Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-12-19
By THE STORM OF SNOW AND RAIN.
Losses Of the District Telegraph, Electric,
Cable and Steam Railroads
Also Very Heavy.
WORK OF CLEARING UP WE'LL ADVANCED
Reports From AL Parts Of the Two ctss-Nany People
Erjsy slsigh Rides.

weather was what might be called passably
fair.
The snowfall was the heaviest and the
storm one of the worst, in many particulars,
ever known to this city. Many of the losses
will never be known, while others are of 4
kind not easily estimated, as in the case of
street and steam railways, but enough has
been demonstrated to show that they will
easily reach into the hundreds of thousands
of dollars.
At the Signal Service Office the combined
fall of snow and rain was estimated to be
equal to a trife over 26 inches of the beau
ti.ul, which beats the record since the
establishment of the service in Pittsburg.
The Western Union Telegraph people
probably sustained the greatest damage of
any company in the city Superintendent
of Construction Morris when seen by a rep
resentative of The DISPATCH, last night,
said:
Badly Shaken Up by the Storm.
''The storm gave US bad shaking up and
no mistake. It was one of the worst we have
ever known here. What will our loss be?
Probably from So, 900 to $50. 600, and per-
hsps more, taking everything into considera-
tion. Hundreds OF wires were broken down,
but Just what the number will amount to
cannot vet be stated, as they have not all
been located We have 100 linemeu at work
in this city and suburbs, now, and it will
take them several days yet to put things in
proper shape. have no idea what the losses
will be on the outside, but they will be very
heavy"
Where was the most damage done in this
vicinityo"
''In Allegheny quite a number of poles
were broken down, and you know they all
carry big lot of wires that will have to be
repaired.
"W hat kind of shape are you in to-day"
Every good, indeed, all things considered.
We have number of lines through East
and West, and business is going on all right
once more. If no more snow falls we will
have things all right in few days.
The Worst Storm Ever Experienced.
The Central District Printing and TeIe-
graph Company also suffered greatly. Su-
perintendent Metzgsr said yesterday: "This
was the worst storm we ever experienced. Out
of $500 telephone wires about ], 900 were down.
Our loss on lines, broken poles and cables and
cost of repairs will amount to SIS 900 at the low
est calculation, and we will be lucky if we get
of tor that amount We have big forces of
men at work, but it will be some time before
we get everything in the same shape l. was on
Tuesday night
Has the responsibility of killing that team
Of horses on Third avenue been located yet?'
Not thar know of. 1have not yet inYestf-
gated whether IL was one of our wires that
caused the death Of the team. IL we find that
one of our wires killed il, why we will pay for
the horses, and that will end ii. shall give
the matter my personal attention tomorrow or
next day."
The Allegheny County Light Company
escaped very fortunately. One of the leading
officials said yesterday: 1T will not cost Us more
than $500 to repair all of our damages"
How do you account for such small Ioss?'
TO begin with, our lines are heavier and
more substantial than the run of electric wires.
They are of a better material and are well IN
sulated, while many of the others are not
The chief damage to our lines was the break
ing of telephone wires, which fell across them
and burned them out
Precautions Taken to Prevent Accidents.
1--WE took many precautions to prevent acc-
dents. We shut down the Allegheny power
house. and many of the stations in this city,
early in the day, Now. we had no current on
Third avenue at all when those horses were
killed. Our arc line Tor street lighting pur-
poses there was perfectly harmless. l know
that the losses of the other electric lines were
enormous. Strong substantial lines cost more
than some Others, but they pay better In the
long run
Manager I. H. Hughes. of the Postal Tele.
graph Company. said last night that they came
out of the storm much better than they had
expected. At no time were they crippled so
far their Western lines were concerned
while they had connection with the East for
hours while the Western Union was shut COM
pletely out. All things considered he was in
clined to think the company had not lost much
Another point was that their wires were put
up more recently than many Others in the city,
and consequently stood the strain better Last
night they had four wires through to Baltimore
Washington. Philadelphia and New York
whereas they usually have from 10 to 70 The dis
trict wires in the city gave the company a great
deal of trouble. notably where they crossed
over Gnu e tops. Some 80 lInemen have been
at work since early Wednesday and it will
ages. During the two days the force lent the
city considerable assistance in fixing up its
lines.
Gallant Fight Against the Elements
The Pleasant Valley electric light people
made gallant fight against the elements but
they had TO acknowledge defeat, and did not
turn wheel from Wednesday night about 10
o'clock until yesterday afternoon at / o'clock.
Then they managed to yet few cars through,
but nothing like the regular runs. Last night
they were running about 25 per cent of The
usual number. or one in every four.
Yesterday morning the employees of the COM
pany from various departments to the number
OF about 10 men were put to work clearing
away the snow. They began as early as 5
O'Clock, and kept at it until dark. Gripmen
conductors and all were pressed into service
Many men also worked last night, as they did
the night previous. and the indications are that
the various lines will be i'll fair shape TODAY
Inquiry was made at the company's office as to
what the damage would amount to- hut the
nearest approach to a definite answer was that
the sum would be up in the thousands of dol
lars.
The Second avenue electric lines we're the
worst damaged of any in the city, owing to the
great number of broken poles and wires that
became entangled in the system. The melted
snow and water on the heavy grades also gave
them great deal of trouble. The road was un.
able to move any cars yesterday. but expects to
get well started to-day Big forces of men have
morning. Counting IN the loss of business and
the expense of repairs, and the conpany
Will find itself out of pocket many dollar be-
ore the week is over.
The Cable Systems in Good Shape.
The cable car systems got along very wei
yesterday, although they were not running ex.
actly on regulation time. BY the use of snow
plows and sweepers during the night before,
together with the work accomplished by men
with shovels, yesterday. these systems may be
pronounced as about out of trouble.
The few remaining horse car lines were doing
the best they could yesterday, but in most in
stances the cars were running irregularly, and
were drawn with four horses or mules instead
of two.
Chief Bigelow had $50 men and about 20
teams at work all last night hauling the snow and
slush from the streets. These forces were dis
tributed over the main business portions of the
city. and as a consequence the downtown and
East End thoroughtares are quite well cleared
up. The citizens have also rendered much
aid in clearing uD the sidewalks and to-day