The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-03-28
MARCH BROUGHT ITS STORM
THE LION ROARS AND THE
WIND BLOWS

A Genuine New York Blizzard
Makes Life Out of Doors Almost
UnbearabIe-Street Car Traffic
Interfeerd With and Railroad
Lt1es Have to Protect Themselves.
The inevitable March blizzard de-
scended upon the city yesterday, and
for nearly eighteen hours ran it's riot
Gus course, during which period the
weather Affections of every season
were Showered upon a long-suffering
public.
Realizing, perhaps, that his tenure
for this year is well nigh at an end,
so far as billiards are concerned, the
weather mixer gave his atmoSpherical
mortar a fiendish shaking up, with in
structions to the elements to do their
worst. The result, as experienced by
those who We're forced out of doors,
was conglomeration of the most
disagreeable weather of the season.
During the morning hours the gentle
spring rain battered about the streets,
casting gloom over the spirit of many
an enthusiastic cyclist who had plan
ned the first run of the season, and by
noon the precipitation had changed
into a pelting hail storm, to later in
the day assume the more eXaSperating
eccentricity of a whirling, bowling biz
zard, with wind twenty-fouf miles an
hour blowing about densely falling
snowfiakeS as large as the plaidS in an
Easter gown. From 8 o'clock in the
afternoon the snow fell in such a
quantity that within a few hours every
kind of traffic was seriously impeded,
and the streets almost destitute of pc
6aSfrionS no all
was whirled into the air again by the
strong wind and driven in fierce fun
ries in every direction, piling up in
doorways and forming heavy drifts
through the streets.
The effect on the street cars was
early disastrous. In the down town
district the motors made slow progress
through the drifts on slippery rails, and
the outlying lines were more or less
blockaded, though traffic was at no
time wholly suspended. The snow piled
up fast in the cuts along the Interurban
line, delaying the Twin City travel and
throwing most Of the cars off of
scheduled time. To correct this i'm
pediment the cars were switched at the
WabaSha and Eighth street intersection
of the loop in this city and dispatched
back to Minneapolis before completing
the trip.
The switching expedient was resorted
to with the cars of other delayed lines,
and the cars kept as nearly on schedule
time as possible, but the Hamline,
Mississippi street, Fort Smelling and
Grand avenue cars met with much diff
flculty, despite the fact that all Of the
snow plows were continuously in use.
making alternate trips over the most
seriously affected routes.
The fierceness of the storm during the
early evening hours was responsible for
@ general light attendance at churches
and the theaters Those who braved
the storm regretted their temerity
when starting for home, as walking
was almost impossible, and the waits
for cars in the binding snow were de-
cidedly uncomfortable, as the wind had
risen and the cold become more severe.
With snow plows and shovelers at
work over the entire SYSTEM however,
the street car company succeeded in
keeping all OF it's lines open until travel
had ceased at the usual hour.
According to the reports of the
weather bureau, the storm was at It's
worst in the Northwest in st. Paul
but, as no report was received last
evening from Southern and Eastern
stations, the extent of the blizzard in
these directions is not known, though