The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1881-02-24
AN OCEAN OF SNOW.
Telegraph Poles Covered and n Valley Filled
Pleasures of Life in the Great North
west.
By Telegraph to the Herald.
ST. PAUL, MIN, Feb. 13, 1881.

Reports of the succession of storms ant
high winds continue to come in from al
sections of the Northwest. Some of the
details are well calculated to shock tht
credulity of even the "oldest inhabi
tant" of this section. Singular though
it may seem, the extreme Northwest hat
been comparatively free from the worst
features of the embargo upon travel. II
would seem that the snowfall in Dakota
and Northern Minnesota has been lifted
bodily by the fierce tempest of wind and
drifted into Southern Minnesota, Wis.
consin and Nebraska. Reliable reports
reach here from along the line of the
Southern Minnesota to the effect that for
miles the telegraph poles are entirely
concealed by mountainous drifts. The
Chanarniban Valley, twenty miles long
and sixty feet deep, is filled to the brim
with snow. The water tanks were bu-
ried out of view. Families living along
this line have formed genuine commune
for the time being, living together in one
house and using the others in the neigh
borhood for fuel. This extreme expedi-
ent was rendered necessary by the re-
moteness from timber and coal and the
fact that the seaso of storms had set in
before they had laid in their winter
stock of supplies. That the storm has
been n general one the following special
advices from points remote from each
other clearly show:
A Montevideo dispatch gives these
details from that point: "The last storm
was the most severe ever experienced in
this section. Business for four days
was almost suspended, and it was with
great difficulty that teams could be driven
through the streets. The snow in many
places was drifted as high as the second
stories. No teams from the country have
come in for eight days, and the farmers
travel only on snow shoes. In many
places the farmers horses and stables are
completely buried under snow"
A ST. James dispatch says: "Since the
beginning of February this country has
been visited by series of storms wholly
unprecedented since its settlement, and
communication by railroad has been
interrupted to an extent hitherto not
known. Successive storms esrlier in the
winter had tested to the fullest extent
the capacity of the snow fences and
groves of trees provided by the railroad
company for the protection of the cuts
along the line. The cuts have been filled
mountain high with drifted snow since
the 1st of January, Notwithstanding the
herculean and well.directed efforts of the
company to clear the track. There was
at one time a prospect of relief, the
blockade having been raised within two
miles Of this town, but we relapsed into
despair when last night ,nother blizzard
set in. 1t ragged all night and to-day is
still at full blast. The town is fairly
overrun with shovellers, many of whom
sleep in the depots and cars, unable to
find accommodations elsewhere. Citi-
zens are joining che army aud vie with
the railroad men in their efforts to raise
the blockade"
Wisconsin is also suffering from the
terrible tempest. The Wisconsin Cen
trail road is reported to be almost past
finding out. The telegraph wires on
this line are down and the trains are
blockaded. No trains are now started
nor will be until there is better pros
pect of getting them through than could
be discerned at noon to-day. Business
of all kinds is at a standstill. The wind
is blowing at the rate of forty miles an
hour, and there is no telling when the
snow will cease falling. Specials from
all parts of the State agree that the storm is
general and the worst that has been known
in years. Madison advices report a
heavy snowfall there. All trains on the
roads running north and south from that
place have been abandoned. The only
casualty reported in this section of the
State is that ola Norwegian farmer, name
unknown, who was frozen to death on
the Sun Prairie road. 1t is supposed
that he was ON his way home from town
intoxicated and fell from his sled. His
horses, losing their driver, doubtless
became confused and lost their way.
Even Iowa has not been free from the
worst effects of the storm. A Postville
special received here this morning says !:
The severest strom of the season has been
raging steadily for twenty-four hours.
The snow drifled six feet high in the
streets of the city. Part of a train on the
Chicago, Milwaukee and ST. Paul rail-
road is showed in on the main track at
this station. The rest of the train is
somewhere between the stations. The
Burlington, Cedar Rapids and Northern
Railroad trains have been snowbound a
week, three trains being at this station.
There are drifts from three to eight feet
high on both roads and all travel is
suspended. The hotels are crowded with
detained and anxious passengers" The
following is from Marshalltown under
the same date: "We have had twenty
four hours of the wost storm of rain and
wind that has visited Central Iowa in
eighteen years. The Central railroad of
Iowa and the Chicago and Northwestern
are completely blocked up. The Illinois
Central had ten trains in the drifts to-day
on the Iowa division, one of them a
stock train. E. Jeffrey, General Super.
intendent, from Chicago, is snowbound
between Manson and Pomeroy, about one
hundred and twenty miles west of this
place, and Trainmaster McNeill was
caught in the drifts at Charles City. on
the branch. Several crippled engines
are IN the shops here, and nearly every
snow plough on this division is disabled.
The Burlington, Cedar Rapids and
Northern line was opened to Albertlea
last night for the first time in week,
and now this air line is blocked again
with three feet of snow reported at Bur-
lington.
This from Des Moines: "The worst
storm for thirty years has prevailed in
this section for the last twenty-four hours.
High winds have drifted the snow so as
to block travel. No trains have arrived
or departed since yesterday. On the
trunk lines the tracks are showed in, and
trains have been unable to move to-day.
On the branch roads all trains are sus.
pended. A train on the Rock Island
Road, which left Council Bluffs yesterday
at half-past five, struck snow bank a
ro;1o 1nnor op1 ramoipu thoro GILL A