Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1913-12-27
SOME STORM.
Augusta Gets Second Big
Snowfall Of Week.
Raises High links During the
Early Morning Hours.
Bothers the Trolley Lines, Also the
Rural Mail Carriers.

For the second time within four
days Augusta was visited Friday by a
| snowstorm of more than ordinary pro-
portions, and while the storm of Tues
| day night and Wednesday morning re-
suited in greater fall of snow it pos
sessed nothing of the energy of that
which came racing down from the
northeast shortly before o'clock Fri
day morning, and had the latter storm
| held out as it started everything would
have been buried and all travel block
ed by nightfall, for the snow was damp
! and of the kind that sticks and blocks
the way for steam cars and trolleys.
The snow began falling in a we'll
ordered and respectable way, the kind
of storm they mean when they speak
of the flakes coming down like feath
ers," but that did not suit old Boreas
and he proceeded to inject more en-
ergy by doubling up the supply of
snow and also adding a gale of wind
in order that the snowflakes might
reach their destination more quickly
all of which united in producing an
effect which was not at all unlike
Western blizzard. An idea of the in
can be gained from the fact that &C
cording to the rain gauge at the State
House at s o'clock in the morning, two
hours after the snow had begun to
fall, the precipitation was four inches.
Had the storm kept on all day at that
rate it would not have been a very diff
ficult problem in mathematics to fig
ure out the snowfall for the day. As
it was the snowfall figured about eight
inches.
At 7.30 in the morning the storm
was at it's height and the snow was
coming down so thickly that one could
scarcely see 100 yards ahead and the
wind was blowing it in clouds into
every nook and crevice And the snow
Aituck where it landed. 1t covered pc
destrians from head to foot with a
blanket of white, and made travel by
teams a veritable hardship even on
the city streets, while out over the
hills where the wind got clean sweep,
it piled the snow into drifts that for
awhile made some of the highways
we'll nigh impossible. Luckily, how
ever, these conditions were not destin-
ed to last, for by $50 the force of the
storm had spent itself, and although
snow and sleet continued to fall at
intervals during the day and into the
evening there was nothing to suggest
what the storm had been in its earlier
hours, except in such places where
the snow had been piled up in the
work of cleaning sidewalks.
Perhaps the most inconvenience on
account of the storm was felt along
the various lines of the Lewiston, Au-
gusta & Waterville Street Railway, for
while the first cars out in the morn
ing made their runs on time those
which followed later and encountered
the full force of the storm found their
progress blocked to a greater or less
degree, and the schedule for the entire
day suffered because of the delay dur
ing the morning hours. The Togus
line was blocked during the greater
part of the afternoon by car liz which
left the irons over in the hospital field
while on the 100 P. NJ. trip to the Ma
tional Home. This mishap was due
to the damp snow packing up under
the motors until the fianges of the
wheels were lifted above the rails and
two of the wheels went off. A gang
was set at work on the stalled car
as soon as possible and at 5 o'clock in
the afternoon the track was clear. An
other cause for inconvenience was oc-
casioned by the companys big pillow
at about $50 in the morning, when the
pillow jumped the switch north of the
car barn on lower State street, and all
four wheels went off the irons, which
put the pillow out Of commission for
about an hour
The storm also put a veto. to some
extent, on the service of the drivers
on the several rural free delivery
routes leading out of Augusta. 1t was
not learned that many of the men
made their complete trip. although all
went as far as they could. Some of
them came back after starting out in
the morning and made a Second start
later. All agreed that the storm was
one of the worst that they had ever
encountered and that the people in
the city had no idea of what was 60
ing on out over the hills.