River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1891-01-29
THEY'RE ALL GROUND WIRES.

tfIG Tx ALL onOOND NinGSs
Telegraph, Telephone and Electric Com
panies Suffer Enormous Losses by the
Late rd-Thousands Oh Wires and
Hundreds of Poles Leveled- The City
Practically Cut OF from Communities
tion with the Outer World.
NEW YORK, Jan. 27.-The great tele-
graph and telephone lines which center
in this city are almost completely par
alyzed. Never before have they ex-
perienced such absolute havoc. Their
condition during the memorable biz
card was nothing compared with the
state of things now. The stOrhs IF
Sunday was by all odds the worst
that the telegraph companies have
ever had to deal with. The
sleet-storm in 1881 had the record
for general havoc because it laid low
every wire belonging to any company
in this town. But Sundays storm went
further even than that. An idea of the
extent of the damage may be gathered
from the fact that out of 1900 wires
running out of this city the West
ern Union Company has but
three working this morning. The
rest, with the poles that sup
ported them now lie beside railroad
tracks and across fields or are caught in
trees. The Postal Telegraph Company
actually had not one wire working out
of the city, while the Metropolitan Tel
egraph & Telephone Company roughly
estimates that $500 wires have been
laid low. The total damage to
the companies mentioned is placed
at $4,000 Two weeks of UNI
ceasing effort will be required to
get the wires back into the condition
which existed before the storm.
In the city the number of wires down
is roughly estimated at 4,500 and the
poles down or broken at $50 In addi-
ton to the forest of poles that were
strewn about the streets many were
hanging in dangerous condition.
Rolls and tangled nets of telegraph,
telephone and electric wires filed
Brooklyn's streets, causing damage
estimated at $3.50, 600 Jersey City's fire
alarm system was rendered useless
and the old system of alarm
towers was resorted to. Boston
is now reached via Montreal.
sages will be sent from here to Port
Chester, thence to Montreal and To the
Pacific coast via the Canadian Pacific
line. The stock exchange was com
pletely cut off from all quarters but
London. Between Philadelphia and
Trenton and between that point and
New Brunswick the telegraphic equip
ment is totally wrecked along the line
of the Pennsylvania road, where ran
some of the heaviest trunk lines. All
the eastern wires are down between
Williams Bridge and Stamford, and all
western wires between Williams
Bridge and Croton Falls. At Pleasant
vile, which is Just back of Sing
Sing, every wire is down for
distance of two miles. Every one
of the wires which run along the line
of the West Shore railroad is down
south of Cornwall and the poles in the
same direction are also lying beside the
railroad track. The Western Union
wires which run through New Jersey
are piled in small heaps. On Jersey flats
not pole can be seen standing across
the meadows,
~ paralyzed and in the commercial
quarter the same conditions prevail.
The fall of snow which Frustrated the
wires was the heaviest since the
famous blizzard. Two thousand men
are now at work clearing it
from the streets Three horses
have been killed by two wires
and woman in Jersey City was fatally
injured BY falling pole. The damage
in this city is estimated at at least So
O00,00 In Brooklyn the damage to
wires, poles and houses will he $500, 600.
In Jersey City it is figured out at $500, 600.
With the present means of commune
cation it is impossible TO say whether
there has been loss of life, but if there
has not been it will be almost a mir
acle. Two persons have been reported
injured IN this city. Mrs Catharine
Mccormick, of West Thirty fourth
street, was walking along Seventh
avenue, where several poles fell
under their Weight of snow. One of
the falling poles struck The old lady,
she fell to the ground and was almost
buried beneath the network of wires
and snow. John Burke. of 249 West
Thirty-ninth street, was struck by a
falling pole and had one arm broken
and a shoulder dislocated.
BosroN, Jan. 27.-Reports from vari-
GUS sections of New England indicate
that the storm of Sunday morning was
unusually severe. A great deal of
damage has been done to the telegraph
and telephone wires, especially in New
Haven. The Long Distance Telephone
Company had no communication
with New York Sunday night for
the first time, it is said, since
the company began business. Fall
River, Mass, reports very heavy snow
and rain-storm until o'clock Sunday
afternoon, accompanied by high tides
The sound boats had a hard time
around Point Judith, but arrived at
Fall River in safety, although late. At
Manchester, N. H., it is reported that
the storm lasted nine hours, and fifteen
inches of snow fell, obstructing
travel and prostrating wires.
Nashua, n. H., reports the worst storm
of the season, twelve inches of snow
falling, obstructing horse-car travel and
delaying trains. Haverhill, Mass, was
entirely cut off from communication
with the outside world. Considerable
damage to trees has been done. The
gale at New Bedford was heavy and
some damaCe was done to roofs and