, 1892-12-21
FIVE FEET DEEP.
Eastern Washington Covered With
a Mantle of Snow.
IL Comes as Suddenly as a whirI-
wind and Falls for Nearly
Twenty Hours schools CIOse

AhOuAh oChODiA Ol0Hi
and the ArmOry COIIapses.
Today, for the first time in many years
Olympians were treated to the luxury o
a genuine eastern snow storm. The winC
was light and the snow dry and as i
ahghted it piled up in masses of feathery
whiteness, assuming curious and fantastic
shapes on fences, houses and trees. The
first flakes fell at O'Clock last night and
the storm continued all night and nearly
all day.
JINGLE OF SLEIGH BELLS.
As soon as the ground was well covered
a number of young folks brought out sleds
and INDUCED in the rare sport of a sleigh.
ride. The small boys coasted on the side.
walks, pelted pedestrians with snowbalIs,
and hailed the snowa as a great event.
IT WAS DEEP.
At daylight this morning the doe3y man
tie that had been cast upon the earth was
over two feet deep on a level. But it was
dry and loose and no great difficulty was
experienced in breaking paths. The street
cars were not brought out of the barn. A
trip was made over the roadway by the
scraper and path formed that was freely
patronized by the travelling public.
By $3.50 O'Clock a brigade of shovellers
appeared on the principal streets clearing
away the snow from in front of the stores.
Ladies who had business down town were
not bit averse to strikingout regardless of
the fact that they frequently tumbled down
and had to be pulled out again. A string
of school teachers hurrying along the street
car path toward the Washington building
attracted attention and ELECTED compli-
ments from admirers Of bravery.
THEY ALL ENJOYED IT.
A spirit of goodfellowship prevailed on
all sides in spite of the temporary incon-
yenience. Bursts of hearty and whole
souled laughter were frequently heard as
somebody took an unlucky tumble or an
amusing incident was retold for perhaps
the hundredth time. OVercoats, mufflers,
gum boots, gloves and umbrellas were in
great demand. The atmosphere was Just
cold enough to invigorate without weaken
ing. Pessimists were scarce and the man
who had been signing for Eastern weather
could not be found.
AMUSING M1sHAPs.
There were enough individual mishaps
and accidents TO fill volume. Those who
came from distance made preparation to
stay down town several days. One lady
living on the Eastside houndered about
fell down several times, finally got on top
Of stump, took breathing spell and then
fell of the stump into the snow again.
She hailed guerny that proYidentially
came within hailing distance at that time,
and now proposes to stay down town until
the weather becomes respectable. Ayoung
mi liUiDor on tho WaofofIo
cut across lots and fell into an old cellar
be went in the snow up to his neck. In
cidents of this character occurred on all
sides and still nobody seemed to be angry
about it.
Business was not very brisk except with
shovel dealers and clothing merchants
One man sold pile of shOvels that he had
long ago rated as dead stock.
number Of sleighs were on the streets,
but the air was almost too keen for pleas
ure seekers to come out of their good COM
Portable homes for the purpose of riding
about town.
NO SCHOOL TODAY.
At the Washington building there were
three teachers and ten scholars, and of
course no attempt was made to hold
school. Two teachers and six scholars
made their appearance at the Lincoln
building and then went home.
THE ARMoRY ooLLAPsEs.
The only mishap of serious nature was
the falling in of the armory, occasioned by
the weight of snow on the roof. 1t came
down with a rattle and a crash about 10
O'Clock, and soon attracted a large crowd
Uniforms and acOutTements belonging to
Company A we're buried beneath the ruins,
but were soon dragged out from beneath
the broken and spllntered boards and re-
moved to Woodruff hall for safe keeping.
The only damage done was 10 get the guns
slightly wet, something that could be
easily remedied.
MAGNITUDE OF THE STORM.
The snow partly ceased falling at II 80
o'clock this afternoon, although it had
made several desperate attempts during
the day to quit. Communication by rail and
telegraph was not interrupted by the
storm, although the steamers were delayed
/ by the roughness of the water. Informa-
ton was received to the effect that in Sc
attic the snow was one foot deep, in Ia
coma three feet, and that in Portland four
inches of snow fell and then the storm
| turned into rain.
Observer Alciatore reports officially that
the remarkable feature of the storm was its
suddenness. 1t began at 4:45 yesterday
afternoon and continued until noon today.
The depth of snow at that time was nearly
five feet. The lowest temperature during
the storm was 25.3. The barometer at s
a. m. yesterday was higher than usual
there being no indication of
storm of much magnitude. The barom-
eter fell almost an inch from am. yester-
day to this morning. From until pm.
today the barometer was steady
1t began to rise at O'Clock
and continued to rise, indicating that the
storm center had passed. The official for
caster at Portland this morning predicted
snow followed by rain for the succeeding
"a hours. The storm appeared to
be general in Western Washington from
Snohomish county to about twenty-five
miles below Portland, Oregon, being
heaviest in southwestern Washington.
Light snow east of the Cascades. A heavy
snow storm occurred in January, 1880.
Snow fell on ten days Of that month, and at
the end of the month from ten to fifteen
inches of snow remained. In December
1884, snow fell on five days, amounting to
total: depth of six feet. That the only
snowstOrm on record exceeding the present
storm.
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