Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1888-01-14
THE GREAT BLIZZARD.
ITS aEsERAL EFFECTS THROUGHOUT
IHE EoRTHwEsT.
Railway Business Almost Entirely sus-
pended snov-Plows Ineffeotive-A
Number OF Casualties Reported.
tnr telegraph to the Dispatch.

feet on the level ana from i've 10 Hlteeu
feet in cuts was sufficient to almost sus-
pend the running OF trains but
added to the severe wind which
blew in some parts and the blizzard
which ragged in others, it has
suspended railway business entirely.
Freight trans were hung up early yes
tcrday, not a wheel moving after noon.
Passenger trains one by one followed
suit, and by o'clock last night there
was no attempt at running train'at any
point west OF st. Paul. The eastern
lines, however, tried hard to keep their
tracks open, but without success.
At o'clock this morning reports from
various points along the several roads
were discouraging, and it was almost de-
cided to abandon everything. With
snow-plOws and engines trains were sent
out. and are now stuck on some bill or
/ LAYING I'D at some station along the
/ lines. The Northern Pacific, Manitoba
and Milwaukee on its Minnesota and
Dakota division made no effort to start,
/ and will not do 50 until there is at least
a possibility of their getting through.
Branch trains were all abandoned at
functional points last night, and there
is no predicting when they will be
opened. 1t is thought that some Of them
will be closed for SIX weeks, and on top
of this condition of things it is feared
/ the worst is TO come. The wind is
! blowing hard on almost all the lines to-
/ day and the cuts are being filed IN as
fast as they are cleared out. The storm
of yesterday is now ragingin Iowa. Be
! sides that another storm or continuation
of the present one is expected to strike
Minnesota Sunday, in which case there
is no telling what the result will be. 1t
is raging in Idaho to-day, and the Their
mometer at various points along the
| Northern Pacific is as low as 10' below
zero.
Manitoba reports from the Northwest
indicate n cold wave with high wind
coming from that direction. In fact
things look so dubious to-day that rail-
way-men will not venture an opinion
when traffic will again beresumed. Each
line is putting forth every effort to keep
/ their Chicago line open, but even that is
almost an impossibility. At noon to-day
/ not train had come in, the Omaha i'm
tied being reported nearer than any other
one. With the exception of suburban
trains and the Sioux City express over
the Omaha line, which came i'll at 2 A.
M.-seven hours late-not a train has
come into St. Paul since last night. All
| trains, however, are at points where the
passengers can we'll be cared for.
| All trains over the Western divi-
/ sion have been abandoned, and no effort
/ will be made TO clear the tracks until
| the storm ceases and the wind falls.
/ The Rock Island abandoned all trains
/ last night, and up to-noon to-day no ef-
/ fort was being made to move a wheel
except on the short-line trains. Out
going trains were abandoned, but Off
/ Gals intend to start out a through train
tonight unless reports show this to be
! inexpedient.
On the Northern Pacific the storm IS
the most severe that has ever been felt,
and to-day there is a regular blizzard
ragingin Idaho, with the Thermometer
at an unusually low point.
The last overland train which reached
st. Paul came in Wednesday afternoon,
and the officials will not offer an opinion
| as to when the next one will reach here.
| The storm was severe all through Mon
/ tana, Dakota, and Minnesota.
A Duluth (Alinn. special to the Dis
patch reports that yesterday afternoon
the st. Paul trains got in this morning.
The Omaha trains due this morning
have not been heard from. No Northern
Pacific trains have arrived or departed.
A Clear Lake MINI special says the
north and south-bound Northern Pa
cific trains are showed in there nose to
nose.
A Crookston (NIinn. special says No
trains for two days. 1t began blowing
yesterday, and piled the snow IN heaps
eighteen feet high. 1t is bitterly cold.
CHICAGO, January 13.-Railroading
in Northern Wisconsin and the entire
territory west of there as far as the
Rocky Mountains has been practi-
callv suspended since noon yesterday.
/ Few belated passenger trains managed
to reach their destination many hours
late. but great many are snowed-in at
intermediate points. Several branch
lines are reported so badly blocked by
drift that they may be closed for six
weeks. No attempt was made to-day to
send out trains on the trunk lines from
the great railroad centres, such as St.
Paul, Minneapolis, or Duluth. Extreme
cold and high wind with heavy snow has
brought about this state of affairs.
ST.. PAUL, MINI, January l3.-A
Winnipeg special to the Pioneer Press
says a storm which began yesterday
morning extends throughout the Terri
tories. Nearly all of the Canadian
Pacific trains have been abandoned.
BRArNERD, MINI. January 13.-The
entire line of the Northern Pacific, from
Lake Superior to Dakota, as well as the
Brainerd and st, Paul division, Is en-
trely blocked by the storm. Both the
st. Paul trains were blocked shortly al
ter getting out of the Minneapolis yards.
MILWAUKEE, January l3.-ltis 2Oo be-
low zero tonight, and adyices from other
parts of the State are to the effect that
| il is even colder in some sections.
Railroads have had hard time 1t.
| Nearly every lIhlu IOhl wv 'N"V oNN'
North was delayed several hours, and on
the Prairie du Chen division OF the
ASt. Paul road passenger as well as
freight trains were suspended on account
of the big drifts in cuts. Engines that
crawled in from the North resembled
huge cakes of ice. Snow-plows have
been at work all day, and it Is not be-
lieyed that passenger trains will he
started on any of the Wisconsin d.
visions.
FURTHER DETAILS OF THE STORM.
ST.. PAUL, MINI, January l3.-The
following specials to the Pioneer Press
show something Of the extent and
effect of the storm:
jamestown, Ddk.-The storm still
continues, although much abated. The
thermometer at noon marked 270 below
zero. The old snow drifts have blown
away and now larger ones have formed.
The extreme cold forms crusts on the
drifts. which almost prove too much for
the assaults of snow-plows. Yesterday s
west-bound limited snowed-upat Wheat
land all day, arrived tonight forty
hours late. The, Northern Pacific main