SNOW-BOUND IN THE SIERRAS 1890
The Rotary Snow-Plough
at Work on the
CENTAL PACIFIC RAILROAD
THE Rocky and the Sierra Nevada mountains, which so greatly
tax the forethought and constructive ability of the civil engineer
in the building of railways through their rocky barriers, also
cause the railway companies much difficulty in the operation of
the roads after their completion. When the line has been located
through the narrow winding passes which divide the mountain ranges,
and the immense work of blasting tunnels and deep cuts through
the rocky location, with the frequent turning or bridging of the
channels of foaming streams, has been effected, there remain constantly
to be combated the devastating floods of summer and the snow blockades
of winter. Even in the most arid and parched regions of the elevated
plains, the high mountain ranges that separate them constantly
gather clouds which condense and fall in rain or snow. The loftier
peaks, which until midsummer have retained their snowy mantles
of the winter before, begin in early autumn to don their white
caps, and they whiten from the tops downward as the season advances;
by November the peaks of the main range are a procession of snowy
pyramids. The snow-storms of the Western mountains and of the
high plains at their feet arise almost without warning, and the
dry snow caught by the gale is rent into an impalpable powder,
which is blown horizontally like a mist along the ground. Along
a smooth surface this fine snow whirls without lodging, but wherever
it encounters an obstacle it instantly forms a drift, and it curls
into and masses deeply in the hollows. This snow mist is drawn
together, as if into a funnel by the strong winds that suck down
through the canyons, and as it sifts rapidly into the channel
cut through the snows on the line of the railroad track, it is
beaten down hard by the wind, which packs it so solidly that sometimes
a team and wagon can be driven across a snow-filled hollow without
hoof or wheel sinking deeply enough to obstruct their progress.
Early in winter the liability of trains to encounter a blockade
is comparatively slight. The snow-plough then can usually be forced
through the snow, scattering it to left and right. The drifts
thus created remain by the track without melting and every storm
adds to the walls of a narrow channel which serves to catch and
retain the snow whenever it is blowing. But from mid-winter to
mid-spring the thick clouds that hang about the mountain peaks
break in earnest with driving winds; then the trains of the transcontinental
lines that are so unfortunate as to be caught in a storm are usually
brought to a stand still, and the passengers and train-men have
a weary siege of it. Without warning, a dense cloud swirls down
the mountain pass, borne on a suddenly risen and shrieking gale.
The eye can scarcely penetrate, even for a few feet, the air thick
with driving snow. Even when the day is mild and fair upon the
plains below the foot-hills, a storm may be raging fiercely in
the mountains, and at times when the sky is clear about the peaks
a gusty wind may lift and bear onward the snow that fell at a
former time, and cause serious drifting in the railroad cuts.
When it is found that the train is snow-bound and cannot proceed,
the first effort of the train-men is to back it to a siding, if
this manouver is successful, it is fortunate for the passengers,
who can wait in comparative comfort while the snow-plough is being
brought up and placed before the locomotive. Whether they are
to remain for one day or ten is in such cases a matter of profound
uncertainty. If the blockade occurs late in the winter, often
several snow-ploughs, backed by powerful locomotives, are unable
to penetrate the drifts upon the track. Then there is nothing
to be done but for the train-men and all railroad laborers that
can be summoned to fall to shovelling. The passengers, weary of
sitting in the cars and anxious to proceed, often turn out and
assist them. Within the coaches of the train there is usually
a sufficiency of fuel, and the passengers seldom suffer from cold,
but when the train is caught between stations, those travellers
who have not provided themselves with well stocked lunch baskets
sometimes realize keenly the pangs of hunger before food can be
got to them.
The peculiar difficulties developed in the way of snow blockades
in the railways crossing the great mountain ranges have led to
the invention of the rotary snow-plough. This machine is vastly
more effective for its purpose than the "heater"-shaped
plough formerly in general use, which depended for its usefulness
upon the capacity of the locomotive to drive it like a wedge through
the drifts. When the snow is of considerable depth or solidly
packed, the old-style plough cannot penetrate it. The rotary plough,
with its revolving cylinder, which works some what on the principle
of the cylindrical knives of a hay-cutter, easily carves its way
through snow, even when the drifts are of considerable depth and
hardness. With snows so deep as those which sometimes fall in
the Rocky and Sierra Nevada mountains, even so powerful a machine
as the rotary plough cannot supplement the need of extensive shovelling,
but the saving in labor and time effected by their introduction
has been important.
The change caused in the appearance of a prairie or mountain
landscape by a heavy, drifting snow is remarkable; the entire
scene assumes so strange a look that even a person familiar with
the locality often finds it difficult to identify the landmarks.
The filling of hollows, and the formation of great drifts, the
total disappearance of many objects, and the different appearance
of others partially buriedmake the whole aspect of the scenery
seem strange. The illustration by Mr. Charles Graham depicts a
scene of the recent protracted snow blockade in the Sierra Nevadas,
when many miles of the Central Pacific Railroad disappeared beneath
a solidly packed field of snow, the locality of the railway being
indicated only by the telegraph poles, which for long distances
barely peeped from the great drifts formed beyond the track.
On such an occasion snow-ploughs and shovellers work indefatigably
night and day at both ends of, the blockaded part of the road,
and the busy wires, if haply they are not down and useless, announce
their progress as a few miles at one or the other end are opened,
or some half-buried train is rescued. Happy are the laborers if
they effect their task without serious frost-bites or worse accidents,
and before another storm arises to efface the result of their
labors. When at last the two forces of workers have met, and the
welcome news is telegraphed to head-quarters that the road is
clear for through travel, the vestiges of the storm remain in
the wrecked locomotives and snow-ploughs that have rolled down
the embankments, and in the great walls of piled-up snow upon
either side of the track.
Mother
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