New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1877-01-16
LESSONS or THIS W1yTERs WEATHER.

LESSONS or THIS UINTEh'S WE1THER.
There are no differences of opinion as to the
fact that this is an unusual Winter for this
region The most striking features at present
are the frequency of its storms, the amount
of snow, and the long continuance of
the snow on the ground. steady
low temperature varying little from freez-
ing point for many weeks, has been the
chief factor in retaining the snow. Another
circumstance which added largely to this
effect was that the ground had been well
prepared at first by hard frost, and that
the earliest snow was fastened by rain
falling with it and freezing as it fell.
In this city the usual Winter experience
has been that a great majority of the snow
storms ended in rain and were followed by
"soft weather." making it easy to dispose of
the snow, if indeed it was not wholly melted
The few great SHOWS of this city have been,
before this year, in general of a soft material
that gave only temporary annoyance. This
Winters SHOWS have been gritty.
No adequate preparation has been made
here for such a S ason. For weeks the ridcu-
lous spectacle has been presented of debate
between the different departments of
civic government, as to whether any
one of them was authorized to clean
off the snow, the streets meanwhile
being in the most deplorable condition.
So far as any except the chief thoroughfares
are concerned, repentance and street cleaning
now come too late. The present storm must
sheet and food all the by-streets, and the
choked cutters can afford no relief. If the
rain or even the mere thaw continues, the
street crossings will become mud lakes,
and innumerable cellars will bo Overfiowed.
This is a trouble that was to be reasonably
anticipated Every New,Yorker has been
trained up, from the days when he first owned
a sled, to expect the January thaw." 1t
does not mend matters that the thaw
is little late this year. All the
streets should have been thoroughly cleaned
after the first deposit of ice and snow, and
again after each considerable storm. If the
first work had been done, the rest would have
been easy. To say that the work was
too great to be effected SO promptly
is simply absurd. They do it in Boston
do it thoroughly, the weather there being
usually much worse than ours. The difference
is that there they expect such Winters, and
make arrangements accordingly. The side
walks and cutters of that city are cleaned at
once by the residents, under compulsion, with
no halfway work about 1t, as there is here
where the snow is brushed off the sidewalks
and the ice is left. The street railroad COM
panies there are compelled to rem0re, not pile
I'D alongside, all the snow that falls on or be-
tween their tracks. If our city authorities
cannot understand how such things are done,
they might send committee to Boston and
find out.
Something will be learned, too from the ex-
periences of this Winter by the railroad COM
panies whose lines converge here. We have
already adyertcd to the predcament of the
New-York Central with its four tracks,
where the snow-plOw filings snow from one
track to the other without removing it from
the road. The circumstance offers chance for
ingenuity in improving the snow-plow or its
management. Most Of the railroads on Long
Island have been greatly impeded by drifts
this year, the blockade lasting nearly week on
one line and two or three days Oh others. Those
roads have always been much embarrassed
by Winter drifts, because of the level country
around, which gives great sweep to the storm
winds. lesson may here bc taken from what
has been done on the railroads in the extreme
West There can be no doubt that the rail
roads of Long Island would have saved money
this Winter by building snow fences along
their lines last Summer.
But the great damage will come with the
freshets of the thaw, when the body of snow
now ON the ground is melted and added to tht