FIGHTING SNOW DRIFTS.
THE WHITE FOE OF TRAFFIC IN THE
CANADIAN NORTHWEST,
Rail way Lines Blockaded l'y Sweeping
Avalanche*—An Army of Men Uo
qnlre<l to Clear the Tracks—Great
Snow Sheds For l'roteotlng the Trains.
"North America is the battle ground
of the biggest snow fights on earth.
There are thousands of men in the
northwest whose only occupation dur
ing the winter months is to fight snow.
It is exciting work, too, a life that in
volves the greatest hardships and con
tinual risks. One might search the
world over for a more desperate and
dangerous employment."
It was a Canadian Pacific engineer
who spoke. We were traveling over
the Rocky Mountains at midnight.
Through the glass-paneled door at the
tail of the train one could see the icy
crests of the Mountains in the pale
moonlight. In the wake of the sum
mer fires the trees stood up thin and
rakish, like the masts of ships. Else
where they were shrouded with droop
ing branches and spattered stems, in
the universal snow. The snow gave
an impressive sense of peacefulness to
the impenetrable silence of the moun
tains. I looked out upon the solemn
stillness, the broad stretches of mo
tionless -white, the deep passages of
avalanches carved along the mountain
sides, with a feeling of awe for the
immensity of the power that had so
changed the face of nature.
But the railroad man had no
illusions. To him the snow was a
foe, a foe to be feared, a foe against
whom men and engines had often
measured their strength in vain.
Every now and then the scenery
J, 1 1 [U,i,i
THE ROTARY PLOW AT WORK.
was blotted out; tho glass panels sud
denly showed us nothing but the re
flection of the «{ar and bobbing light
of the overhead lamp. They were
snow sheds through which the train
was passing. The railroad, cut like a
single step in tho side of the mountain
chasm, was roofed in as snugly r.s a
house. Above, for all we knew, the
snow might bo tumbling head-long
over tho slippery ledgo in a tempest
of passion; but for all its malevolence,
impotent to inllictan injury to the poor
snake of a train hiding beneath its
shelter.
These snow sheds have been erected
among the mountains at an enormous
cost. They are of massive timber
work—heavy beams of squared timber,
dovetailed and bolted together, and
backed with rock. They are fitted
into the mountain so that they be
come, as it were, a part of the moun
tain side, so as to bid defiance to the
most terrific avalanche.
Anything may precipitate an ava
lanche down the steep declivities of
those piled-up precipices, among which
the single-track railway looks like a
< * pin's scratch would on the hand of
man. It need be no more than a loos
ened scrap of rock that has started
rolling downwards with no forethought
of the immeasurable cataclysm that its
massage will create.
In a few yards it has become imbed
-1 in a mighty mass of moving snow, !
001-white torrent licking up the
•vhan trees as it passes like straws
up in a storm of autumn leavas,
'ing more venomous, more power
aoro irresistible, until the rush
e wind before it clears a passage
ugh the forest anticipating its
.iin ea > removing all obstacles as the
outriders to a i royal equipage make
a jWj asa 0 f human beings.
It is truly a Boyal foe that the rail
road men of tP.ie northwest have to
enco ln ter among t'Jho mountains. An
ouru'hiug, terrific l'jjrce, something
whicL can ypl JIP.
essary"to resort to subterfuge, to cheat
it, to hide from it, or to make good by
artificial means the path that the rail
way has struck out for itself.
Among the Cascade Mountains I
have seen seven and eight engines
linked together charging impotently
against the snowbanks, and at night
time there is no more wonderful sight
than this, each hissing engine throw
ing its sheath of firelight on the ten
ders, with their heavy loads of wood
fuel, on the gleaming snowbanks, on
the great trees seeming to press round
t<) mock by their stillness all this use
loss fuss and fury, this powerless rag
ing, this re3ultless disturbance of their
r>i eace.
