Willmar tribune., 1909-02-03
STORM
WORST IN YEARS
Trains Are Seriously Delayed
and Telephone Lines Are
Severely Disabled.

grasp of the worst blizzard it has
experienced in years. The snow
began to fall about nine o'clock,
following the rain and sleet which
had come down during the day, and
within a comparatively short time
the wind stirred up a blizzard like
Minnesota used to have" away back
in the seventies. By Friday morn
ing the wind had attained velocity
of 40 miles an hour, driving the
snow in binding manner and pill
ing it up into formidable drifts,
and in the same time the thermom-
eter dropped from Is above to 10
below zero. Telephone and tele-
graph wires were blown down and
badly mixed in all directions, and
for about "a hours Willmar had no
connection with outside points.
The Western Union had a wire to
Raymond, but with this exception
its wires were dead until two
o'clock in the afternoon, when a
roundabout connection was effected
with st. Paul. At the office of the
Northwestern Telephone company
not a single one of the 10 toll lines
were in service, and up to the time
of going to press only three of
them were working. Of the ID
country lines all but three were dis
connected. Within six miles of
the town no less than 60 of the COM
pany's poles were blown over, and
in town there was also large num-
ber of poles down. Fifty phones
were reported out of order, and
they will not be in working order
again before the latter part of the
week, in spite of the fact that the
company has an extra crew of Is
men doing repair work. The Tri-
State long distance Jared better,
losing but few connections, and
maintaining it's thru service both
to Fargo and the twin cities. This
was largely due to the fact that its
poles and wires were almost new,
the lines being able to successfully
Withstand the fierce attack of the
gale.
The blizzard played havoc with
every train running into Willmar
No. II was an hour late; No. l:
came in at 2:30 and left at 5 p. m.
getting as far as Pennock, where il
stuck in snow drift all night. Il
was followed by Nos. 3 and 9, botf
of which had to wait until the
tracks were cleared the next morn
ing. The same thing happened tt
Saturday mornings No. 10, headed
by Friday mornings No. 4, which
was stuck in a snow pile near Kerk
hoven. Before they were able to ge
away they were joined by Satur
days No. 4, and accompanied b,
No. % they. all started from herr
on a grand promenade for tn,
cities. But it was even worse OF
the north and south lines. No. g.
came in from St. Cloud at p. m.
left at 6 with two engines and spen
the night at Raymond, being un
able to get any farther. No. 32
due at 2:13. got lost in the shuff1'
and could not be located on accoun
of the dead wires. Consequent.
there was no train for St. Clou,
Friday, and since on Saturday NJ
train was sent out in that direc
tion, most of the jury men had t,
spend the Day of Rest and Gladnes
here. As good fortune would hav'
it, most of the Telephone wires owe
} which train orders are now sent OF
this division were intact, and thi
meant a good deal in straightenin,
out the tangle in schedules result
ing from the storm.
Willmar itself looked like snow
bound Fairyland. The north sid
of every building. tree and tele
phone pole was covered with a thicI
coating of snow and sleet, an
} every corner held one or NOR
traffic-defying snow drifts. Every