Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1895-02-11
ECHOES OF THE STORM.

The terrible blizzard prevailed
throughout almost the whole of the
United States on Friday and Saturday.
1t brought death and desolation in its
chill breath, freezing the wayfarer on
land and killing the mariner at sea.
Shipwrecks were reported from many
points and the snow choked the wheels
of traffic on all the railroad lines. II
the blizzard fell short of the great
March blizzard of 1888 in the monu-
mental character of the snow-drifts. it
made a new record for combination
of intense cold and widespread distur-
bance Il now appears that the period
from Monday last TO to-day was one OF
the coolest midwinter weeks on record
in the United States.
The storm was very severe through
out Virginia and especially in this city
and vicinity. All through the State
railroad traffic was impeded and in
the valley the suow blockade was even
worse than it was in this neighborhood.
The area of zero weather reached al
most to the Gulf of Mexico. The only
patch of country above freezing point
WAS the extreme tip Of the Florida pen
insula, Key West reporting the only
temperature above freezing east of thr
Rocky Mountains. In Tampa snow fell
for the first time perhaps on record.
For the second time in history the Gal
weston bay was r. z.p. Much suffer
ing was caused to the inhabitants of the
city.
In Florida orange and other fruit
trees are probably all killed outright,
except the Oldest and toughest of them,
for they were naked, budding and full
of sap, and therefore particularly sus-
ceptible to cold. The loss will aggre-
gate many millions of dollars. The
average life of q tree is thirty years,
which means fully twenty prospective
crops for trees now beginning to bear.
Every vegetable crop, The entire straw
berry crop and tour-fifths of the pine
apple plants are destroyed.
The oyster industry, in which hun
dIeds of vessels are engaged in and
about Chesapeake bay, is paralyzed be-
cause of the extreme cold weather.
The damage done on the Chesapeake
and its tributaries by the storm is very
great. North Point and the Kent Isl
and shore are strewn with wrecked
oyster boats, and loss of life is feared.
The gale that swept the bay Saturday,
according to captain, who has for
forty years sailed on the Chesapeake,
was the worst he eyer experienced.
In New York the wind travelled al
the rate of sixty miles an hour and six
inches of snow fell, paralyzing passen-
ger traffic, blocking: the railroads and
causing great suffering. Many persons
were frostbitten and a number of &C
cidents were reported, The waters
around New York were ice bound, and
q great foe formed south of the Bat
terry. Accidents were innumerable,
ships were held fast for hours, and
others were swept away on the tides.
The New England coast was swept
by tremendous water rise. In some
places no such rise has been known in
forty years. Numerous bridges were
made unsafe and the water fronts Of
many cities were flooded. The Pres-
dents catboat Ruth was injured.
On the lakes the storm was also very
severe and caused many wrecks.
Reports from the West and indeed
from all the country tell CT the dam
age and suffering caused by the storm
and of the interruption to railroad
travel.
The main lines of railroad are grad.
ually getting cleared for traffic, but
the feeders and many of the smaller
lines in the mountain districts and the
valleys are still blocked with snow, and
all the trains that were caught in the
drifts during the blizzard have not yet
been dug out. All the bays and har-
bors on the Atlantic coast, from Cape
Henry north, are ice-bound, and navi-
cation is still impeded.
Teams and heavily. laden trucks are
crossing the Ohio river at Wheeling,
w. Va.
The Rhine and the Main rivers, in
Germany, are frozen over. Railroad
trafficis suspended in many parts of the
coubtry because of the snow. In AL
SAGE wolves driven from the forests by
hunger are terrorizing the villagers.
A terrific storm prevailed in ireland
Saturday aud Sunday. In places snow
&c throa foot daan nm the laval and If !,