Under favorable circumstances, the
IOW parts readily before the onslaught
112 the plow. At times, however, un
er the battery, to which it is sub
scted, it only becomes more rigidly
impressed, more solid, more impen
trable at each renewed charge, a
jlid, uubudging block of ice. The
ngine may go back a mile, the throt
e may be thrown open, it may rush
ion the barrier at a speed of forty or
ty miles an hour, but when the snow
dust baa cleared sufficiently for the
engineers to see around them, it may
be tbat they have only advanced a
yard, posssibly the engine fires have
been extinguished, not improbably
the engine may have been thrown off
the line.
The one recourse which then re
mains is to call in the assistance of a
small army of men, that a way may be
forced through the snow with pick
and shovel, and, while thene opera
tions are progressing, the passenger
train has to be kept constantly on the
move, lest in a few hours it become
incapable of movement at all.
At such a time it is 110 unubual thing
to see several hundred men at work
on a single drift. Perhaps eight or a
dozen platforms are cut in the snow,
and thus what is removed from the
line is passed upward from stage to
stage, climbing the steep walls in tiny
shovelfuls, until it finally reaches the
open waste, thirty or forty feet above
the heads of the workers on the ground
level.
The men are brought to the spot in
special trains and fed and housed as
best they can be. They work day and
night, sometimes shoveling for thirty
six hours at a stretch.
The thing that has simplified the
task of snow fighting more than any
thing else, especially in the prairie
country, is the rotary plow. The ap
pearance of the "rotary." as it is fa
miliary called by railroad men, re
minds one of nothing so much as the
screw propeller of a steamship. It is
a huge rosetto of flanges, about twelve
feet in diameter, that bores its way
into snowbanks, clearing just enough
space to enable the waiting train to
pass through. As the winter goes on,
the snow is piled higher and higher
on both sides, until we have the per-
pendicular embankment through which
the train often passes for miles with
out a break.
As the wheel revolves, the snow
chips pass back through the intervals
between the shovels, fall into a large
sized fan elevator, and are hurled
forth on this side or that side of the
line, according to tho quarter from
which tho wind is blowing. In a
graceful arch of silver dust, the snow
is flung into the air to a hight of sixty
or seventy feet, descending like a
fountain over tho half-buried posts of
the telegraph. From the smoke stack
a volume of fire is rising. There is an
uproar like the sound of artillery gal
loping over a cobbled street. As a
spectacular effect the snow plow is a
great success. Some of the bigger
plows weigh over fifty tons by them
selves, and with the machinery that
operates them the total weight is over
100 tons.
The cutter, with its own private en
gine, as it were, is placed on a mass
ive truck which is inclosed like the
cab of a locomotive and linked to a
heavy freight engine, the "Hog."
Following behind this travels another
engine drawing its load of tools and
its complement of workers. The men
who operate a snow plow draw high
wages, tho expenses in this respect on
one job amounting to over a §l5O a
day. A rotary in good hands will
clear a snow blockaded track at the
rate from two to twelve miles an hour;
THE ENGINEER AFTER A RIDE IN A STORM.
but the consumption of coal is one ton
in 30 minutes.
With a rotary plow the engineers do
not run the same risk as they do on
the plow of the old-fashioned type,
with which it is often necessary to
charge the snowbank at top speed, not
merely cutting through, but burrow
ing under the snow. But even the
rotary plow is liable to be disabled by
encountering the frozen carcass of a
horse or a ste«r in a snowbank, or th*
debris of fallen telegraph poles, or,
among the mountains, the trunks of
gigantic trees. It is nominally the
duty of the section men to look out
for this, and if possible, to warn the
engine driver, and to telegraph for a
gang of workmen with piokand shovel
to dear the track in the old-fashioned
way. But it is needless to say that
the most vigilant section men cannot
always be relied upon in such a matter
as this.
PREFERS BICYCLE TO BRONCO.
Tills Indian lUdes the Wheel With Eaie
and Grace.
