Omaha daily bee., 1903-04-30
limbs Of Trees Broken by 'She Weight Of
Zoe Which Acoumulstss
iUlT SUPPOSED TO Be BADLY DAMAGED
Entire State is Covered by Storm, as Well as
Iowa and Dakota.
GRAIN BENEFITED BY THE MOISTURE
Garden Truck Damaged and In Many
Instances the First Planting
il Ruined by the
Freeze.

II the Queen OF the May intends coming
to Nebraska on schedule time she had best
get into her winter underwear before she
starts. The state, like South Dakota and
western Iowa, is experiencing such weather
as has not been known at so late a date In
sixteen years. and II the fruit crop Is not
ruined and the vegetable crop practically
so, there will be more cause for rejoicing
than now seems probable. A storm that be-
gan with pleasant showers early Tuesday
became cold, heavy rain Tuesday night
and yesterday advanced to sleet and. in
some places, to snow. Telegraph and tel
ephone wires are down in many places,
fruit trees are bent with a mighty burden
Of ice, vegetation has been nipped and the
man with the light spring suit given a
cold that will last him many days. Train
service has not been particularly disturbed,
but the Omaha Street Railway company's
open cars, intended for summer wear only,
were caught on the tracks and given
coating of snow In less than an hour last
night between $3.50 and $50, the flakes be-
ing large, plentiful and blown by a lusty
wind.
sIeet is Worst.
Most of the time yesterday It was the
sleet that was bothering worst In the
northern and western part of this state
and giving the Dakotas such particular
chastisement The mercury stood at or
near the freezing point, 80 the wires Of
the conversation carriers and the limbs
of the trees all served as foundations for
small banks OF sleet, frozen just hard
enough to stick where II struck. Nursery
men cay that the extent OF the damage
to tree fruit depends largely on how the
thaw is accomplished. II too sudden and
extreme, the injury will be greater than
If the change comes moderately and the
limbs are allowed to warm by degrees.
| In Omaha the precipitation for yesterday
was .05 inch, melted but for the entire
storm 1t was 1876 at o'clock last night.
At the government forecasting ONCE the
announcement was made that over the state
| the precipitation had been considerably
heavier at several points than it was In
Omaha. -s,
The telephone company sent considerable
material yesterday afternoon to the neigh
1 borhood of Bancroft, Lyons and Pender.
where there has been particular damage,
and today will have many gangs. busy at
various points over the state. In some
places there are stretches OF two miles
where every pole is down and the wires
buried under sleet.
Telephone Lines Down.
A. G. storrs. superintendent of exchange
construction for the Nebraska Telephone
company, said at 10 o'clock last night:
"Our reports show that the storm has been
very tad through the western part of this
state. Our lines are in bad shape west OF
Crete following the main line Of the Bur-
lington; west of Seward along the Black
Hills line; west OF North Bend on the
Union Pacific; north of Scribner ON the
Fremont, Elkhorn & Missouri Valley, and
north OF Oakland along the Minneapolis &
Omaha. Poles are out in some places for
more than a mile at a stretch and the
condition is worse than we at FIRST real
lied. Seward reported late this Afternoon
that It was still sleeting there and appar-
emily growing worse
What has happened to the fruit may be
conjectured from the reports given las
night by the weather bureau representa-
tives over the country The table shows
the state of weather. the degree of tenn
perature at o'clock last evening and tn,
days total of precipitation at various points
to have been: