OCR Text |
Show WESTERN EEKLY JEWSPAPEI VOLUME I. TO THE JLlKlHO JNTERESTS OP THE DEVOTED SALT LAKE CITY, SATURDAY, FEBRUARY LITTLE COTTONWOOD DISTRICT, UTAH. Special Correspondence of the Western Mining Gazetteer. I was one of the There can be no mistake about that. The morning after the Alta calamity I stampeded down the canyon with a velocity only equalled by a Wasatch snow-slidI have an indistinct remembrance of running over several women and children along the tramway, but it was so dark that I failed to hear their cries for assistance. I was the first to tell 'the news at Wasatch and shall always feel a pardonable pride in the fact that the telegram which conveyed to Salt Lake and sent a thrill of horror over every wire in the Union was of my dictation. Arriving in the city I found'an immense crowd at the depot anxious to hear the particulars. For several hours I allowed myself to be interviewed by anxious friends of those whom I had left behind, by editors, reporters, and in fact by everybody. I trust that the accounts I gave did not decrease in interest from frequent repetition.. By midnight it was the general impression that all the mines hadjcloseddowp, that Alta was entirely destroyed and that every man, j woman and child who escaped immediate death had left the canyon. For the next two days I was the subject of an envious solicitude. At every street corner I heard people remark as I approached, There is one It was not long before I began to think myof the Alta sufferers. self extremely unfortunate and I did not wonder at the frequency of invitations to come, in and take something. At this present writing I have no recollection of disappointing any one by a refusal. When the Relief Committee was organized I was one of the noble band who volunteered to join the rescue party. And when, amid the adieus of admiring friends and envious regrets of those whom family ties and other considerations kept at home, 1 left the depot on my mission of mercy, it was with no Quixotic impulse that I grasped the handle of my shovel resolving to wage knightly warfare against the threatening avalanches of deserted Alta. Arriving at the latter place I was grievously disappointed in finding that a few foolish people had remained through all the fearful danger ; and not only that, they had actually worked all of the time in the driving storm to recover the bodies of the slain. They had already buried two and were pre- paring graves for the others when I arrived. After a hasty consultation it was agreed that the rescuers should take all the bodies to Salt Lake for interment. The next day I was much gratified to read in the morning papers that we had done the work of recovering the the dead from their tombs. I at least was not the man to trouble the reporters with a conviction of so insignificant a matter. After the funeral, which indeed was very much to the credit of the generous minded people of Salt Lake, I found myself not quite so much a subject of interest as before. The excitement began to subside. People no longer gazed at me admiringly, and invitations to drink ceased altogether. At this juncture I bethought me of the lief fund and made application to the committee for help. Much to my surprise and disgust they did not respond with the generous alacrity I had expected of them. They even asked for my references and wanted to know if I had lost anything and how much ? If I were married? If any one were dependent upon me? and other unexpected and impertinent questions. In vain I told them that all my property in Alfa was destroyed ; that I had saved absolutely nothing ; that I expected soon to marry a widow with seven children, and that I considered myself entitled to a little consideration as being the first Jof all those who escaped. It was no use. Having learned something from experience, they demanded proof of what I had said. You see, I was too late. Had I badly1 demoralized. e. t i 5 r 1 5 i' i i S j i ! i i t ( i 1 i 4 I 12, 1881. EBT, NUMBER 26. will not pretend to relate. I was shunned by the reporters who actually pretended to blame me me for their extravagant statements concerning the deserted district. The culmination of my sorrows oc- curred when late at night, or rather early in the morning I found the door of my room locked against me and was informed the night clerk that I was no longer. an inmate of that shebang. by I returned to Alta on foot and am now here without friends and without money. What shall I do ? It is true that most of the mines are running as usual, but somehow they dont seem to need my services. What is the reason, I wonder? I certainly did my best to advertise the camp. Alas, that gratitude should be so rare a virtue among men ! I have one hope left. It is storming again and possibly there will be another slide. Doubt not that I shall be the first to tell the news I have just been informed by a committee of citizens that my only is m down the safety getting canyon again as quickly as possible. is fearfully dangerous here just now, they said, especially for met It One of the Distressed. Alta, Feb. 9th, 1881. Contrary to the general impression, Alta still exists. I find here two stores of general merchandise, one variety store, one hotel, a beer and billiard saloon, one drug store and a meat market that have not been even temporarily closed on account of the storms. Tme, most of the families have left and consequently many of the houses are vacant, but the legitimate business of the campswill go on as usual. None of the mines have ceased work except one or two that lie in the track of the 'Alta slide. The interruption of rail communication is, of course, a misfortune as it will prevent the early arrival of certain heavy freight destined for the Emma and Flagstaff mines and delay the shipment of ores from the district for the present. But mine owners will improve the time in doing necessary dead work and putting their ore bodies in shape for rapid extraction and shipment whenever rail communication is which I think will be done very soon. Within the last two weeks the old snow has settled several feet and is now a compact mass, very wet and heavy. Snow in that condition never slides. Nothing less than an earthquake shock could set it Or, as aa old resident has just expressed it, If this snow slides it will bring the mountain along with it. The warm rain which fell for 24 hours on the first of the month thoroughly wetted while it settled the snow, making it moist and soft, and the new snow which has since fallen to the depth of about three feet adheres it so firmly that no danger of its sliding is apprehended. But the winter thus far has been wholly exceptional in the character of its storms, the rain in February especially so, and what new mystery may be in store for us is uncertain. However, for the benefit of outsiders and for our own comfort and encouragement I will record the fact that a disastrous slide over a compact mass of old snow is not likely to occur. For the remainder of the winter our storms will probably be damp and heavy, and although incipient slides may start from tne summit or I comb of the mountain they will soon be arrested by the adhesion or friction of the particles of which they are composed. With a dry snow, composed mostly of fine globules instead of flakes, as is always the case in our disastrous storms, the conditions are reversed. The snow will then shoot forward cn masse like shot from a gun. It seems to start all at once. There is no appreciable difference in time between the movement at the top and the bottom of the hill from which the slide comes. No slight inequality of the surface over which it passes will deflect it from its course. It shoots straight ahead across ravines and up the sides of opposite slopes until its acquired momentum is spent. Against such slides no ordinary precaution will avail. And yet I believe that there is no mine in this camp whose buildings cannot be rendered secure and safe at a moderate expense. And there are available places contiguous to the present site of Alta entirely safe from slides. Of course it rests with the property owners to say whether they will remove their town or stay by it in its present location. My own impression is that they will remain where they arc and take the chances of the future as the have in the past. The mail closes, and so must I. Success to your enterprise. We will try to keep you informed put in my application earlier it doubtless would have met a different in regard to the mines of our district which we do not intend to fate. Alas it is too true that delays are dangerous. What trials and in future. desert J. C. Morrill, in tribulations I suffered during the remainder of my stay Salt Lake I Alta, Feb. 10th, 18S1 ! in motion. |