Onward progress in the case of the
bicycle in the affections of the Ameri
can people was never better illustrated
than when Hole-in-the-Day of Devil's
Lake, N. D., swapped his sure-footed
IIOLE-IN-TUK-DAr ON HIS WHEEL.
bronco for a "bike." The manoeuvres
of the bicycle squad attached to the
military post at that point filled him
with admiration and a desire, and now
he can ride with the ease and grace of
an old-timer. Hard falls and punct
ures came his way while learning to
master the silent steed, but such trials
did not cause him to swear in his af
feotion for the pneumatic-shod vehicle.
Hole-in-the Day's example has been
followed by other Indians, and an In
dian cycling club may now be organ
ized.
[How a Chameleon Change* Color.
The chameleon is a little lizard, who
possesses the wonderful power of
changing his color to suit his own con
venience. Florida produces several
species of these lizards in abundance.
Up to the present day no one has un
derstood the process by which the lit
tle lizard effects his changes. Now it
is known.
Certain colors through the medium
of the optic nerve produce a contrac
tion or expansion of the pigment or
color cells. The result is a protective
tint or one which resembles that upon
which the auimal is resting. The eye
receives the stimulus or impression,
which passes from the optic nerve to
the sympathetic nerve, so reaching
the various series of the lizard's little
color cells under the skin.
The pigment cells are distributed all
over the body with more or loss regu
larity, and upon their contraction and
THE LITTLE CHAMELEON WHEN BLIND
FOLDED CAN'T CHANGE COLOR.
expansion depends the prevailing color
of the animal.
The scientist discovered this by
blindfolding a lizard, and found that
when it couldn't see the color of the
surrounding foliage it ceased to change
its own color.
Disappointed in Love.
There is an old lady residing south
of Kokomo, near the Howard-Tipton
county line, who has been a "man
hater" for forty years. She is a spin
ster leading a hermit's life, and has a
comfortable sum of money secreted in
her home.
Since being disappointed in love
forty years ago she lias never spoken
to a man. She is seldom seen in town,
and her small trading is always done
with women clerks. She lias made a
will and purchased a cemetery lot.
Explicit directions have been given
that no man shall preach her funeral
sermon nor act as pall-bearer. A
womon is to offer prayer at ithe grave.
Women shall act as pall-bearers, a
woman shall drive the hearse, and
women lower the body and fill the
grave. No men are to be allowed in
the funeral procession, and newspa
pers are forbidden to mention her de
mise.—lndianapolis (Ind.) Sentinel.
How to Avoid Colds Q
Cold and exposed extremities and
too much wrapping around the body
create congestion and pave the way
for disease. The hygienic and sensi
ble method is to give the throat, chest
and arms a dash of cold salt and water
every morning upon rising. An en
tire sponge bath of this sort is of great
advantage, but this treatment of the
throat and chest is almost absolutely
necessary if one would avoid a multi
tude of ills that affect this portion of
the system.
A Much-Prized Coin.
Among numismatics one of the most
sought after colonial coins is the
Highly copper. They are of several
varieties, and were struck iu 1737 by
Samuel Highly, who was a physician
and a blacksmith at Qranby, Ooun.
He obtained the copper from a mine
near by and shaped the coins at his
forge.
HELPS FOR HOUSEWIVES.
To Iron I'lllow Slips.
Pillow slips should be ironed length
wise instead of crosswise, if one
wishes to iron wrinkles out instead o<
in.
Washing Gloves.
A pair of white gloves or mittens
are a comfort to hands taken from hot
suds to hang clothes in zero weather;
also, a close fitting jacket and hood to
keep one from catching cold.
To Clean Carpets.
Here is % good way to clean carpets
without taking them up: Sweep thor
oughly first; then put two tablespoon
fuls of ammonia in a pail of water and,
with a brush not too stiff, scrub the
carpet carefully. Wipe with a cloth;
change the water frequently. Open
all the windows and doors until the
carpet dries. It will not take long.
To Wash Knitted Shawls.
To wash crochet or knitted wool
shawls, boil the water with soap to
make a good lather, instead of rub
bing the soap on the shawl, as this
hardens the wool. Soak well in the
soapy water, and cleanse by squeezing
and moving about, not rubbing.
