Democratic Sentinel, Volume 3, Number 3, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 February 1879 — A Rattling Kansas Snake Story. [ARTICLE]

A Rattling Kansas Snake Story.

8. H. Beeson, the well-known Central Branch co itractor, gave the Patriot a pleasant call and from him we learn the particular :of the most remarkable snake story wi have heard. In the extension of the Central Branch road from Beloit to Cawker City, the line passes through the town of Glen Elder. A short distar ce from Glen Elder, on the Solomon river, is a steep and rocky bluff, about fifty-five feet high, a large portion of which had to be blasted away to make room for the roadbed. A few days ago, while the excavation was in progress, a blast of nitry-glycerine caps and giant powder tore off an unusually large part of the bluff, and down the declivity there came writhing and robing a bunch of snakes, which Mr. Beeson assures us was almost as large as a barrel. They were of different varieties, rattlesnakes predominating, with racers, adders, garters, etc. When first disturbed from th?ir warm bed they were active and dangerous, but coming out into the severe cold they were soon comparatively harmless, and were killed by the men without much trouble, or covered up in the dump by earth and stone. But this is a very small portion of the story. Every day and every blast since this first batch appeared has brought another huge bundle of reptiles. Every hour a moving, writhing lump comes rolling down the hill only to separate at the foot, and what escape the laborer’s pick and shovel crawl off to get covered up in the dump. Thousands of them have been unearthed and killed, and every blast brings thousands more, far rivaling in number the famous snake-den of Concordia. Not a single case of snake-bite has yet occurred, notwithstanding it is many times almost impossible to avoid stepping on them. Mr. Beeson says there are no unusual monsters among them, the great majority being as large round as a man’s wrist and about three or three and a half feet long. He also says that the farmers for five miles around tell him that this is the regular winter den of these venomous creatures, and that during the fall the snakes in that country, when discovered, are headed in the direction of the bluffs, and the only way they can be turned from their course is to kill them. It is said to be one of the most remarkable sights ever looked upon, and hundreds from the surrounding country visit the quarries to see the snakes.— Atchison (Kan.) Patriot.