A BIG SNAKE STORY.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 1, Issue 103, 22 May 1880, Page 3

A BIG SNAKE STORY.

J. H. Beeson, the well-known Central Branch contractor, gave the Aitcheson Patriot a pleasant call, and from him we learn the particulars of the most remarkable snake story we have heard. In the extension cf the Central Branch road from Beloit to Cawker City, the line passes through the town of Glen Elder. A short distance from Glen Elder, on the Solomon River, is a steep rocky bluff, about 55 feet, a large portiori of which had to be blasted away to rga£e room for the road bed. A few days ago, while the excavation was in progress, a blast of nitroglycerine caps and giant powder tore off an unusual large part of the bluff, and down the declivity there came writhing and rolling a bunch of snakes, which Mr. Beeson assures was almost as large as a barrel. They were of different varieties —rattlesnakes predominating—with racer, adders, garters, &c. When first disturbed from their warm bed they wore active and dangerous, but coming out into the severe cold they were killed by the men without much trouble, or covered up in a 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 labourer’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 rivalling in number the famous snakeden of Concordia. Hot 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.