Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1912-01-06
A HUMMER.
Fierce Snow Storm Holds
City in Its Grip.
The Rural Carriers Break Their
Way Through Snow Drifts.
Street Railway Lines Are Kept Open
With DifficuIty..Ho Schools.

A fierce noftherly snow storm which
was in progress all day, Friday, held
the city firmly in its grip. The storm
| hegan in good earnest in the early
| Hours of the morning and before day
! light five or six inches had fallen,
which by the middle of the forenoon
was increased to over a foot in many
| places. The record at the Insane hos
| pital at noon showed seven inches, and
| no reading was taken after that. The
storm continued during the day, with
| the exception of a slight let-up about
noon. and the total fall up To p NJ,
when the storm was still in progress,
was in the neighborhood of Is inches
on a level. The wind increased in vol
ume during the afternoon, causing the
snow to drift in many places Fortu-
nately for cars. horses and pedestrians
the snow. in spite of the depth to which
| it fell was light and could easily be
brushed away.
The storm was hummer, of the
lgood old fashioned variety, such as
| INSPIRED "Whittier's Snow Bound" and
came in the nature of a revelation to
| The weather wiseaeres, who had de-
elared that We were not going to have
much of winter after all. All of the
public schools in the city We're closed,
| during the Gay. The signal for no
| session in the High school sounded at
80 a. NJ. and the signal for no school
| in the forenoon for the elementary
grades was sounded at SIS 4. VI. The
signal for no school in the afternoon
for the elementary grades was sound
ed at 1915 p. NJ.
| The rural letter carriers from the
| Augusta post office all covered the
territory assigned them, but only UNI
| der the greatest difficulty, overcoming
| conditions which one would hardly
| believe to be possible. Several Of the
carriers found unbroken roads during
| the greater part of their routes and
| We're the first to pass over the road.
| One carrier drove his horse u miles
over an unbroken road and saw no
evidences of any other team having at
tempted to pass over the route Ii is
doubtful, however If the rural car
riers are all able TO make their trips.
saturday, on account of the big drifts,
which began to form upon the country
roads, late Friday afternoon.
The schedule of the Lewiston, Au-
gusta & Watervlle st. Ry. was con-
lsiderably disturbed by the storm, but
lail the lines except the State Street
| line were kept open during the day.
The cars, of course. were running
somewhat behind schedule time, but
up to p. NJ. only one trip had been
| lost out on the WateriElle line and on
| the Lewiston end OF the run, where
the snow was deepest the cars We're
kept moving. The work of keeping the
| track clear was done by two small
plows, but Supt Dunn and Asst Supt
Cole bent all their enregies to keeping
the cars moving and succeeded in do
ing so beyond expectation.
The Maine Central trains were but a
few minutes late, during the day, and
II was reported that the storm was
much less severe at points TO the
westward
The wind veered around to the
northwest in the early evening and
little additional snow fell but the air
was still filled with the fine particles
of snow and the wind blew them into
great drifts. The L., A. & w. st. Ry.
| continued 10 keep its lines open, but
the service was maintained at even
SANNNN tiiu Witch the SHOW
| fall was the heaviest The schedule
on the Winthrop line was further dis
turbed by the spreading of a switch
at Maranaeook siding. which put car
off the irons for about half an hour.
The temperature fell several degrees
during the evening and the cutting
wind combined with the fine particles
of snow, which were swirling in all
directions made it decidedly uneom-
Portable for pedestrians. But few
people We're on the streets during the
evening except those who were abso-
lutely obliged to be and a number of
social events, which had been sched-
| uled for Friday, We're called off.
Supt. Dunn of the L., A &. w. ST.
Ry at l1.S0 announced that all of the
| rolling stock of the road was i'm the
| barn except two cars and a pillow, the
latter having one motor disabled. All
three We're between Augusta and the
| car barn and We're being worked in.
| The snow plows viii be started our
again IN the morning, as soon as the
| gale goes down, and every effort will
be made to keep the track clear and
| the cars running on as near schedule
| time is possible.