. The Pacific tourist . he streets,before our eyes,by the hardcrystals whichthey crushedinto glacier-likeice. With fiveof them behindthe largestsnow-plow o nthe road, westarted towardthe s u m m i snow flewand eventhe groundtrembled, andeveiy piece ofthe short snowsheds was wel-comed with joyand blindingsnow, I thought,will cease tofly, but supposethat, whencrushed into icelike granite, itlifts the ponderous plow of 30 tons, or that we gocrashing into the shed prostrate beneath twentyor forty feet of snow; or that an avalanche hascome down and our way lies through the tangl
. The Pacific tourist . he streets,before our eyes,by the hardcrystals whichthey crushedinto glacier-likeice. With fiveof them behindthe largestsnow-plow o nthe road, westarted towardthe s u m m i snow flewand eventhe groundtrembled, andeveiy piece ofthe short snowsheds was wel-comed with joyand blindingsnow, I thought,will cease tofly, but supposethat, whencrushed into icelike granite, itlifts the ponderous plow of 30 tons, or that we gocrashing into the shed prostrate beneath twentyor forty feet of snow; or that an avalanche hascome down and our way lies through the tangledtrunks of these huge Sierra pines; five boileisbehind that may soon be on top of us. Never before did I realize the need of thesnow sheds, but I often rebelled against the shut-ting out of natures mountain charms from theweary or unoccupied traveler. Let the discontented not forget that five feetof snow may fall in one day ; that twenty andthirty feet may lie all over the ground at one wmm ^^€iwi€ w&wmiBw. 227. TUNNEL NO. 12, STRONGS CANON. time; that forty and fifty feet are sometimes tobe seen, where the road-bed is secure beneath it,and tliat the canons often contain a hundredfeet. These capacious reservoirs are the j^ledge ofsummer fruitfulness. A winter scene in theseSierras without even the sight of unfriendlybruin, will beget a fondness for the snow shedsthat the summer tourist cannot imagine, and ab3tter appreciation of the boldness and daringof the men who brave the hardships of thesemountain storms, and peril their lives at eveiystep for others safety. Day and night I sawthe servants of the public, from highest to low-est, haggard and worn, yet never ceasing in theirbattle against the tremendous storm, and wasoverwhelmed thinking of our indebtedness totheir energy, skill and endurance, as well as byviewing the wonderful works of God. Thefeeding of the rivers and the purifying of thewinds are the least of the services appointed tothe hills. To fill the thirst of
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