The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-01-25
TODAY WILL BE THE WORST
OF THE PRESENT SPELL OF COLD.
1T IS BELIEVED BY
ORACLES.
Some Time During the Ensuing "a
Hours If 1t Keeps Its
Promises.


mitted that the mercury has fallen suf-
| f1ciently low within the past twenty
four hours for his individual satisfac-
ton, and when this concocter of bowling
blizzards and cold waves throws up his
hands, 1t should be a foregone conclu-
lon that the boring interrogation every
one feels in duty bound to PROFOUND
to every one else, whenever there is a
change in the weather, varying it in
summer only by the substitution Of
the one word hot" instead of "cold."
has been answered by a universal af-
firmative. 1t certainly was cold enough
for most people, and when the weather
mixer had thawed out his thermograph
clock on top of the Chamber of Com
merce building three or four times yes
terday, he simply muttered a string
of anathemas upon the cold wave
which is at present embracing the
Northwest left the clock to go to the
demnition bow-wows, and hurried to his
Gen. where he carefully nursed the
stove the remainder of the day.
Not being a Laplander or an Es-
quimau, it is not difficult to conceive
how the weather man might have done
something more to the frozen thermo-
graph than merely leaving it to it's
own sweet will, for yesterday was the
coolest day st. Paul has known for two
years, and manipulating a delicate in
strument on top of a building one
hundred feet high, while the mercury
STOOD at 70 degrees below zero and
the cold wind Whistled over the gravel
roof at sixteen miles an hour were
conditions which would have justified
almost any act Of rashness.
The cold wave in which the North
west generally is reveling at present
Is the natural sequel to the severe
snow storm which passed over this Sec
ION one week ago. It's origin is a lit
Tie nearer the North pole than Tinut
Peary succeeded in getting. but when II
was flrst detected by the United States
weather bureau it had swooped down
upon the Northwest Canadian territory
and has since been spreading its area
southWard until it is general through-
out the United States. The local bu-
reau has had no official information
from the Southern states, but the con-
oluons point to probable zero weather
as far south as Texas Throughout
tne Northwest there is but one
point where the cold has been less
severe than at st. Paul At La Crosse,
Wis, to the south, the thermometer
registered % degrees below zero
and at Port Arthur, Canada, to the
north, the mercury has fallen to
the same point reached here. 25 de-
grees below. At all other Northern
stations the weather is much colder
that it is locally, the thermometer reg
1sterlng from 80 to 48 below zero.
The coldest point is at Medicine Hat.
Canada, where the observations showed
ES degrees below at Z o'clock yester-
day morning. The coldest stations In
a Unit 1n6 TO
and WilIiston, N. D., where in both
places the mercury stood at 80 de-
grees below zero nearly twelve hours.
The coldest point in Minnesota was at
Duluth, where it was % below
The fact that it has been more or
less cold in st. Paul for nearly a week
and so excessively SO during the past
twenty-four hours would lead to tbe
belief that the worst Of the cold wave
was over, but such. according to the
weather bureau, is not the case and
the conditions Of yesterday and the
night before will prevail today and
possibly until tomorrow The excep-
tiUnally high barometer which has pre-
vailed throughout the area Of the cold
wave has verified its predictions by the
wind Of great velocity which has ac,
companied the cold. The atmosphere is
dry, but the prevalence of high winds
makes the conditions doubly severe.
To the North they are raging at the
rate Of forty miles an hour, but in
st. Paul the velocity is about four
teen miles. The center of the cold wave
yesterday was at Medicine Hat 600
miles north of st. Paul, and it was
moving sOuthWard at a rate which will
probably encompass this vicinity to-
day.
one stirred out Of doors except under
the impetus Of dire necessity. Only al
o'clock in the morning did the suns
rays coax the mercury from the
p below mark, and not all the CO.
quetry Of the bright beams could raise
the bulb higher than Is below, where il
hesitated for brief time about
o'clock in the afternoon, and then be-
gan slowly creeping back to its start
ing point. The streets of the city
were practically deserted all day, ex.
| cept for the presence of policemen and
frost-covered hack horses, while the at
| tendance at the different churches
was for the most part confined to the
! pastors, the members of the choir
and the organists. In the evening the
theaters felt the effects Of Boreas'
chilly breath, and while the sidewalks
and rain barrels outside conformed to
| natures law and sWelled and crack
J ed, the box office receipts offered the
! exception which proved the rule by
| showing a considerable shrinkage.
The combined conditions of excessive
cold and the high winds are playing
| havoc with railroad traffic, particu-
larly with the transcontinental lines.
whose trains are blockaded indefinite
| ly throughout the territory traversed.
! The recent snow fall was Of a light, dry
nature, and the prairie winds have
| drifted it over the tracks to a depth
which almost defies the efforts of the
huge snow plows which have been
"bucking' the beautiful for several
days, in hopes of opening UP the lines.
The Northern Pacific appears to be the
most seriously handicapped and none
! of its coast trains have reached the
city for several days. One train on
this road, due last evening at 5:55 is
reported indefinitely delayed, and the
place of blockade is not locally known,
The Great Northern train from the
coast due at GAS last evening was two
hours Late and did not arrive until
nearly o'clock. All roads entering ST.
| Paul are more or less affected by the
| prevailing conditions, but none are
| confronted with so serious difficulties
as the transcontinental lines.
Physical suffering is said to also be
| prevalent to some extent throughou,
the district covered by the cold wave.
| and in st. Paul the number of homeless
| wanderers who seek the tramp
| room at the central station IS nightly
increasing. Several men applied for