The San Francisco call., 1905-02-14
MERCURY CUDDLES UP At BOTTOM
OF EAST'S THERMONET TIERS.
OZONE
ADDS TO ZEST OF LIVING

CHICAGO, Feb. 13.-Not during. the
last six years has the equal of the
present cold weather been experienced
in the West and in many places no
such low temperatures have been re-
corded since the establishment of the
Weather Bureau.
The cold wave extends from Canada
to the Gulf of Mexico and from the
Rocky Mountains TO the Atlantic.
Freezing weather is reported all
through the South. In the North the
mercury has registered all the way
from zero to 45 degrees below, the lat
ter mark being scored at Richland
Center, Wis.
Trains everywhere from the West
and Northwest are from two to twelve
hours late and from the packing of the
snow in the cuts it is expected that IL
will be several days before the roads
are able to restore the schedule time
of trains. Many persons lost their
lives, the majority Of the fatalities be-
ing in the Southwest, where the dis
tanceS between houses and towns are
great.
The loss of cattle on the ranges will
be very heavy. w. E. Bolton, secre-
tary of the Oklahoma Livestock Asso-
citation, declared tonight that the live
stock losses in the present cold wealth
great blizzard Of 1886. He places the
number of cattle lost on the range in
Western Kansas, Western Oklahoma
and the Panhandle of Texas at $4,000.
Farther north, in Nebraska and the
Dakotas and Montana, the stockmen
are better prepared to shelter their
stock. Their cattle are being sheltered
from the cold and it is not expected
their losses will be anything nearly so
heavy as those on the ranges farther
to the south
Officially speaking this was the cold
est day in Chicago since February 8,
1899, when the mercury registered %
degrees below zero, which stands as
the record for cold weather in the local
Weather Bureau. In the opinion Of
pedestrians on the street and according
to the showing of unofficial thermome-
ters the Government thermometer was
anywhere from 4 to IL degrees too
warm. The official record was 19 de-
greeS below, while throughout the city
temperatures from 20 to % were COM
mon, while in some of the suburbs as
low as 80 below zero was touched. At
10 o'clock tonight the Weather Bu-
reau issued a statement TO the effect
that 1T was degrees below. while on
the street it was II below. All through
the day the bitter cold was intensified
by wind that blew from the north
west at rate of thirty miles an hour.
No deaths were reported in the city
proper, but the police were compelled
to care for numberlesS frostbites
throughout the day.
At the water cribs in lake Michigan
the workmen who are engaged in keep
ing the intakes clear of ice had a des-
perate time of 1t. The mercury was
80 below, and the men were compelled
to work in shifts of fifteen minutes, it
being impossible for them to endure
the cold wind for a long period at one
time
The severe cold has brought upon
the South a renewal of all the troubles
visited upon it by the recent storm Of
sleet which has demoralized railroad
traffic and almost destroyed telegraphic
communication in some parts of that
section. The cold spread with great
speed throughout the South, accom-
panied by heavy snowfalls in some
States.
Temperatures tonight in the prin-
cipal cities of the West and Northwest
were reported as follows: Cheyenne.
"a degrees above Zero Cleveland,
above; Denver, 80 above; Detroit.
below; Indianapolis. 10 below; Kan
sas City. Cincinnati and st. Louis.
below; Milwaukee, 8 below; New Or
leans, "a above; Omaha, 2 above.