The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1911-05-04
IRAN, SLEET, SNOW
IN ALL DAY STORM
CAME ON SUNDAY
Damage to Cropsis Re-
ported as Being Slight.
LaidOut Telephones.
MERCURY GOT LOW
Temperature Dropped to "a
but Fruit is not Hurt to
Any Great Extent.

Not in a great many years ha
such severe rain and sleet storm Gov
cred this section as prevailed prac
tically all day Sunday. The freez
ing temperature for Saturday nigh
as predicted by the weather burea,
came and with it rain of yer,
good proportions. The temperature
did not commence to fall until sew
eral hours after midnight, and the
rain started in an hour or two later
Early Sunday morning the rai1
was falling with the thermometer
standing at 80 degrees, two degrees
below the freezing point. AS fast
as the rain fell it froze to everything
1t touched and before 10 O'Clock
the trees, the telephone wires an6
poles were covered with coating
of ice fully a quarter of an inch
thick, and while it made very pret.
ty sight it was having a bad effect
on the trees.
Great limbs cracked under the
weight of the ice, aided by the wind
which was blowing with some force
In all parts of the city limbs are
scattered over the sidewalk and on
the residence property, and they
made crashing sound when they
fell to the ground. The damage
done to the fruit trees is incalcula-
BILE. Most all of the trees were in
bloom, particularly the plums, the
trees being solid bloom. Cherries
were not quite so far advanced, but
the apple trees were little ahead
tof them. The buds and blooms were
coated with the ice in a very short
time after the rain commenced to
fall, and it would seem impossible
for them to recover any life after
being subjected to such unfavorable
conditions.
1t is believed that this storm will
create worse damage to the fruit
crop than the one which came on
April Is last year. At that time
there was no rain, but vast guam
tity of snow fell, and the atnos-
phere was much colder, yet in many
cases there was quite good deal OF
fruit saved. 1t seems to be about a
toss up whether the buds and bios
SONS will pull through, with the
chances against it.
The expectation that fruit would
be injured severely was not borne
out when the sun came out Mon.
morning. At. the noon hour with the
ice melted from the buds and bios
SONS it did not show that they were
damaged in the least. In fact the
ice which covered them seemed to
act as sort Of protection from
freezing. Should the weather re-
main mild tonight there will be lit
tie or no damage to the fruit.
Telephone Poles Down.
A vast amount Of damage was
done to the telephone and telegraph
systems in the city. On Seventh
street where the lead Of the long
distance telephones wires are strung
was scene of havoc in the entangl-
ed wire and the fallen poles.
Throughout the thoroughfare and
reaching into the country there are
many wires on that lead and when
the rain froze on them the weight
grew SO heavy that the poles were
snapped at the bottom and they
broke off, falling into the street and
impeding progress. Manager Reeves
sent out as large force of men as
possible to clear up the damage dur
ing the afternoon. When the poles
went down telephone communica-
ton with the outside was cut of
and there was no possible way in
which to ascertain how extensive the
storm was. In the city the dam
age to the wires was very great.
The weight of the frozen wires sag
ged them to such an extent that
that they finally broke, and in every
part of the city the wires are down.
As result about two thirds Of the
phones are out Of commission. Mr.
Reeves stated that every effort would
be made to restore the system as fast
as possible but that It would take
perhaps a week before entire COM
munication was restored.
The storm had the same bad ef.
feet on the telegraph wire, and dur
ing the entire day the Western Un'
ion was not able to send . message
out, nor were the railroad telegraph
omces any better OF, for their wire
were down and communication va.
cut OF. The trains leaving tho city
had to be run on the judgment ol
the train crews 40 to possible meet