Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1912-01-09
PORTLAND IN GRASP OF STORM.
,o.,,tr,,aA frou, Page IL


dav morning and lasted until about
o'clock in the afternoon added much to
the destruction, especially on the East
side The street car service over all
the city was tied up anG many more
telepbope lines went out Of service.
Large numbers OF trees which had
stood the strain Of ice since Saturday
aaye way under the additional burden
of snow, and last night most all the
streets we're more thickly strewn with
branches than they were Sunday.
The storm had progressed less than
an hour when street car service was
shattered. In two hours hardly car
was in operation, and on many lines it
was not completely recovered at any
lime during the rest OF the day. Snow
plows we're brought into service on
many of the lines to extend car opera
ton to the terminals. On others no
cars reached the outer terminals after
noon.
Sleet Hampers Cars.
In some of the East Side sections
and on the interurban lines trouble
was experienced with sleet which be-
came ice as it fell. The sleet wheels
used to break the ice off the trolley
wires were pressed into service be-
fore the cars could operate.
On Broadway and East Alder street
and in the Irvington district the snow
damage was most serious The fall
there seemed to be largely sleet, and
It tore down more trees and shrub
berry.
Efforts were made yesterday to clear
the debris from some of the streets,
but, owing to the tangle of wires and
branches all stuck together with the
ice, little headway was made, and work
was given up until the frozen mass is
thawed out The telephone and cleo
trio light crews were out all day trying
to revive service, but their efforts met
with but little success.
East Side in Darkness.
Nearly all the East Side was in dark
ness all last night, the current being
turned into the lines which were safe
but not into the districts where tele-
phone wires were tangled with the
light wires. Arc lights were on in a
portion Of the district, about One-third
Of the arc circuit being in operation
The others could have been turned on
except for the danger to telephone
wires. BY noon yesterday the Port
land Railway, Light & Power company
restored all its high tension lines be-
tween this city and the power plants
at Estacada and Cazadera, and had
plenty of current to supply the city.
Promises were made by light off
Cials that the lighting troubles would
lie eliminated today, unless more diff
ficulty is encountered. Except fer
houses not having supply wires from
the POLES there will be no interior.
ence with this service.
The telephone companies will lose
more heavily by the thaw" than was
at first reported. Careful checking of
the damage yesterday showed tha.
more than 5000 telephones are out OF
commission, and more than so miles of
wires were dangling on the streets. In
the toll districts the damage also is
heavy With the exception of three
long distance lines recovered yester-
day by the Pacific company, the toll
service is still PROSTATE.
Park Damage Great.
Damage to the trees and shrubbery
in the City Park will be great. Ex-
animation of conditions yesterday
showed that, besides the vast damage
from broken trees and bushes, hun
dreds of beautiful decorative plants
have been killed
Besides the thousands of trees killed
throughout the city by being uprooted
or snapped off at the trunks, probably
thousands of young trees will die after
the ice crust is thawed off because of
the strain on the trunk. In many
cases the tops of the trees touch the
ground and the trunks are bent into
semicircles.
Damage to rose bushes will be more
serious than at first reported. Owing
to the brittleness of the main stalks
of many varieties of bushes they broke
easily under the strain. Damage in
this line was materially increased yes
terday.
Damage Shuts Off Water.
The "thaw" deprived several hun
dred families in the southeastern part
of the city of water from Saturday
noon to yesterday afternoon about 3
O'Clock by destroying the electric line
leading to the Fleck systems pumps in
the Woodstock district, The pumps
could not be operated, and the resi-
dents drank snow water.
Still other residents were deprived
of water yesterday by frozen pines
small supply lines which in some of
the outside residence districts were |
not covered froze tight Monday morn |
ing and cut off the supply of water in
number of homes until the water
department came to the rescue, and
tlAWpd Nut tho ,,;,.a