The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1885-02-09

our SNARE, we are mol nOSSlSn enough TO
ask for any more. A heavy wind accom-
panied the snow, and man who STAYED
out any length of time was in danger of
having his drinkers" blocked. The air
was reeking with the fluffy stuff, and as
night advanced it seemed to gain fresh
impetus. 1t was the widest night ever
seen here. The fifty miners had moth
ing to say. Their elastic imagination
could not recollect anything that would
compare with it. Drift upon drift coal
esced until banks of unknown dimen-
sions doomed up like ghostly towers. The
wind came across the river with a mighty
rush, and if the surface wasn't frozen,
there might not have been any water left
in the channel this morning. OF all the
dreariest places in town the levee was the
worst. Here the wind would get clean
sweep. The switch engines of the Chica>
go, Burlington & Quincy and Rock Island
& Peoria pulled and shrieked all night
like fiends incarnate. Orders had been
given to keep the tracks clear in the yards,
and the iron steeds did their best to do so.
Every few minutes one of them would
get fast, and though the throttle would be
pulled wide open it would not bulge.
The wheels would fly around, and send
sparks flying from the rail, but the en-
CINE would not bulge. Sometimes it
would be halt an hour or more before an
other start could be effected
Daylight found no Improvement in the
situation. The snow was still falling, and
being whirled in all directions in binding
sheets. In effect it was something like a
Syrian simeon. Almost insurmOuntable
barriers of snow blocked the way of pes
destrians, and it was the hardest kind of
work to navigate. Men were at work
shoveling the snow from the street car
tracks. and the clerks tried to clear the
sidewalks in front of the business houses.
They didn't make much Roadway. The
show would drift in again about as quick>
ly as it could be scooped out.
The reporter was d2luded by the idea
that he might find an item by going out.
He started, and after tumbling through
numerous banks of the beautiful, getting
his feet vet and getting two or three hand
fuls down his collar, he returned not whit
wiser as to news than when he ventured
forth. "Nice morning" How this for
high" Where's your shovcl?7 Bad
amt it, were the general sautations
that were heard. No one would talk
about anything but the weather. II was
the all~absorbing question. But it would
not do to remain idle. The public eX~
poets just as much news on day like this
as they do after republican convention
or thrilling dog fight.
But the storm must not be forgotten
| 1t is still with u.s. and shows no indica>
tons Of quitting. For downright disa~
greeableness it takes the cake.
1t is nothing less than 6
whooping. roaring rip>snorting, dou>
bic action, hifalutin, get>thereEf Da-
kota blizzard, that has jumped the track
and got lost Talk about the driven
snow. This snow is not driven. 1t is
| fired at us from all directions.
! We would not be surprised to hear that
the north pole had been blown up by dy-
Mantle, and part of its fragments have
been scattered down this way. Most OF
US will probably never again see such a
storm, so you had better jot it down.
record of it-and in after years you Cal
tell your grand children of the blizzard o
49, and if they look back at the newspa'
per files. they will know you are tellln!
the truth.
The street cars found it impossible Il
travel and it was very difficult to &C
through the streets with sleighs today.
THE RAILROADS
were also blocked, but most of the road
made an effort to move their trains. No
4, on the c., M. & St. p, which shoult
have started at Ills last night, did no
start until about 2 this morning. 1t wa
found that one engine could not take tn
train through, and it was some time befor
another could be fired up. 1t made goo
time with a double header, reaching Sa
wanna at 5 O'Clock. 1t stopped at Free
port, as it was not deemed advisable E
try and reach Milwaukee.
The Flying Dutchman" and No.
both left this morning, but GO
showed in at Moline. 1t wa
with difficulty that the engin es coul
make their way through the c., R. l & 7
yards. Even the
Conductor Tom Fuller is down her
without an engine, and he is at loss t.
know how he will take his train out to
night He might put it on hobs, and us
his ears for sails.
c., B. & Q.
The great Chicago, Burlington d Quiz
cy road was having its share of woe. Tn
Sterling passenger and all freights wei
= abandoned No 8. coming from s
Louis. got along very well with doubl
header until it struck the big cut betwee