Missouri Valley times. [volume] (Missouri Valley, Iowa) 1874-1931, 1899-02-23
A Letter From Jesse Newton.
WASHINGTON, d. c.,
Feb 18th, 1899.

req l2th, 1879.
MIR. r. III. HARRIS,
Mo. Valley, Iowa.
Dear Sir and friend
If no other subject is available, the
wa!'IMr Will come in for general dis
c,ss;on. SO let me sey right here thut
'i.a oldes. lhabitant OF Washington
has plenty nf data to work out for
s me days TO Come. This city is spok-
on of az u city of q sunny cline. Some
ti.oes it has sunny cline, at present
it is any thing but that. The first fall
OF thu "beautiful SNOW" was grand and
inspiring. 1t covered everything to
!,e depth of four inches, and clothed
uu. city in robe of white. The most
beautiful Of all was our parks; in fact,
they we're one of the finest winter sights
ever saw anywhere. The evergreen
trees and others were covered with
snow and ice that sparkled like dia-
monds; it reminded one of Christmas
tiyne and the Christmas tree, only in
place of one tree, there we're fifteen or
twenty, all decorated and shining IN
their robes of pure white.
1t has showed here six or seven
times until now we have II inches of
snow, and s+i.l more coming; as I am
writing THIS y is SHnMing hard /
hayn't emf used y Sl.-nh ride here vet
they are qHite a luxury, IS a SINGLE
horse and cutter ens;s 50 90 per hour;
TWO horses ant .lt's'. $1,000 per boar.
When fello%' ls paying l6:. yer MIN
ute for q cutter and 'aanf, he don't
want to cali for one cf the nHng ladies
who Gays, III will bs ready y. just one
minute" but Keeps him waiting fifteen
for in his case '.ime is faetlng," and
most precinus time it is, too.
The mercury has been doing some
moving on its own account. The low
est so far recorded, was IA degrees
below zero. For three mornings the
mercury was below the zero mark
During the day it would go as high as
l5 degrees above, then fall again at
night. 1t is said to be the coldest here
now since-I can't say just when, for
the Oldest inhabitants can't agree on
the exact date. Some say since 1881,
others say 1876, and still others have
different dates. You may take my
word for the fact that it has been
awful cold here, and from present in
dications, spring is far distant.
On the 11th inst. enjoyed skate
on the Potomac river. 1t is seldom
safe for one to venture on the river OH
the ice, but this year one can skate
from Washington to Alexandria, Va.
l went down as far as the long bridge,
but did not try to 60 farther as it was
near dinner time. One reason for
feeling the effect of heat and cold here
more than in the west, is because of SO
much humidity in the air. The sum-
mers are hot and sultry, but the win
ters, as q rule, are mild. This year is
an off year so I'm told: My opinion
is that it is decidedly off.
On the street car line they are run
ming snow sweepers and plows every
hour, and even with that assistance
the cars find it very difficult to run at
all. In some cases they have been rum
ming ''double headers" to keep the
tracks open for cars following. All
along the streets snow is piled up from
four to five feet high: along the curb
in places it will exceed six feet. On
the principal streets the snow has been
carted away, but some of the resident
streets are nearly lost in the deep
snow.
The coal dealers are havinS rich
harvest during this cold wave. Today,
(Snnday) the teams have been going
all day delivering coal to keep some
one from freezing.
So far, only one serious accident has
occurred to the merry coasters. A
party of eight young people, two la
dies and six gentlemen were cosstlng
on 3Oth street; at the junction of Both
and G streets their sled struck street
car, killing the steersman, and serious
ly injuring one lady and one gentle
man. The rest escaped with cuts and
bruises. do not Want to tire you
with the troubles Of this city, as / am
quite sure other cities have troubles of
their own. In conclusion l will say,
since Feb. 4th until today, Fob. 18th,
we hayc mad IL inches of snow, and
now at 4 p. m. it is showing hard with
with the prospect good for it to con
tinue Cor some time. With kind re.
CARDS to all, remain
Yours truly,
JESSE ID. NEWTON.
LATER Monday, a. m. A genu-
inc blizzard is raging here today. All
street cars are stopped, wind is blow
ing hard and the snow is drifting. All
business is greatly retarded, aud some
places have refused to take orders for
tderivery. All people in office had to
walk today, and the only place for peo-
pie on foot is the street car tracks.
To date we have had 241a inches of
snow and still the beautiful" contin-
ues to fall with increasing vigor.
Noon. The storm is still raging
fnriously, Any one who comes from