my body" he declared
 All right, Bill good-by," said Hune- gardt briefly. He set his face to the storm and shufled on
 Refuge in Deserted Cabin.
 Night came and the storm closed ir about him He stumbled forward It was past midnight when Hunegardt made out a dark shape in the snow It proved to be a portion of the roof of deserted cabin. The weight of the snow had crushed in one end of the building. The gable of the stand ing end, which also held the fireplace chimney. stuck bravely above the drift
 Hunegardt burrowed into the drift and, crawling under tie wreckage, reached the unharmed portion of the cabin. He started a fire in the fire place and stripped his socks to dry them. Sitting in the warmth he grew drowsy. Fight as he would he could