Show r LIFE llDERTllESNO The Snow Sheds of the Sierra f Nevada Mountains t I FOUR HUNDRED AND FIFTY INCHES t Is the Amount of Snow Which lias Fallen at Summit Station During the Last l Five Months Tho present season of abundant precipitation precipi-tation of moisture is full of promise for to the granger and while it may have been r excessive in some localities it has been just right in Utah and Nevada During the last year Nevada was as dry as ever known by the oldest inhabitant The bed of the Humboldt river was visblo S through its entire length the famous sink where tho waters collect had shrunk into a small pooL Even now after all the downpour down-pour it is dry and dusty on the Forty Mile Desert close to the California state line Tho Sierra Nevadas act as a barrier to the passage of storms to the plains on their i eastern slope and while it may rain or snow In torrential quantities on their summits sum-mits tho plains near by have but a small percentage on tho Nevada side Both in Utah and Central Nevada the moist currents come from the southwest through regions in space unaffected by mountain chains In going west the snow banks begin to Increase in size from Reno up to the summit sum-mit At Truckee the snow was about EIGHT FEET DEEP ON THK LEVEL fIn f-In the first week of March In parts where it had drifted many onestory houses were nearly covered up the entry to these houses was down on steps cut into the snow at points on tho outside of the town the effect was very curious to see the streets covered up with narrow paths leading lead-Ing from house to house to which you were compelled to confine yourself for any departure de-parture from the straight and narrow way II might land you out of sicht in the soft snow n each side of them The sleighs drawn by horses had chains attached to them that dragged the loose snow into the holes made by the horses hoofs which made the road solid and firm In wandering round it was amusing to see groups of men digging down into snowbanks snow-banks to find their wood piles The Indian wigwams of the Washoe tribes were also curious for tho reason that iu the places where they were located on the hillsides the snow was deeper than in the valleyand as the snow fell it drifted around them and buried them from sight at a distance As I Approached them some snarling curs of dogs ran out of holes in the snow and setup set-up a terrible barking looking down into the hollows their tents could be plainly seen They were so constructed that tho I rand entry was made on all fours after he style of AK ESQUIMAUX SNOW HUT rho openings were about the same size as he tops where the smoke escaped The whole structure was made up of wornout sanvass tree bark and scraps of lumber sod as the themomoter went down to zero he night previous such a structure must lave been other than comfortable Two or three dirtynosed children in a halfnaked jondition were the only guests visible in hIs Washoo hotel At another tent close by an abjectlook Hg squaw sat watching a sick girl lying on he snow in the sunshine while at tho feet if the matron was a little one almost naked jn a gunny sack The girl did not look up Dut the old lady did as a few coins were anded to her She never said a word Cold hunger disease and despair were doing do-ing their work Well is the old saying rerified that onehalf the world doesnot know how the other hall lives The snowfall at Trukee as measured has been 300 inches during the season This quantity at the rate of ten inches to the Inch of water would make the rain fall about thirty inches to this may be added ho rain which would bring up the total precipitation to thirtysix inches This has given an endless amount of expensive ex-pensive TROUBLE TO THE RAILROAD COMPANY io keep the track clear and the road open in ill the places where snow sheds have not seen erected Rotary and cyclone plows lave cut clean roads through tho immense Irifts until you imagine yourself passing hrough a cafion of snow so deep in places hdt hundreds cf men were employed in jhovelinc out the snow that the plows ould not move out of the way About a mile west of Truckee the snow iheds begin and up to and at the Summit the snow is much deeper until a depth of hirty feet has been seen at one time Beneath these sheds when they are covered up with the snow all is dark damp and dreary The dripping water from tho melting snow covers up tho track tvith a coating of ice The numerous watchmen with their lanterns give to this rloomv hichwav A WEIRD ANt > SINGULAR APPEARANCE is they move from point to point like lightning light-ning bugs on a June night Whether they are in the sheds or in any dwelling near them they may be said to live under the now The hotel at Summit station is a two story building with a high peaked roofbut the snow has drifted so badly that one could walk on it to the top of the building I was much amused to see some men digging dig-ging down into the bank and upon asking ask-ing what they were doing was told that they were trying to find the window of the Itation so that they could let daylight into the building Only the larger trees were visible All of ihort growth were hidden up All the small ravines were smoothed over The tops of telegraph poles were even with the snow The line men who have to repair them when broken aro equipped with long pointed snow shoes with which they slide over the snow very easily and where there ire more declines with great rapidity Mr Goiilden who keeps the Summit hotel told aio that FOUR HUNDRED AND FIFTY INCHES OF SNOW had fallen this winter Think of it forty five feet of the beautiful in five months At Cascade station five miles west where the snow sheds have been burnt down great difficulty has been experienced in keeping the road open Eighteen engines were used at one time to force the plow through the drifts At Blue caf on wo reach the western end of the sheds and a few miles further on nature has spread her carpet of green The snow is soon forgotten forgot-ten when everything gives evidence that spring has come in the lower valleys C R SAVAGE |