Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1892-04-09
THE STORM KING
Holds High Carnival in South Dakota,
Nebraska, Kansas and Other
Localities,

Localities.
South Dakota, Nebraska and Kansas
are Just now recovering from the effects
of one Of the severest storins by which
they were ever visited, and which in
some localities was the very worst on
record. Here in the Southern Hills we
were very fortunate, and escaped with a
storm no more severe than those which
we experience every winter, but in our
sister states Nebraska and Kansas, the
cycIone-blizzard left death and destruc-
tion in its path. In the Hills the storm
was inaugurated by the terrible wind
storm of Friday, April lst. At Dead
wood, Rapid City, and other points
north of us the gale was accompanied
by heavy fall Of snow, but here at Gus.
ter we had none until two days later
The wind which blew with such terrible
force all day Friday turned oyer mum.
ber Of chimneys, blew in two or three
glass fronts on Custer Avenue, and nee.
essitated the closing of school. Satur-
day morning the wind had subsided and
the day was a comparatively pleasant
one, but Sunday morning the snow com
menced falling and continued all that
day and the next. 1t was accompanied
by high wind and for forty-eight hours
we experienced genuine blizzard, the
worst of the winter. The B. & NJ. from
Edgemont to Deadwood was compare
lively clear, and the local trains ran
regularly with one or two exceptions.
But the through trains were blockaded
IN Nebraska, and no eastern mail was
received either Saturday or Sunday.
Sunday the b. & NJ. train which left
Omaha Friday, and which was showed
in near Alliance, was shoveled out, and
ran into Edgemont about or O'Clock
Monday a. m. Two hours later our Sat-
urday and Sunday mail reached us and
that was the last until s o'clock Tuesday
night. At that time Mondays train
got In, and Wednesday a. IN. the pas
senger arrived on time. bringing the
Tuesday and Wednesday mail and the
good news that the storm was over and
the road clear.
The F., f. & NJ. V. r. r. was in as
bad shape as the B. & NJ, if not worse.
Their trains were blockaded in the Ne
braska sand hills, and only two of them
got Ia to Deadwood between Friday and
Tuesday morning, and from Friday
night until tuesday night all communi-
cation was cut off between Custer and
points on the Elkhorn road. Deadwood
Lead City and Rapid had two or three
feet Of snow, and business i'm the north.
ern Hills was practically suspended. II
was terrible storm, and we can thank
our lucky star that the most We suffered
was the inconvenience of delayed mails
and suspended traffic.
THE STORM IN OTHER STATES.
The storm wave struck Nebraska
Thursday night, in the western part oi
the state as blizzard, and
in the east cyclone. The
latter was most destructive and swept
about l50 miles Of the best part of the
state. The little town of Nelson, in
Nukolls county, was almost wiped out OF
existence. Its public buildings and
thirty residences were blown down.
The loss will exceed 100000 with very
little insurance. A number Of persons
we're injured, but strange to say, none
were killed. At Norfolk two churches
were blown down and other property
worth $4,000 destroyed.
At Edgar, Nebraska, one woman vas
killed and others hurt. The damage to
property cannot be estimated.
1t was in Kansas, however, that the
storm ragged with greatest fury, and
fifty lives are reported lost. The amount
of property destroyed cannot even be
estimated. All through the storm dis
trict more or less damage was done in
the country as well as in the cities, and
probably many lives were lost that have
not yet been reported.
In western Nebraska, the falling snow
mingled with the sand which the wind
carried, and combined with the terrible
force of the wind, made it the worst
storm that section has ever known.
In Chicago a seven story building was
blown down and ten persons killed.
The storm ragged with somewhat less
fury in Iowa, Minnesota and North Da-
kota, and each day brings in an addi.
tional report of property destroyed and
lives lost.