The Portland daily press., 1888-03-14
OUR BLIZZARD
Fills Portland HarbOr with lee, Do
ing Considerable Damage.
January's Troubles Repeated Along
New England Railroads.
Boston & Maine Trains Spend Night
in the Woods.
Telegraph Wires Broken and Poles
Down in all Directions.
Fears that Lives Have Been Lost in
massachusetts,.

The bowling northeaster Of Monday be-
came a squally, gusty southeaster yesterday.
When Portland people awoke in the morn
ing-that is, all those who had not been
awakened about every hour in the night by
the falling of huge icicles formed on the
window sashes,-they found almost as bad
condition Of things as the morning after the
great storm of Jan. 26th. Not quite as
much snow had fallen as on that occasion.
but it had drifted tremendously, and, in
many cases, as high as the middle Of first
story windows. 1t was heavy, damp snow,
too, and it packed down solid. The heavy
clouds gave way to bright sun and blue skies,
only to again cover the heavens and send
down perfect whirlwind of snow-hakes, or
hail, that was binding.
By noon the sidewalks were generally clear.
The Horse Railroad Company had out its
plows, one of them drawn by twelve horses,
and quickly cleared the most of the snow
from their tracks. By today they will prob
ably have the cars on the rails again. On
the Deering line the passengers came in and
went out in car sleighs. The delay OF the
western trains, and the bad condition of the
telegraph-only one wire working to Boston,
and that feebly-made the condition of
things, as far as intercourse with the great
world West Of US, worse than for years.
Last night the report from the Western
Union office in this city was, "Only one
string is working between here and Boston,
and that not very WE'LL" The Boston Office
reported that the Hub was still without any
communication with New York. At 2
o'clock yesterday afternoon, Manager Liver
more succeeded in connecting the Portland
Office with Worcester, Mass. The report he
received from Worcester was not encourag-
ing. The Worcester people had succeeded
in talking with New Haven, Conn, and
learned that no trains had been started from
that city, nor would be during the day. Tel
egraph poles were reported blown over in
many places, and along the highways wires
were down in every direction. The huge
drifts prevented the linemen from making
any successful effort to begin the work Of re-
pairs.
Below will be found the state of things as
they exist, relating to the railroads and haI-
bor.
The Harbor.
The storm Of Monday was not without 1t
disastrous results at sea and on land. Yes
terday morning the harbor presented scene
such as has never been witnessed before in
many years. The upper harbor was one
vast field of ice which the northeast wind
blew in from the bay. The cakes were so
large and thick that sailors from the vessels
that lay in the stream walked ashore in
safety. Mr.. William Studley walked to the
Cape ON the blocks Of ice starting at Com
mercIal Wharf. Several others crossed to
South Portland and fishermen walked to and
from vessels that lay at anchor.
The steamer Minnehaha, owned by j. B.
Curtis, which was lying in winter quarters in
the roadstead off Little Diamond Island sank
at her moorings. The Minnehaha has been
favorite steamer plying to the islands.
Pos bly she will be raised at an early oppor-
tunity.
The steam tug Dec Volente, which has
been engaged in towing the mud scows in
the harbor last summer, has been laid up at
Browns wharf this week. During the storm
Monday night, she thrashed about badly,
and the huge ice cakes came in over her rail,
bearing her down nearly to the waters edge
She also had a large amount of coal on board
and this was great hindrance to her float
ing. When the tide came in yesterday
morning, it brought large amount OF ice
with it, which sank her. She is owned by
the National Dredging Company Of Will
mington, Del. She was built at New Lon
don, Conn. in 1878, and is powerful tug.
She is 65 feet long and 40 tons burden.
The ferry boats did not run during the
day, the tow boats were unable to leave the
docks, and besides the schooner Matte M.
Dyer, which pushed up through the ice un-
der full sail, the only vessel that moved
from her moorings was the island steamer
Forest Queen, The tow boat Belknap made
an effort to get out but was unable to move
and after a long trial she abandoned the at
tempt. The steamer Gordon from Harps-
well could not push through the ice and was
obliged to stop at the Grand Trunk Wharf.
The Boothbay steamer Enterprise did not
sail on account of the rough weather.
The big blocks of ice ran against the
cables of the schooner John Somes which
lay at anchor off Long Island Monday night,
and parted them and to save the schooner
the Captain was obliged to run her ashore.
The vessel went on the sandy beach at high
tide and therefore she will have TO be tighten
ed before she can be got off. The keel Of the
schooner is imbedded in the sand and she
now stands upright in an undamaged condi-
tion. The Somes is owned by Cushing &
McKenney and was built at Essex, Mass,
in 1861. She is 73 feet long 21 feet wide,
feet deep and has gross tonnage of 65.
The schooners Willie and Alice, Moses b.
Linscott and the Emma Jane which were ly-
ing off the Ferry landing dragged their
anchors and went ashore at the Cape so that
when the tide went out they were high and
dry in the sand. They will probably be
floated again at higa water. A number Of
other vessels were damaged more or less.
The cakes of ice damaged many of the
wharfs and in some places the piles were
broken. Jenks's wharfs at Little Chebeague
Island were carried away. Shipping was
more or less damaged and reports Of disas-
ters will probably be made later.
The Railroads.
All the railroads suffered by the storm. On
the Grand Trunk road the freight trains
were cancelled and snow plows were at work
all along the line. Hundreds of men were
employed in shovelling the snow from the
tracks from morning until night. The
morning train from Lewiston was two hours
late and the through train from Montreal
was about four hours late. Trains left this
city on this road about on time
MAINE CENTRAL.
The morning train from Lewiston was two
hours late and the Skowhegan noon train
was nearly three hours late. Trains by way
of Brunswick were about on time. The out
trains left as usual without connecting with
the Boston aud Maine trains which were
all late.
PORTLAND oGDENsBURG.
The trains on this road were nearly on
time except the through train which encoun-
tered so much snow in the mountain that 1t
was unable to get through.
BOSTON a MAINE.
On both divisions Of this road the train
.,,a,, had an unusuallv hard time Snow