After washing in this manner in two
waters, spread a clean, white cloth on
the table, and lift the article out on
to the,cloth without squeezing; wrap
the cloth well over it and pass through
the wringer as thickly folded as it will
allow. Then remove it from the cloth,
and shake and dry quickly. The
shawl will look like a newly worked
one.
Novelties in Sofa Pillows.
Some distinct novelties in sofa pil
low covers have recently been shown
in the art-embroidery stores,and these
will prove a welcome change to the
housewife who finds that new covers
have to be provided for the pillows
which have become faded or worn.
The first of these is the poster pil
low. This is especially appropriate
for the studio corner, the bachelor
apartments or for a reading room. The
cover is of a light cream canvas, upon
which is printed a poster in two or
three colors. Of course, being a post
er, the outlines are strong, and there
is no shading. As a consequence the
matter of finishing it is very simple.
The lines of each figure are gone over
with one color of embroidery silk,
usually black. This is all the work
that is to be put upon it. The re
verse side of the pillow is of the plain
canvas, and the edge is to be finished
with a black cord.
The pillow is very striking, and, if
appropriately placed, proves most
effective.
The daintiest pillow of all is an en
tirely new departure in linen-crash
covers. The one exhibited in a lead
ing art store was of tho blue and
white crash in large checks. Five
squares made the width. The pillow
was made and finished like those
which have been so popular for some
time past. The ruffled edge was em
broidered in featherstitch.
The distinctively new feature was
the method of embroidering the body
of the cover. In the white squares at
each corner in the one, and midway
between each corner.was embroidered
a simple scroll figure. The same fig
ure was also embroidered in tho cen
tre square and in the four squares di
agonally between the centre and the
corners.
The work is done in two shades of
blue to match the shades in the linen,
the darker shade appearing where the
stripes cross each other.
The centre of the figure is worked
solid in light blue and outlined in the
darker. The short scrolls are worked
in light blue and the longer ones in
the dark.
The whole effect is as dainty and
pretty as one could imagine, and, while
it affords a change from those with
the featherstitching only, it retains
the prime excellence of the crash cov
ers—the ability to endure successful
ly any number of trips to the laundry.
—J. D. Cowles, in Chicago Record.
Household Hint A.
Clothes carefully folded and sprin
kled are half ironed.
Black cotton hose should be dried
and ironed on the wrong side to pre
vent fading.
The line, as soon as its duty is end
ed, should be reeled up and placed in
a bag until next time.
Black and white calicoes are bene
fited by having a handful of salt add
ed to a rinsing water.
Calicoes should be washed iu clean
water, dried in the shade, and turned
on the wrong side to dry.
Bed tablecloths keep their color if
a little borax is added to the rinse wa
ter and they are dried in the shade.
Pillow slips slioald be ironed length
wise instead of crosswise, if one
wishes to iron wrinkles out instead of
in.
Dish towels and common towels can
be ironed just as well iu half the time
if folded together once as if ironed
singly.
Clothes when brought in should be
separated and folded at once; if al
lowed to lie together, many wrinkles
accumulate.
Marriage and Loiik 1,1 IV.
Dr. Schwartz of Berlin, has come
to the conclusion that marriage is the
most important factor iu human life con
ducive to longevity, as of 200 persons
who attained the age of forty 125 were
married and seventy-five single. At
sixty the proportions were forty-eight
to twenty-two; at seventy, twenty
seven to eleven, and at ninety, nine to
three. Among fifty centenarians not
one bachelor or spinster could be
found, nor for the matter of that one
married couple—all these venerable
individuals being widows or widowers.
—London Telegraph.
REVOLVING PALACE FOR PARIS, j
Exposition of 1000 Will Outdo Chicago's
Great Ferris 'Wheel.
Paris is to out-Ferris Ferris. The
great Chicago wheel is to be outdone
in the universal exposition of 1900.
The special wonder of the French fair
will be the revolving palace, designed
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PROPOSED REVOLVING PALACE FOR PARIS
EXPOSITION OF 1900.
by the eminent architect, M. Charles
Devie. It is a hexagonal shaft, 350
feet in height, divided into twenty-five
stories. The entire palace will be
covered with nickel plate, aluminium,
ornamental tiling and glasß.
This gorgeous structure will be il
luminated by 20,000 incandescent and
2000 arc lights of varied colors, so as
to bring out clearly all the decorative
lines, balconies, turrets, pillars and
statues. In the loft of the palace will
be a chime of sixty-four bells and a
powerful organ, played upon by the
aid of compressed air.
The entire structure will turn on a
pivot, the motive power being hydrau
lic pressure. It will make one revolu
tion an hour.
Towns Wlileh Have Disappeared*
The North Sea is slowly but surely
absorbing the counties of Norfolk and
Suffolk, in England. The Cromer of
Ciusar's day now lies two miles out at
sea under many fathoms of water, and
the tides are stealthily creeping toward
its successor, and already wash the
place where the brick wall of a light
house stood not long ago.
It is difficult to realize that the vil
lage of Dunwich, in Suffolk, was at
one time a royal town, the seat of
KingSigebert's government; and that
as late as the fourteenth century it
was a populous and prosperous town,
and maintained a fleet of war vessels.
A stealthy enemy was even then at its
and gradually the port was
blocked with sand; houses crumbled
into the sea by hundreds, and stately
monasteries and churches were en
gulfed. To-day, Dunwich has shrunk
to a tiny village with a population of
little over 200 souls.—Tit-Bits.
A Genuine BUI. But Spilt.
A few days ago a sensation wus
caused at lonia by the discovery of a
counterfeit SIOO silver certificate. The
bill bad been offered to the cashier of
one of the local banks, and pronounced
by him to be bogus, and this
opinion was confirmed later by a Secret
Service officer who went there to in
vestigate the matter. The bill had
partially split in two, and it was sup
posed to be one of the kind where the
front and back are printed on separate
sheets of thin paper by counterfeiters,
and then pasted together, with the
silk threads betwe«n. The bill was
sent to the Treasury officials at Wash
ington, and on Monday the lonia cash
ier anil the Secret Service officer were
astounded at a dispatch from Wash
ington stating that the bill was genu
ine and that SIOO in currency had
been sent onto redeem it. This is
the first instance known of a United
States note splitting in two.—Detroit
Free Press.
Dragon Fly's Vitality.
The great vitality of dragon flies is
shown, says the New York Independ
ent, by McLachland, who, having
struck at a large aeschna at rest ou a
twig, the head was seen to tumble
down, while the rest of the insect flew
away in an "undecided mannaf" for a
considerable distance. Upon, picking
up the head he noticed that the insect
had been eating a fly at the time.
"The mandibles continued working a?
if nothing had happened, and the mas
ticated portions of the fly passed out
at the back of the head."
Cancer From an Odd Cause.
Forty years ago au Australian phy
sician was shot in the head by a na
tive who ran amuck. In course of
years the bullet worked its way down
under the tongue, but the surgeons
did not succeed in removing it. A
few months ago the bullet came to the
aurfaoe of itself. Shortly afterwards
cancer of the tongue was developed,
to which the man suocumbed.
AN AUDIENCE OF THREE.
How Arteinm Ward E«i»pe<l From an
Awkward Situation.
Before Artemus Ward went to Lon
don, where the English fell in love
with him only to mourn his prema
ture death among them, he had con
quered the respect and affection of his
own countrymen by his quaint and
kindly humor. The itinerary of one
of his tours led him to a town in cen
tral Pennsylvania. It was about the
middle of January. The day of the
lecture came, and with it early came
Artemus. Before noon a tremendous
snowstorm broke over that part of
Pennsylvania and raged furiously all
day and night. There are some per
sons yet living who remember that
storm, and how regretfully, in view of
its savage ferocity, they gave up the
idea of hearing Artemus Ward. All
special trains were abandoned. When
the lecturer appeared on the stage
that night and looked about him, in
all the large theatre he saw only three
men, each in the seat his coupon called
for; all three, as it happened, being
far to the rear.
The three men looked lonely and un
comfortable. As one of them said af
terward, they did not think there were
enough of them to do justice to the
cccasion, and they felt the awkward
ness of the situation and wondered
what the outcome would be. Keep
ing that solemn face of his at its sol
emnest, Artemus advanced to the foot
lights and beckoning to the three men,
said: "Come up, closer, gentlemen. I
want to speak to you." He had to
repeat this invitation before liis audi
tors understood that he meant what
he said, and mustered courage togo
forward. When they had taken seats
together in the front row, Artumus
said: "There, now, that's more socia
ble." He paused and went on:
"Gentlemen, you are entitled to see
my show and hear my lecture, if you
are ao disposed. But I understand that
underneath this hall there is an excel
lent cafe, and I suggest that we spend
the evening there, you as my guests."
Though reluctant to forego the show
and lecture, as they saw Artemus had
no mind for them, the three agreed to
his proposition, the lights were turned
out, and the little party descended to
the cafe, where for hours they made
merry, aad whence one of them at
least was most reluctant to start for
home. He says he never had a more
aujoyable time in his life, and that if
\rtemus Ward was not at his best
theu his best must have been "past all
whooping." For the stories he told,
and the way he told them made them
forget time and circumstance, and com
pletely banished any lingering regret
for what they had not received up
stairs.—New York Times.
Queer Way to Catch Turtles.
Most voyagers in tropical seas are
acquainted with a peculiar tish, E.
t-emora, known generally by the triv
ial name of the "sucker." The dis
tinguishing characteristic of this fish
is laziness. Unwilling to exert itself
overmuch in the pursuit of food, it
has developed an arrangement on the
buck of its head exactly like the cor
rugated sole of a tennis shoe, and as
artificial in appearance as if made and
fitted by the band of man. When the
sucker finds itself in the vicinity of
any large floating body, such as a
ship, a shark, or a piece of flotsam,
whose neighborhood seems to prom
ise an abundance of food, it attaches
itself firmly thereto by means of this
curious contrivance, which permits it
to eat, breathe and perform all neces
sary functions while being carried
about without any exertion on its part.
It can attach and detach itself instan
taneously, and holds so iirmly that a
direct backward pull cannot dislodge
it without injury to the fish. The
Chinese, who have successfully trained
the cormorant and the otter to fish
for them, have taken the remora in
hand with the happiest results. Sev
eral good-sized specimens having been
caught, small iron rings are fitted to
their tails,to which are attached long,
slender, but very strong, lines. Tlins
equipped the fishermen set out, and
when a basking turtle is seen, two or
three of the suckers are slipped over
board. Should they turn and stick to
the bottom of the sampan, they are
carefully detached by being pushed
forward with the inevitable bamboo,
and started on the search again. At
last they attach themselves to the su
pine turtle. Then the fishermen haul
in the lines, against which gentle
suasion the hapless Chelone struggles
in vain. Once on board the lugger
the useful remora is detached, and
is at once readj' for use again.—Cham-
bers' Journal.
A Spin on an lee Yaclit.
The wind is strong and steady, and
the boat glides faster and faster. Sharp
exclamations of pleasure testify that
the passengers are enjoying it. The
speed increases. Before lies a field
smooth as plate glass and as level as a
billiard table. For two miles it ex
tends without a flaw. At its further
edge lies a tremendous crack, filled
with ground up ice and heaving black
water. The full power of the wind
strikes the white wings as the smooth
est ice is reached, and the craft darts
away at a tremendous pace. Faster,
faster, she flies, till she is traveling
faster than the wind that drives her.
The air seems to be full of electric
sparks, a frosty haze blurs the view,
every heart is throbbing with delight
at the wild, free speed of it all. Be
fore one has had time to think, the
crack seems to be rushiug at the boat.
A moment of intense anxiety, a catch
ing of breaths, a wild pumping of
hearts, vhen a shriek of excited joy.
The good boat has flown the gap as a
hunter clears his fence—has flung it
behind her with never a rap, and is
tearing away over another good bit, as
though she has no need to touch any
thing more solid than the cold, aweet
air.—Outing.