The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-02-10
Railway Traffic Totally Suspended in Por-
tions of the Country, and Trains Seri-
ously Delayed in All Directions.
The Snow Drifts Badly, and Tracks Will
Be Blockaded for Several Days.
The Companies Putting Forth Strenuous Eff
forts to Raise the BlOckade-Temperature
Falling Rapidly All Over the West.
SNOW AND WIND.
An Unusually Heavy Fall of Snow In the
North and Northwest

North ana Northwest.
CHICAGO, Feb. 9-The Inter Oceans special
| dispatch from Paxton, ILL.,, which is about 100
miles south of this city, reports the storm of
last night very severe in the way of wind and
snow, with the very rare accompaniment of
heavy thunder and lightning. This place appears
| to have been near the border lines of the snow
| and rain belts
At Sycamore, H.. at o'clock tonight, there
were no signs of abatemenu in the blizzard. In
the country the snow covered the fences and
was drifted to depth of four feet in the princi
pal streets. The public schools are closed.
| At Jackson Mich, the snow is reported three
feet deep on the level and piled many feet deep
in drifts in sheltered places The fall is the
greatest within twenty years.
At Janesvile, Wis, the storm continues,
with heavy fall of snow and furious gale; it
| is the severest for years. All freight trains are
| abandoned.
At McGregor, Ia the air continues full of
| snow and strong wind is blowing Railroad
traffic is suspended and trave! greatly impeded.
Winona, Mimi, reports no snow falling there,
but heavy wind blowing and drifting the snow
already fallen, making it necessary to abandon
night trains.
Reports from every direction in the great
storm area are to the same general effect Busi
ness everywhere is practically suspended, and
the country roads are impossible
AT Winona, ILL.,, the Illinois Central trains are
struggling along with double h eaders, several
hours behind time.
The east-bound passenger train on the Chi
| cago &, Alton branch is laid up at Blackstone,
1
twenty-four hours
At Beloit, Wis, the blizzard is very severe,
and the temperature at about Zero No trains
| have reached the city to-day over the Chicago &
Northwestern or tle Milwaukee 81 ST. Paul,
| either from Chicago or Milwaukee.
At Dixon, ILL.,, the Illinois Central and Chicago
| q Northwestern trains are blocked. Fourteen
| inches of snow has fallen
| AT Mattoon, ILL.,, there was heavy thunder
Storm last night accompanied by hail and
| sleet
At Ottumwa, Ia, snow commenced to fall at 8
P. NJ, yesterday, and has continued ever since.
The snow is probably ten inches deep. The
| weather is colder, with high wind this even
ing. No Wabash train is in or out The Rock
Island train, from Keokuk, and the down
train from Des Moines, due at ii A. NJ. are
| not in.
At Jacksonville ILL.,. the worst blizzard of the
season began last night, being accompanied by
thunder and lightning. 1t has been showing all
| day, and tonight at o'clock the mercury stood
at zero, and the weather was rapidly growing
colder. All trains are delayed and the Chicago
| q Alton refused to take out stock trains for the
north.
| Bloomington, Ill telegram reports that the
| Indianapolis line, the Lake Erie and the middle
division of the Illinois Central have abandoned
all trains to-night,on account of the storm.
At Keokuk, Ia, the snow-storm of Sunday
| night continued until this afternoon. The wind
is still high. All railroads are sufferers The
Wabash east and west passenger trains are in
drift near Granger Mo- The afternoon trains
| from the east came no further than LaHarpe
| III. The Rock Island has practically abandoned
all trains as has the c., B. & @. and the Kansas
City and Northern roads. The passenger trains on
these roads are either in drifts on side tracks
| The Keokuk q st. Louis lines passenger trains
| are moving, but behind time 1t will take one
| day with good weather to open most of the roads
| AT Milwaukee severe wind and snow-storm
set in at an early hour this morning and contin-
| ued throughout the entire day and we'll into the
| night Reports indicate that the storm extended
| throughout the entire State and id adjoining
States, its fury being felt throughout southern
| Wisconsin northern Illinois and northeastern
Iowa. tbs conclusion is warranted by the
weather reports to the general officers of the
| Milwaukee 81 ST. Paul railroad from all
| divisions of that line Trains on all
lines in Wisconsin have been delayed
from one to four hours to-day, but no case of
| blockade has yet been reported Nearly all
freight trains have been suspended, those that it
is absolutely necessary should be run being
given two engines. Tonight the storm is
abating, but the high wind continues, forming
huge drifts of snow. The only hope of the rail
road men to prevent blockade now is that the
wind may subside, in which case the tracks can
be kept clear
At Des Moines Ia, the heaviest snow-storm of
the season set in yesterday afternoon and pre-
vailed until this forenoon 1t was accompanied by
high winds, which drifted it badly and caused
an almost complete blockade on that citys fifteen
railroads. The Des Moines & Fort Dodge road
has not moved wheel to-day, and the
same may be said of some other lines
The St Paul express on the Northwestern
left this morning, but only reached the crossing
at the main line, and still lies there: the Dakota
train was abandoned Trains on the main line
OF this road are from four to six hours late
The Iowa Central is at a stand still, and the
Illinois Central the same. The Rock Island
train that left Chicago last night pulled in SIX
hours late, and the train from the West about
two hours behind. There were no trains be-
tween here and Keokuk and Ottumwa to-day
Janauscheks private attempted to
reach the latter place with a double
header but after being out all
day was returned here tonight Not a road. as
far as can be learned has turned freight wheel
all day, and the prospects are not good for to-
morrow 1t is rapidly growing colder tonight
and with the intense cold it will be impossible
to hire men to clear the blockade MANY of the
| north and south roads have abandoned every
thing. and Will do nothing until the weather
moderates and storm subsidies. The cold wave
signal is flying, and reports that another biz
zard is coming from the Northwest are current
Cedar Rapids, Ia, for the time being, is shut
in from the outside world by snow blockade.
All trains are abandoned. The weather is in
tensely cold, and growing colder, while the wind
IS blowing furiously. The mercury was twenty
degrees above zero at noon, seven below at 6 p
NJ and twelve below at ii p NJ, with q down
ward tendency.
The blizzard reached Bay City, Mich, last
night, and continued all day and up to midnight
with unabated fury blocking the streets and