New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1872-12-27
WINTER IN EARNEST.

"A
TRANSIT INTERRUPTED, AND NAVIGATION
INPEpED-BRoADwAY TO BE CLEARED To-
pAY-NOvEL INCIDENTS.
Scarcely had the hours Of Christmas cheer closed
Npon thousands of happy households when the
stoI1n-cloud which has been gathering In tho east
and south for several days burst upon the city.
IT is oneiof the Winter Injuries which the Chief
Signal Officer and the newspapers put within the
reach of every householder at breakfast time that
the miseries of fellow-countrymen in less-favored
latitudes are brought Immediately under the eye,
and an opportunity is afforded for congratulation
ia the reader that the lines have fallen to the reader
in pleasant places.
But this privilege was not afforded, yesterday, TO
householders in the vicinity of the metropolis; for
the air was thick with flakes, the cold was in
tense. the wind was roaring in chimney and tree
top and the storm was an oldfashioDed in every
particular.
II was one Of those storms upon which sentiment
and poetry we're utterly wasted 1t was thorough
going dead-in-earnest burst Of Winter. Snow
fakes began to fall, after midnight. with quiet
peTsstency, and the air grew thicker with thom as
the hours went by, until there wero great drifts ia
the streets which blocked up traffic and made loco
motion terrible labor.
Business was practically suspended in the lower
part of the city, many members of the Stock, Cold
Produce. and Merchants Exchanges having been
detained BY the storm. The mails were all behind
time those due IN the morning arriving in the af-
ternoon and those due at night being snow-bound
Trains on every leading railroad line blocked,
and city transit thing of sad uncertainty.
Every kind of vehicle was pressed into service by
business men, anxious TO reach their homes uptown
OF in the suburbs but by far the larger number were
compelled to walk.
The cars and stages were so few in number and
IL hat 4,axr NIT
inadequate to the tide of travel which sets steadily
up town from to p. m. Broadway and the par
allel streets were crowded with those who ordinarily
I'LL the cars and stages but on this occasion
compelled to walk.
The few cars and stages that ran were packed
within and without, and made slow progress in con-
sequence Of the frequency with which they were
blocked by the snowdrfts, or were brought to halt
by the exhaustion Of the animals vainly endeavor-
ing TO draw the load.
By 6. D. m. the streets were almost entirely de-
serted, only an occasional wayfarer being seen
trudgng his way through the drifts. The vesti-
bules reading-rooms and bar-rooms Of the st. Mich
olas Fifth Avenue Metropolitan, and other leading
hotels were nearly deserted.
The tbrongs to be seen there nightly on ordinary
occasions wisely remained ut home The scenes
along the waterfront were striking Huge masses
of snow towering high as to shut off view Of the
dark water beyond, indicated where cargoes had
been discharged before Christmas.
Boxes Of tropical fruits barrels Of plaster uns Of
railroad iron were alike buried under this greatava-
ianche Of snow. and as the pale glmmerings from
the lamp at the adjacent corner disclosed the de-
serted piers it evident that the storm and the
cold supplied the place of the absent Waterman.
No mufled figure armed with cudgel and deadly
weapons patroled the piers to protect the rights Of
he II riv
The night was to wild and drearv even 60" fhia
romantic specimen of the hghway1nan to make his
nightly round on the river front.
The Thermometer rose from So at a. m to lS1o
At3p m. and again fell to g. at mdnightthe range
for the day being 1912 Snow fell constantly until
D. m. attaining a depth Of four or i've feet III e1-
posed localities and during the later hours OF
the night there bursts of snow as If the serious
work of the storm had not yet been completed The
Third-ave. was perhaps the only line Oh sIee'-c@IS
that made trips al night
The snow-drifts are piled in miniature mountains
In the streets but the Street Cleaning Bureau has
made preparations to clear Broadway below Thirty
fourth-st., to-day
Good sleighing may be confidently anticipated for
several days. and this is the single comforting
Thought TO be derived from the severes storm that
has broken over the city in many years.
Nor ia the present storm confined to this vicinity,
for telegraphic reports from Maine, South Carolina
Arkansas Canada, and the intermediate sections'
indicate its prevalence over wide area OF the At
lantc slope and the valley of the Mississippi EVory-
where unusual cold is experienced aud the snow
fau is persistent and heavy.
In New-England the rigorous weathe that greeted
the Pilgrims has resumed its sway and the mercury
ranges far below zero especially IN Maine and New
Hampshire. In Boston. Philadelphia, aud other
l. ge cities business and travel are greatly impeded
aud at Buffalo the water-works have suddenly
failed. under some malgn meteorological influence
In South Carolina snow has fallen IN unprece-
denied quantities, and the Mississippi as low as
Memphis and Helena is choked with ice At Little
Rock Ark the river is frozen and persons can cross
safely In fact the weather during the last IS hours
throughout great part of the United States has
hardly been paralleled for many Winters past.