Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1908-02-19
EMPERATURE GOES DOWN SLOW
Business Almost Paralyzed, Stores and
Offices Closing Early Last Evening.
STREET CARS RUN ALL NIGHT
For Once the "0wl Car" Was Heard
on Every Line Fighting Drifts.
DRIFTS VALUABLE TO NEBRASKA
Grain Dealers say the Moisture Was
Needed on the Fields and VIII
he Worth More Than
eIO.OOO.OOO.

FAVtuOVtUVUs
Forecast, Fair and warmer wednesday.
Temperature in Omaha during day,
Tuesday, averaged 9li at . p. m. IS.
Greatest depth OF snow for twsnty-four
hours in twenty years, being almost 10
inches on tho level
Street Railway company kept Hweepers
ana some cars running all night at great
cost, TO keep lines open.
Storm general from Missouri river u
Rocky mountains and kansas City to thS
BLACK Kills, being worse in Missouri val
ley, central over Kansas City.
It began growing colder early last even
ing and the wind increased in velocity
blowing the thirteen inches Of snow which
covers all eastern Nebraska into deeper
drifts and making traffic in the city al
most an impossibility. Snow continued to
fall, but It was hard to tell whether 1t was
falling from above or blown from the
earth.
only by the hardest and most constant
work was the street railway company en-
abled to keep the lines open, and an order
was given to run the cars all night on all
lines which were exposed. and the seven
sweepers have worked constantly. The
line to Dundee was not opened and those
The crowds were carried to their homes
last evening with little difficulty. Many
places Of business closed early to enable
the employees to- get home, This was true
of offices and department stores. A train
of Union Pacific cars was taken to the
Union stock yards by a switch engine to
bring packing house employees up from
South Omaha.
But Omaha enjoyed the struggle with
the drifts as 1t was passed around that
the snow was worth slo,OOO.OOO to Nebraska,
the grain men declaring that the fields
needed every inch OF the snow with which
they are uniformly covered.
storm QuIets the City.
In the city there is little doubt but what
the storm has caused big loss and neces-
STATED a great expense Business was at
a standstil Tuesday. Streets were de-
serted early In the evening. Theaters were
almost empty Guests at hotels were en-
tertained, by orchestras and did not go
out. Trains were late, both In arriving
and departing. An interloclSing switch on
the Burlington line south of Codncil Bluffs
held a train from Kansas City for two
hours because It was out of order. The
Northwestern train from St. Paul, due at
S45, arrived at 5:15. and It passed the morn
ing train to Sioux City at Mondamin, about
half way through.
With all the inconvenences of the storm.
little or no suffering has been reported to
the police because OF the unusual tempera-
ture which has accompanied the storm. At
o'clock it was but four or five degrees
colder than during the day. People just
began to smoke like they were afire
within. The police station gave shelter to
seceral score of those who have been in
the habit OF seeking place OF copper
bottom" in outbuildings and boxes. No
accidents were reported.
! Starting at o'clock Monday night with
the temperature at 80 degrees above zero,
the snow was almost rain, but 1t grew a
few degrees colder and the wind increased
in velocity.
| By the time the cars were due to
stop Monday night the snow was
being picked up by the wind and
driven across the city in an earth
scrapin8 cloud. An order went out from
the general manager of the street railway
company to keep the cars running all
night and seven sweepers we're pressed into
service to clean the 100 miles of track.
! But cars running two and three in
string were stopped and 1t was impossible
to keep all the lines open. The sweepers
struggled through but 1t was a big Job
they had ahead of them, each being re-
quired to keep open more than eighteen
miles of track
Depth of the snow.
Twenty-four hours after the snow began
| to fall the weather bureau reported more
than eight inches on the leyel and all
| records were broken for a twenty-four
hour snowfall. BY noon about nine inches
had faller and a foot by o'clock In the
| afternoon. This drifted in banks at inter-
sections and in low places, along sidewalks
and wherever the drift had an opportunity
to lodge. some of the drifts reaching a
depth of several feet.
But there was no suffering Tuesday Only
the fact the mercury was scarcely below the
freezing point prevented extreme misery.
Those who have fought snow storms in
years gone by declared that a drop Of 10
to 20 degrees would have caused a loss too
great to estimate and made traffic i'm
possible. The mild temperature prevented
a complete realization OF the meaning of
the dreaded infinitive Of the west ito bliz-
zard."
Thousands of people walked to the city
and experienced little more discomfort than
wet feet. They plunged out into the warm
but swirlling drifts which went over them
like whelming water. But the walkers took
1t good naturedly.
Work for Everybody.
Hundreds of Idle men secured work Of
the city or street railway company, show
cling the drifts, and indications were that
the gangs would handle the snow several
times before the cars and teams could get
through. The street sweepers and snow
plows did their best. but the street railway
company sent gang OF men with shovels
to every terminal to start over the lines
and clear the drifts away which resisted
the efforts of sweepers.
The Ames avenue, South Omaha, Bellevue
and Dundee Vines were blockaded An
army Of workers walked from points as far
north as Ames avenue and no cars ran
between 7:i5 and 9:l5 O'Clock North
Twenty-fourth street lines we're also tied
up and hundreds walked from points north
OF Bnney street The lines on Sixteenth
were kept open between Cunning and Leav-
enworth street during the early hours. but
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