St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1898-02-04
tuesdays STORn.

New England Visited by the worst o'o'" ",
Ten Years Trains Stalled Wires Down ana
Much Damage Done on the Coast St Johns-
urry Fares Well Except that 1t had no man
Tuesday and no Geographic Communication
with Boston.
On March ~, 1888, New England ana
New York vas visited by the heaviest
snow storm Tor many years, over TWO
feet falling in many places. The storm
which ended last Tuesday morning WAS
more severe than the blizzard OF 1888
though less snow fill. About 10 inches
fell throughout southern New England
and through many parts OF New Hamp'
shire and Vermont. Boston Jared worse
than any other place. Here ALI telegraph
and telephone wires were down, street
car traffic was stopped and little ousi'
ness was done Tuesday in many places.
The railroads Jared the worst and I'M
fortunately the Boston & Name had the
hardest time OF any New England road.
Business was almost at standstill on
this great system and on Monday night
800 persons waited all night long in the
Union station for the suburban trans.
Not n train left Boston that night
and the first through train from Concord
arrived late in the day and consisted OF
four cars drawn BY four engines. lttook
this train eight hours to get from Con-
cord to Boston, distance OF about 6o
miles. Nearly every railroad in New
England cancelled all freight trains and
attended strictly to moving passenger
trains. The Fi,chburg road was badly
driflcd and neither this road or he Bos-
ton & Maine brought any mail into Bos'
ton Tuesday.
The center Of the storm was around
New Bedford, but the brunt OF 1t struck
Boston and the cities adj Icent. Shipping
in the harhor was damag d and 1t Will
roure weeks TO completely repair the
telegraph and telephone lines. Boston
was entirely cut off from telegraph and
cable communication for "a hours. The
Herald estimates that the storm cost
Boston over n million dollars, much oil
this being loss Of trade and railroad and
surface car traffic.
Along the Massachusetts coast the
storm was the worst since 1851. Over
20 ships were wrecked and the loss OF
life though not large is large enough.
A severe snow storm struck this sec
ton Monday night, accompanied with
sufficient wind to pile up uncomfortable
large drifts. but was not bad enough TO
cause any great difficulty in travelling
1t was miniature plhy'hing compared
with what was going on in Boston and
the southern part of New England.
Probably six inches of snow tell here
while IN Boston about 10 inches tell.
The railroad was badly handicapped.
Freight business was practically sus-
bende and some OF the passenger trains
Cancelled. Tuesday on the Passumpsic
division the night express due here at
215 ii. M arrived at IL 35 a. m, night
mail cue ut 3 IS a. m, arrived at ~
D m the morning mail was about hall
an hour late. the 10 As accommodation
up was cancelled. express from the north
due at 80 p. m. was seven hours late,
afternoon express up was canc' He'd, the
afternoon mail arrived with the night
mail, due Tuesday morning, al Q 10 p m,
and the six O'Clock accommodation was
on time. There WAS little trouble on the
Passumpsic division except near White
Rv,r Junction. Wednesday the roads
were more passable and trans were only
from an hour to three hours late.
East and west there was considerable
trouble. The mail rom Swanton was
eight hours late in and six hours lat,
out. There was no train from Portlanc
all day Tuesday.
No mail was received from the soutt
after the last mail Monday after
noon until 919 Tuesday evening
The mails were somewhat irregular
Wednesday but final big lot came in OF
the afternoon mail which reached her
about o'c ock, cleaning everything up