Johnstown High School - Spectator Yearbook (Johnstown, PA)

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THE SPECTATOR 3 changed from a breeze to a gail while distant flashes oflight- ning and low rumble ofthunder showed the coming of a storm. The sighing of the wind through the firtrees on East Cariboo had increased to an ominous roaring. A quarter of a mile east the lights on the signal bridge gleamed through the darkness like small diamonds. As the two friends entered the cut the first scattering drops of rain fell. When they had reached the center of the cut, disaster began, a bolt of lighting struck ahuge fir standing near the edge of the cut. For a moment the old monarch tottered uncertainlyg then slowly but with quickly increasing speed it plunged over the edge of the cut to the tracks sixty feet below, carrying with it the bracing along the sides. Run cried Mitchell the moment he heard the fir be- gin to crackle. They were but a hundred yards from the west end of the cut, but the footing was uneven and danger- ous. Straining every muscle they had reached a point only a rod from the end of the cut, when Mitchell, who was a few steps in the rear, set his foot on a round piece of ballast and sprained his ankle. As he fell, he cried out but his call was drowned in the terrihc crashing and rending of the fal- ling mass behind him. A moment later a huge beam crashed down over him, pinning him into a slight hollow between two ties. - Are you hurt? cried Campbell, who came running back as soon as he discovered that he was alone. No more than the wind knocked out of me and an ankle sprained, answered Mitchell, vainly striving to re- lease himself. Campbell secured a heavy pry and endeav- ored to raise the beam, but even by almost superhuman effort, he was unable to extricate his friend Walt! sud- denly exclaimed Mitchell in intense excitement. No. 29 will come along any minute and butt into the other end of this pile. Change those signals. You can get me out of here any time, l'm not suffering any . To change the signals Campbell would have to run up a path to a shanty on top of the ridge. There, by electric con- nections he could change the signals to stop all trains,-but if an east-bound train should pass the signal bridge before he could reach the top of the ridge, he could not stop it from running into the cut and killing his friend. No. 29, being a

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2 THE SPECTATOR At Donald Cut By H. W. G. 'o9. U O, simple lateral bracing isn't strong enough in a case like this.,' At any rate a watchman or two should have been stationed in the cut to flag trains if an accident should occur. - The first speaker was George Mitchell, assistant en- gineer of construction on the C. P. railroadg his companion was Walter Campbell, foreman of the signal-crew on the Kootenai division of the same road. They were discussing the improvements being made at Donald Cut, at the west end of which they stood. At this point the Clearwater runs south between East and West Cariboo ridges. The railroad runs north along West Cariboo, crosses the Clearwater on a curving stone bridge,.and plunges thru Donald Cut in East Cariboo. The cut was being widened and the old stone bridge replaced by a wider steel oneto accomodate four tracks instead of three. A heavy lattice-work of huge beams had been erected along the sides of the cut to prevent the loosened earth and rock from falling to the tracks below. lt was to this lattice-work that Mitchell referred. The time was evening, the sun had just set behind a bank of dark clouds. Mitchell and Campbell had walked down from their camp a short distance up the river on a short tour of inspection. They passed thru the cut, and, reaching the east end, they sat on a boulder to talk of mat- ters of common interest. Great Scott, cried Campbell, a half hour later, in- terrupting a stream of reminiscences as he pulled out his watch, No. 2Q is late. No. 29 was the best train on the road, covering the dis- tance from terminal to terminal in an incredibly short time, and paying to every passenger a forfeit of one dollar for every hour lost on her schedule. Well, it's not our fault, said Mitchell. Let's go back to campy it's going to rain . By this time it had become quite dark, the wind had

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4 THE SPBCTATOR west-bound train would crash into the east end of the cut and so would not endanger his friend's life. Hurry, Walt! cried Nlitchell, seeing what was pas- sing in Campbell's mind. It is a sure loss of a hundred lives against the possible loss of one. Still Campbell hesitated. For God's sake, pleaded Mitchell, do vi hat is right. Go! Campbell went. By this time the rain was falling in sheets and the blinding flashes of lightning and deafening crashes of thunder all combined to make the situation more terrible. Thru the rain Campbell dashed up along the path that led to the sig- nal tower. Half way up the ridge a new sound forced itself upon his blurred senses. Unconsciously holding his breath, he turned to look behind him. A flash of lightning lit up the valley below. A fast freight, east-bound, had passed the signal bridge and was running at full speed toward the cut. He was too late to save his friend's life. But No. 29 might yet be stopped. With a groan he turned and ran on toward the top of the ridge. A hundred yards from the tower, he slipped on the wet clay and fell. Blind- ly he staggered to his feet and ran on. What if No. 2Q had already passed the signal on the other side of the ridge? Throwing open the door of the shanty he rushed to the electric switch that controlled the signals. A twist of the wrist and the lights on both east and west-bound sema- phores changed from white to red. Glancing from the east window he saw No. 29 with her two mighty engines and eleven long Pullmans slide to a stop beneath the semaphore arm, every wheel locked and a stream of sparks shooting from every brake-shoe. Turning again to the west side he looked down along the ridge. To his dying day that scene will remain as clear as a photograph in Campbell's mind. The lightning had become almost continuous and its wavering, blinding glare lighted up the whole mountain side, The rain-soaked, wind-lashed forest along the sides of the valley, the gray sheets of rain swirlingin the eddying gusts of the wind, the Clearwater foaming thru the piers and false-work of the bridge, the crowd of laborers and engineers, roused by the