The herald., 1896-12-01
SNOWPLOWS WERE USELESS
Blizzard Fighters Resorted to
Dynamite
TRAINS RESUME RUNNING
And Most Northwestern People Are Still
Alive
Loss of Life Has Been Small, But the
Suffering Great and Is Not
Yet Ended.
Pros. sn.c,a, wire

yet been hearQ from the remote olStrlctS
beyond the reach of the telegraph and it
may b another week before 1t can be
positively stated that there has not been
more serious loss Of life.
The streets Of the snowbound Dakota
towns are being cleared as rapidly as
possible. The extremely cold weather
has frozen the snow until the immense
drifts have reached proportions Of gi-
gantic icebargs: Dynamite is being used
to blast these out Of the way. ordinary
picks and shovels being unable to make
any impression on them. Stock on the
ranges has undoubtedly suffered heavily
and a fuel famine Is threatened in many
Of the smaller towns in the Dakotas.
This is by no means trivial matter
where the mercury Is ranging from 10
to 8 0degrees below zero.
The railroads are beginning to get
their trains running again. The Great
Northern got its first train into st. Paul
from the snowbound district this morn
ing and the Northern Pacific reports
that its line is now open from Portland
to ST. Paul Delayed westbound trans
continental trains on this road. which
were being held at Tower City and Far
go, left those points at o'clock this even
ing and the eastbound trains held at
Mandan are moving and will be due
here tomorrow. The Northern Pacific
officials do not anticipate any further
trouble and expect to have trains run
ming on schedule time.
The Great Northern road has opened
up its line to the coast and while trains
are not by any means running as usual.
they are getting through. The Northern
Pacific expected to have its road open
ed today and a train from the coast
will arrive in St. Paul tomorrow.
A train from Devils Lake arrived on
the Great Northern road at o'clock
this morning and one from Seattle on
the same line, reached here at o'clock
this morning. Other trains are on the
way and will arrive several hours late.
Northern Pacific officials say that the
road is having a hard fight with the ele-
ments. For several days 1t was imprac-
ticable to do anything toward clearing
the track before a continued fall of
snow and strong wind kept up the drift
ing. hTe wind has not abated entirely,
but the rotaries have been steadily at
work for three days. 1t has been neces-
sary to use axes and picks to remove
the ice and sand accumulated in the
cuts. This made the work progress slow
ly. The track is now clear Of the worst
distractions and the snow plows can
be used with good effect 1t is claimed
that tomorrow will see trains running
through to the coast although they will
no follow the schedule for day or two
Trains on all transcontinental lines are
now accepting passengers and freight
for through business.
GOOD TRAFFIC SERVICE
OMAHA, Neb., Nov. 30.-Some de-
tails of the great storm that has envel-
oped Nebraska for six days were re-
| ceived today. Much stock has perished
on the extreme western range, where
there are few ravines which afforded
shelter to the animals. The aggregate
is not so large as anticipated, however,
| and though the zero weather continues,
it is bright and the snow is rapidly dis
appearing.
| A peculiar feature of the great storm
is the efficient manner in which delay
has been avoided by railroads center
| ing here. Though great quantities of
| snow fell between Omaha and the noun
| tains, the service was uninterrupted.
| The Union Pacifics overland limited was
| not delayed at any point between here
| and San Francisco. The officials are con-
| fident they have solved the problem of
handling fast trains regardless of heavy
1rbioh tn former finooC inn n66 od
| traffic.
AN ICE GORGE
| CHIPPEWA FALLS, Wis, Nov. 3d.
An ice gorge has formed In the Chippewa
river near the Dalles and the water is
backing steadily into town. From a
| height of ten feet it rose to fifteen and a
half in two hours today. Residents of
the lower portions of the city are moving
stock and household effects to projected
grounds. Grea excitement prevails. The
| thermometer registers five degrees be-
| low zero.
| Tonight farms and farm buildings
along six miles of the Chippewa valley
| are under water. flood Is being added
| to hourly at the rate of six inches and
before morning. unless the gorge breaks,
| this city will be partly under water. At
o'clock tonight easements - all build
| ings on Spring street are flooded and in
some instances the lower floors are COW
cred. The people occupying business
houses in the lower part of the city are
hastily removing their personal effects
to higher ground. In 1894 similar Hood
| occurred, causing loss of many thou
sands of dollars. a great deal of rail-
road property is threatened and many
highway and railway gridges will prob
| ably be swept away.
| A NEW DANGER
| PEPIN. Wis, Nov. 30.-The flood in
| the Chippewa bottoms is increasing in
| fury.
The Chicago, Milwaukee and Chippewa
Valley road is badly washed out and is
covered with trees, logs and ice gorges
for miles. There will be no trafiic for q
week or ten days.