The MOW Dept managed to measure the snow covering the yard at Potlatch. There is 89.4 scale feet covering the tracks. The mill is buried, as is the rest of the town. People have begun to dig tunnels, first to Maggie’s Saloon and Parlor House (can’t work in the cold without antifreeze), then to the diner. Thank Goodness the miners were in town for a convention, or something. Someone suggested that we should dig to the mill, but he was promptly shouted down. Jim, the Sherrif, lit a fire in the jail’s pot bellied stove, because he had to keep Larry, the town drunk warm. I guess that most of Larry’s antifreeze had wore off. Anyway, the snow covered the chimney so that the smoke backed up into the jail, driving everybody out. Fred, the town Fire Chief, said that Jim “never had the sense God gave a snail.” So now, we have to clear out the chimneys before we light a fire. We are not sure how we are going to do that.
Grumpy old Daniel Webster has decided that it won’t be profitable to try to run the railroad until “iceout” next spring, so that means layoffs all around. The Engineering Department will use the time to install that newfangled Westinghouse Air Brake. The Brakemen are miffed, but Dan’l says he will find something useful for them to do, even Ed, who only has one finger left.
In the real world, that is 37 inches of what we skiers call light powder, perfect snow that has fallen in the last two days, setting records for most snow in one day, ever, and most snow on Dismember 18. Of course, I left my camera 120 miles away in Pullman WA, last Saturday. My last child just graduated from college. I’m not old enough to have all my children graduated from college, but, on the bright side, it does open up some money for trains. 