The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1912-03-02
Railroads Put SnOwpIOws Into
Service.
STREET CARS IN TROUBLE
Men Work Like Beavers to
Clear Tracks.
Little Suffering as Temperature
Is Not Low.


gravated by a damp east wind that
is blowing at the rate of 20 miles an
hour. The precipitation began at an
extremely early hour this morning
and by o'clock the street railway
company was having difficulty in
maintaining schedules on the various
lines, although the sweepers and 9TH
er devices for keeping the tracks
clear were put into service.
At O'Clock this afternoon all traf-
f1c was impossible except on the West
sixth, West Eighth street, Santa Fe
and the Highland Park lines, and the
indications were that the latter would
be in such a condition before night
that the cars would not be able tS
make headway.
This is the heaviest snowfall in -
hours that has been recorded in the
month of March in the past quarter 3t
century. The depth of snow at
O'Clock was az inches, the melted snow
measuring ~ hundredths of an inch
There has been only one year when IN
the entire month of March there was
more snow than this, and that was in
March, 1906, when the total depth lsr
the month was 1913 inches.
There was 6.6 inches of snow left on
the ground from the previous snow, so
at o'clock there was a total depth of
the soft substance of 14.3 inches. Only
three occasions has there been a
greater depth of snow on the ground in
Topeka at one time. The last day of
February, 1900, there was a depth of
1876 inches.
According to the local weather man
there may be slight let ups in the
storm, but there will probably be pre-
throughout Sunday. Then late Sunday
the mercury will probably take a sud
den drop.
., The worst is yet to come,' said
sunny Flora, the local government
weather observer, and almost in the
next breath he remarked: THE storm
is making money for the people of
Kansas. Conditions are very favor
able for crops. The ground is being
put in fine shape for ploughfng and
the temperature has been held down
lately by the storms keeping the buds
from maturing prematurely. Let her
This is the snow storm that was
predicted at Washington last Sunday
and II has come almost on schedule
time. The center of the storm area
VIII not be here until tomorrow morn
ing, and in the meantime may be ex-
pected a heavy PRECIPITATION of snow
and rain.
The forecast reads: Snow or rain
tonight and Sunday; slowly rising
temperatures"
The temperature at Z, and .
O'Clock this morning was % degrees,
but according to the weatherman. by
uiSnl the VIII DrODa Div be
close to the freezing point. and that
is the dividing line between snow and
rain. If the storm ends up in rain
a lot of the snow will probably be
taken off. In any case Topekans can
prepare themselves for wading
through slush.
Comes From the South.
The storm began in Texas Friday
with a precipitation of rain, and there
was also n outbreak in the Dakotas
w a
form of snow Out in Los Angeles in
the. past "a hours more than an inch
of rain has fallen. Today the storm
area stretches from Texas to Canada
and from Missouri to the Pacific coast.
All Kansas is enveloped I'm a clean
white coating of the haky stuff
By 10 o'clock this morning three
inches of snow had fallen, and tn,
crews on the street cars were having
difficult time to make progress. The
cars had to back up frequently to get
sufficient impetus to carrying them
over the snow laden rails. In many
places they were stopped entirely.
1t seems to be the general opinion
in Topeka that records have been bro
ken in respect to the amount of snow
fall, and also frigid temperatures but
this is not the case. Four other win
ters have had more snow, and FIVE have
been colder in the past quarter Of
century. The winters that were colder
'O5, and '09-'10.
All records for precipation for March
2. however. have been broken. The pre-
vious record was .07 of an inch on
March 2, 1906.
While the gas pressure is not what
it should be, no great amount Of suf-
fering is expected due to the storm
The temperature is not low, and there is
not the amount of shivering that there
was in the cold snap in January. oy
any means.
Scores of men who were out Of work
have been able to find work today. The
Provident association has had a great
many calls for men to shovel off snow
from walks.
The storm. according to the govern
ment forecaster, will end up with a de-
cided drop in the temperature which IS
due late Sunday.
The shippers forecast reads: PRO
tect 36 hour shipments north and west
against temperature of by Sunday
night; south, is degrees; east 20"
Railroads i'm Trouble.
With the tracks hardly cleared OF
the recent snow storm that tied up
their traffic for three and four days.
the railroads in Kansas once more are
out their rotary and wedge
ploWs and are preparing for the worst
All over Kansas, Nebraska, Colo
RADIO, northwestern Oklahoma, Texas
and in northeast New Mexico the
snow has fallen to a depth of from
i've to eight inches at 10 O'Clock this
Only through heavy traffic
have the railroads been able to keen
their lines open. At noon today the