OCR Text |
Show SXOAYSHSEOST-KOUTES. PERILS OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN MOUN-TAIN MAIL SERVICE. Carrier Who Brare Manjr Dangers U Supplying Mining Camps Tkejr Mut Enow the Peaks, PuMeiand Canyon. The most welcome of all in the mining min-ing camps far up the Kocky Mountain peaks are the mail carriers. Brave, hardy fellows they are that climb the peaks on Bnowshoes, delivering the mail and many precious packages that always fill the pouch. Delivering the malls in the mountains in midwinter is a difficult and dangerous work. Sometimes Some-times the carrier is swept away by a snowslide, and months roll away before the brave fellow and his pouch are found. About fifty of these mountain mail carriers lose their lives yearly on the dangerous trails in Colorado carrying the mails on snowshoes to the frontier mining camps. In Utah, Idaho, and other parts of tho West In the same manner they force their way over the lofty ranges. The carrier in the frontier of the Kocky Mountains Btraps the mail sack on his back, puts on his Norwegian snowshoes, ai'd, with a long guiding pole, starts on his weary climb over the range. Usually there is a crowd at the postofiico to -wish him good luck. i lply men of known strength and cour- can do this work, for twenty-five finds of letters, papers, and packages I'ome very heavy and burdensome m Vimbing the mountains. j These carriers know the peaks, pass- cs and trails as well as the city carriers P do the streets nnd numbers of their dis-JF dis-JF tricts. Hut sometimes the storms are JT so severe that even the old mountain- eer grows weak with his heavy burden f , and sinks almost exhausted in the ob- I genre trail. With a compass in his " hand, ho carefully feels his way along the precipices and dangerous places, and often the storm Is so severe and blinding that he is compelled to find shelter under some friendly cleft or dig for himself a bod in the snow banks. Although their great overcoats and clothing may look rough, yet their underwear would pleaso the fancy of the esthetic. The most of them have silk underwear. On reaching the summit sum-mit of tho mountains the carrier shoulders the pole, and, placing his snowshoes close together, begins his decent. The old-timers on the trails will go down tho mountain with the swiftness of the wind, a mile a minute. But woe to the one who is inexperienced, for out slips the guiding pole, up come snow shoes, and tho unfortunate carrier, car-rier, mail sack and all, goes rolling down the mountain. Sometimes tho ice and snow are as hard and smooth as glass. The perilous trip brings him to some little mining camp nestled in the mountains. What a joyful greeting he receives! There are people there from the East, far away New England, and the sunny South. Sometimes he is delayed by the storm on the range, and already the men of the camp have been searching for him, fearing that he had been lost or swept away by the terrible snow slide. The villagers collect, and all are eager to learn the latest news and read their letters. Perchance the carrier has other points to reach. The pouch is opened and the mail poured out on the floor. The frontier postmaster picks out what belongs to his office, and the rest is put into the pouch, to be carried still further to its destination. Swan Nilsen, the Swede mail carrier Df the San Juan, was lost in a snow Blide Dec. 23, 1862, and was not found for nearly two years. His route was from Silvcrton to Ophir. Only the bravest would attempt the trip through I, storm. Nilson was warned against making tho attempt. A terrible storm was raging between Silverton and Ophir, and those who had been longest In the Rocky mountains told him he could not reach Ophir in that mountain tempest. But Nilson would not listen to their warnings, and even if it were perilous he must go. At, Otihir the miners of the cami) were waiting and longing for the appearance ap-pearance of the faithful letter carrier. Christmas eve came, but still Swan Nilson had not been espied on the mountain trails, where"many an anxious anx-ious eye had been turned. And thus, while those at Silverton were anxious, the miners at Ophir were becoming apprehensive at the delay. Christmas came and went, and still nothing of the mail carrier. Searching Search-ing parties went out on the trails, but there was nothing to be seen or heard of the lost carrier. During the summer sum-mer tho search was continued by one or two friends, but still there was nothing learned of the fate of Swan. Another year rolled round, and during Iho summer another search was mado, and on August 13, 1885, at the bottom of a snowbank the picks and shovels of She searching party uncovered the Body of Swan Nilson, and still strapped to his back was tho old pouch with Ophir Christmas mail. The lock was rusty, and the pouch had to be cut :open. Tue wax on tho currency pack-ago pack-ago hud rotted a hole through the jreenbacks. Some of the mail was moldy, but a part of it could be read juiteeasily. Recently I was looking aver tho old mail pouches that have been stored away in the inspector's Separtment of the Denver post office. "Here it is," said the Inspector, pulling out from near the bottom of the pi'.e the old mail pouch of Swan Nilson. A card had been tiad on the pouch; near the old rusty lock, on which was written the following: "This pouch was in a snow-slide on the dead carrier's back for twenty -months, near Ophir." |