Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1900-01-30
ICE THREATENED.
But the Cold Wave Prevented a
Serious Fresfet.
FIVE Inches oil Snow ard iWo OF Rain.
Sunday Night and Monday.

GNplt9Sant t.i4tlt5tS look hfitt IN lllt
weather fro!l SUNDAY until Monday
night. It is these 'hang,s that is caus-
ing the colds that exist. to a great de-
gree. 1t is also causing all the wear
ana tar 10 the patience Of the people.
II began u SNOW. Sunday night. abou;
10 O'Clock. ana until ! O'Clock. Monday
n, Drning. it showed hard. 50 that four
or iiV,. inches IF splendid. heavy SNOW
fell promising The best Of sieighing.
coming as it did on the already excel
lent roads.
There was Il change in store. how
ever. for at the houE mentioned the
snow turned to rain AID until after the
noon hour. Monday. it rlined as hard
az it was possible. The streets were
transformed into rivers of slush. and
every ditch was a torrent
When il was time for the people to
20 to their work Monday morning. a
most terrible condition existed. and
from that time until noon it continued.
The several inches If snow speedily
became saturated in He rain. and this
over the ice On the sidewalks, made a
substance th1t nothing but rubber
boots could hop" t. hold in check from
" ttinE the feet. And as for standing
UP. il was almost impossible.
The sand that had been placed on
The icy walks availed nothing. II seem
Cd to have disappeared. The sidewalks
were fearful things to contemplate. To
the man or woman With a hill to de
scand il was 4 task that seemed end
less To climb them was even worse.
1t was bad enough to wade through tn
-, ~, IN t-ASn nna'S
balance lille doing il. but as for try
ing to 80 down steep hill with the
sidewalk coated. it was terrible. Wet
feet were secured by all who did not
wear the high boots. and many cold
VIII doubtless be the consequence.
gymnastics Of every sort were seen in
the endeavorS to retain the upright p"-
si,ion. 1t was even worse than Friday.
fer on that day the ice was dry rms
ice vas wetandit felt rs greasy as : 1T
soap under the feet. The streets offer
ed u very unpyomsing aspect to cross.
Few people We're out but thos" for
whom il was an absolute necessity.
In thn meantime. what was the rain
doing for the river? 1t was playing
havoc with the ice and that was a Ger
tainty The local office Of the large ire
companies doing operations on thH
Kenneboc felt the nervousness caused
bv the rain and they tried to get the
office down the river to ascertain the
condition. The telephones. however.
were not working well. but i was
tbourht nothing serious would happen.
The irr had reached n thickness OF be-
tween 9 and II inches and it would re-
nlire quite a rain. they believed, T.
carry il out.
THE river Kept rising all the day. 1t
was said. at one time in til" afternoon.
The river above tho dam had gone NJ
about / foot since : o'clock in the
morning. ana the water was pouring III
Volumes over the dam. The ice in the
river opposite Water street looked De
ci,le,uv bad. for the shores had broken
M - there was 10 or more feet OF
s,.ice where there was apparent l
" nothing but water. could be seen
TN. ill.,. was covered with the slush ana
1 water as the ground was
! Snnu after the cold wave began t.
i fiji " 4 certain extent ana the rain
turned w \ light Snow ana then ceased.
TN. water at once disappeared from
he. street except where there was 4
basin nr some ~,rt. hut the sidewalks
( drained themselves very quickly AM
ttrlvel could be resumed with fair DE-
gree IF safety by mii-dfternopn.
This. ~ the iccmrn ana the mlilmrn
u s..id. prevented the serious results that
might have followed fnr thr rlNrr
= min f,r another l. hours as hard as II
r:,in.d for eight would have resulted
h seriously. They said tn" river would
douhtItss rise. during the night. quite
! lttIr az 4 matter Of course. but the
ana weather has checked any pnssibil-
4 ily Of a freshet-
J The slciGhinC was not injured by IN
snow ana rain in the way of removing
any Of the ice that WAS on the ground
hut it has made the streets least tray
ellod very rough until the travel is
enough t. break it down. The rain did
r,ore toward keeping up the water sup
n,v and the cold weather arriving a
/; did. kept the prospects of the lcemer
fron, being blasted. At the same time
possibly the sudden changes made tn
business brisker for the physicians
and the dealers in rubber boots anc
creepcrs.