The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1897-02-04
ITS THE BIGGEST SNOW
Dense Heavy Wet Snow All
Over Kansas
Delays Streetcars, But Railroad
Trains Are on Time.
Good Sleighing Today ana Fair
Weather Promised for Tomorrow.

This is a tale of the night, and the
beautiful snow that fell in the night.
the snow that packed house tops and
covered the ground, that hung to the
trees and lay all around, and even chung
to the state house dome like a glass of
beer all covered with foam.
Oh, the snow, the beautiful snow a
foot deep wherever you wanted to go.
Some cleaned it with shovels, some with
a hoe, piled it up in the cutters a faith
ON or So
For it showed all night in Kansas,
and this morning the state was one vast
field of white. From a depth of two
inches at the eastern border, it in
creased toward the west, and at the
Colorado line six inches of frozen mois-
ture fell
To railroad traffic the snow proved
harmless, as it was accompanied by but
little wind, and even had the wind been
strong, its weight would have prevent
ed drifting, but to street railway travel
it was an effective barrier In this city
it was nearly o'clock this afternoon
before all lines of the Topeka railway
were open and cars running on sched-
ule time.
But this wasn't bad considering the
fact that on a quiet summer day. in
private car on a pleasure trip, it would
take almost four hours to complete a
ming as fast as allowed by the city law.
So when 80 miles of heavy snow, ready
to pack at the slightest opportunity,
had to be cleared away, eight hours
was not an unreasonable length of
time.
At 6 o'clock this morning all the cars
in service daily on the electric line,
three snow plOwS and score of sand
cars were started from the station to
accomplish the work of clearing the
tracks and giving the people of Topeka
an opportunity to soliloquize on the
pleasures of winter while riding in
comfortable cars rather than while
Laundering along through the wet
snow. The Kansas avenue lines were
the first to be attacked, and by about
8 o'clock the rails were once more in
sight. The snow plOwS and sand cars
We're then turned loose on the other
lines and the work of clearing the
tracks pushed as rapidly as possible.
But the snow plows do not deserve all
the credit of cleaning the tracks. If un
that night would fall on miles of rail that
had never seen the light today. The
made it easy to '' pack. and as the plows
progressed each block, it was necessary to
shovel the snow from the sides Of the
stopped to watch this interesting work.
AS snow is always preferable TO rain at
this season of the year, the people of
Kansas may be thankful to the tempera-
ture for crossing the freezing line
From u o'clock yesterday at noon up to
o'clock this morning. the mercury So
journed at the thirtieth mark, just two
degrees below the freezing point Three
degrees higher and a cold. penetrating.
drizzling rain would have fallen instead
of the not all together disagreeable snow.
At least this. is what Weather Observer
Jennings says, and it is pretty safe to be-
lieve that he KNOWS what he is talking
AS early as o'clock this morning
sleigh bells were ringing in the streets,
and during the day people have taken adj
vantage of the snow on the paved streets
for sleighing. On account of the under
lying water the snow is melting fast, and
unless considerable snow continues to fan
this evening and the temperature drops
considerably, there will be but little snow
left by tomorrow. However, colder wealth.
er with snow tonight is the prediction
sent out today by the weather bureau,
and while these predictions are not al
Last nights fall of snow was the heav-
lest of this winter in Topeka During the
blizzard two weeks ago, the snow in
places gained a much greater depth, but
this was account of drifting. Only
about inches fell at that time, while
this morning the snow was fully inches
deep.
On none of the railroad lines in the
state has the snow interfered with traffic.
On all divisions of the Santa Fe and
Rock Island snow plows are out clearing
the tracks today. and all passenger trains
are enabled to run on time. Only drift
ing snow that fills the cuts to a depth of
several feet materially affects railroad
traffic.
Tomorrow the weather will be fair.