Evening Republican, Volume 17, Number 125, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 May 1913 — VAIN WAIT FOR ‘WEED’ [ARTICLE]

VAIN WAIT FOR ‘WEED’

Snowslide Peril Is Met in Quest of Tobacco. Mining Camp’s Supply Destroyed Through Accidental Explosion of Dynamite Close to Camp—--Buven-Up Game Is Played. Washington.—“Up in the mining regions of the San Juan mountains of Colorado,” said Charles Cavender, an attorney of the mining camps of that state, now on a visit to the capital, “the snow is so deep and treacherous that from the first of October until the first of tie following June a man takes his life ir his hands when he attempts to travel up or down the declivities ot the peak, i or the Bteep slopes of the divides. “Especially is this true in the late spring, wlen the warmth of midday has .somewhat softened the great snow masses. “In the summer of 1911 a force of several hundred men went up to the Sunnysidt mine, perched high above timber liiie amid the eternal solitude of Sultan mountain. They carried with them everything necessary for their maintenai ice and comfort until the following Ji !y—including dynamite for the mine and tobacco, ample tobacco, for the den. “Now, it happened in May that a box of dynamite which, through inadvertence, had been set out against the cache where they kept their package goods, blew up one night, and scattered condensed milk and canned beef and such pickled stuff all over the Uncompahgre range. “They didn’t mind losing these necessities; they could do without them. But when the boys found that every crumb of tobacco in the camp had been blown over into New Mexico they began to look serious. “The first day was bad enough, but when the second sun set upon that tobaccoless crowd they were in a nervous state that made them ready for anything. About ten o’clock that night the superintendent, who found himself too shaky to work or sleep, wandered over to the miners’ bunkhouse and found Big Costigan, a County Carlow man, putting on his snowshoea. “ ‘I bate him at siven-up to say who should go below and get the ’baccy explained Madigan, day foreman, by way of explanation, as Costigan, having obtained a generous contribution fro n all hands, set out on his perilous Josrney, relying somewhat, on the chtll of the night to lessen the danger from snowslldes. “It was a gloomy lot that went down on the o’clock shift that morning. “The day wore on, painfully, slowly, tobaccoless; but at sunset, as the superintendent stepped out of his office to soothe a system of badly jangled nerves with a whiff of fresh air, he spied Costigan stumbling over the crest of the divide a furlong away; staggering, evidently overcome by the climb through the thin air of that high altitude. \ “As they drtnr near, Costigan halted and stood, wavering, swinging his arms aimlessly In the air. A glance showed them two things; one that he didn’t have an ounce of tobacco on him, the other that it was something stronger than rarefied air that made

him reel in his tracks in that aimless manner. In short, Costlgan was gloriously drunk! “ ‘Look here,' rasped the superintendent, ‘where’s that tobacco we’ve been dying for up here for three days?’ “Over the drunken face of Costigan there came a look of soggy, puzzled thought, which, a moment later, gave place to an expression of muchwronged virtue. ‘“'Baccy?’ he exclaimed. “Baccy? You —hie —you ’shpec’ a man t' re—hie —remember eve’y 11*1 thing?’ ”