The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1881-04-28

NICE COUNTRY FOR North CARO-
LIKIANS TO EMIGRATE TO I'VE quot
from Ha1per's Weekly an account of
the recent winter Out West
The first snow fell early in October,
and from that time On there were more
than sixty heavy storms in various
parts The snow was FROM six to. ff-
teen deep on the level, while the drifts
were twice that depth, and in some
places they are said to have been over
fifty feet deep.
The sufferings Of the people were
simply terrible. Many houses were
buried out of sight, and their inmates
completely cut off from communication
with the outside world. After tunnel
ling their way out. they were obliged to
pull down their barns and fences for
fuel, and in some cases the telegraph
poles and railroad ties were dug out
and chopped up to keep the fires going.
One man in Dakota who had taken in
two Deighboring families, not SO we'll
housed, to ave them from perishing,
was compelled finally to break up their
little cabins for fire wood. The bitter
cold continuing, the mans own furni-
ture was sacrificed, even to the beds
steads, trunks, and the children's toys.
In u place the people, for economy's
sake, abandoned their homes and met
in a hall, where they were kept warm
by a fire fed by the timber of their
sheds and barns. Some Of the lumber
yards sold their stock for fuel, and
many of the farmers burned their corn
and even their hay. The cattle perish
ed by the thousand.
The railroads were blockaded for
miles, and some of the trains were held
fast in the drifts for several days togeth-
er. The work Of tunnelling through
and digging out was immense, and the
cost amounted to a large fortune. One
company offered $50, 600 and all its re-
ceipts to any n who would keep the
line open till spring. The Northwest
ern Railway Company spent over $780,
900 since October. Thirty four i'm
mense snow-ploughs had plenty of work,
and these were backed up by from two
to SIX locomotives each. The power OF
these ploughs and the great resistance
OF a snow-drift may be estimated from
the facts that one plough weighing
$4,000 pounds, ballasted by 80, 900
pounds of railway iron, and driven by
SIX locomotives, attacked a snow chOked
cutting. but was defeated. The drift
was ffty-two feet high. When the
workmen, after the tremendous charge,
caught a glimpse of the immense
plough, they found that it, with all its
l2S, 600 pounds had been repealed as if
it were a feather, and that it had rolled
clean over the drift, and had lodged
against some forest trees, where it pro-
poses 20 remain until summer. From
cut 324, 600 cubic yards of snow
we're taken, but in eight hours the wind
had piled it up full again. Nine thou
sand men have been employed from
time to time during the winter as
Shovellers.
The snow was cleared by cutting it
into great blocks twelve feet long and
the width of the road. As soon as the
blocks were cut, a locomotive pushed
up to them, and making fast, dragged
them of to a wider place, where they
could be broken up and shovelled away.
Wilson Adronce: Mrs. Is,ey Bass,
quite an old lady living near Pleasant
Grove, was found dead in her bed this
mornilg.--In this county April
18th, Mrs. Elizabeth Eatman, wife OIL
German Eatman, Esq, and mother OIL
Rev. t. ). Eatman, died of typhoid fe-
YER, aged 10 years.Wednesday
night a man named Brown went into
the lev store belonging to NJ. b. At
kinson, which is 10 being built on the
corner of Nash and Goldsboro streets.
and being intoxicated he built up a FIRE
the floor by which to warm himself
History fails to record the fact whether
the man warmed himself or not, but it
thought 1T some one had mo- been
passing and extinguished the
fire that the new building would have
been burned.