SNOWSLIDES 189 



securely anchored by four rows of stout posts 

 across the slopes where snow accumulated. 

 Sometimes stone walls are used for the purpose. 

 The snow settles over, hangs on, is held fast. 



At another place a slide came down a few times 

 each winter between the two main buildings of a 

 mine. As no effective way had been found to 

 anchor the snow two men were placed on lookout 

 after each snowstorm to fire warning shots the 

 instant the slide started. 



A slide may usually be heard. It roars or 

 rushes crashing. But down in the bottom of a 

 canon where one cannot see far ahead the echoes 

 stirred by a slide are confusing. Mountain 

 walls echo and reecho; canons commonly are 

 crooked; it ofttimes is difficult to determine the 

 direction from which a slide is approaching. 

 Being run down by a slide usually means death, 

 but the number of slides in any snowy locality is 

 not numerous and the number of people annually 

 killed and injured by them commonly is fewer 

 than a week's auto injuries in New York City. 



Ice and snow in any form ever are slippery. 

 Snowslides are brought about by heavy falls of 

 snow on steep, smooth slopes, and by winds 

 which sweep the snow off wide areas and drop 

 it in drifts at the tops of slopes. But a snow- 

 slide could never occur in a level country no 

 matter how much snow accumulated. I did, 



