The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1916-12-19
Richmond Maintains Traffic at
Nearly Normal Schedule by
Hard Work
STORM DELAYS TRAINS
FROM WEST AND SOUTH
Snowfall Nearly Nine Inches
and Drifts Deeper-Special
Effort by Public Service Cor
II porations

Thousands of little gusts Of wind,
sweeping over street and sidewalk
surfaces and cutting sharply around
thousands of corners last night, drift
ed the snowfall of the afternoon and
night into depths much in excess of
the official reCordation at the Weather
Bureau on Chimborazo Hill, where
the measurement is taken on the
level Drifts or banks of snow more
tnan foot deep were 10 be found
before midnight at every street in
tersection and In hundreds of spaces
the drifts went deeper. The official
report on the snowfall up To O'Clock
was FIVE and three~tonths inches. the
heaviest. with two exceptions. on the
December records at the Weather
Bureau. and the snow was still COM
ing down steadily AS at any time since
the FIRST fakes appeared. about IL
O'Clock yesterday morning
The snowfall OF the day did little
more than impede traffic OH the
streets. and street railway lines in the
city, and load telephone wires heavy
, with conversation. Street railway
traffic was maintalued.throuEho the
storm with but lltt1e loss Of time from
schedules tAtS loss beng almost en-
tirel3 due TO the use 81 street car
TRACES by other vehicles, Railroads
operated their trains slowly for
. satety's sake, and seyera! of the trains
arrived from a few minutes TO an
hour az moro late The telephone
sss'cH was loaded almost 10 capacity
! daring iar afternoon hours, hundreds
remaining at home calling the wires
ieto use fer the transaction Of their
g1r ppan% enc ether business
40 serious Accident.
Eaefe vas a. reu2I kab.e dearth O..
RSeadeb1 reports To he police and hos
istals and those that did materiailze
were Of minor seriousness Here
snd there the hard snow ice remain
ing oh uneleaned sidewalks since Fri
aaN's snow. concealed by the fresh
fall. surprised unwarY feet and com
p*iled their owners 10 dance or ium-
.his. Sons did both. landing thuddily
M more or less solidiy in The cushion
like SNOW after having vainiv worked
arms and legs to maintain equilibrium
MD recover footing.
Rr.,',-H Well Handled.
For The workers OF the dav, for the
shoppers and others abroad. on the
streets the snow assumed a driving,
biting form. Faces and neckS and
hands that were unprotected felt the
fting OF chilled air As he heat Of the
flesh melted the flakes. While the
rush hour was on. from the shopping
places on Broad street. and the Of
Aces on Main, Mt the close OF the days
business, protecting wallis of buildings,
entrances TO stores and even many in
ser.,ss. were literally Rugged by hun
areds. Anything that offered a snow
break or shelter from the wind was
popular.
Worked Through Night
The maintenance Of street car ser
vice worked scores of extra men. Men
Varying sand on the hills. where slick
rails made the climb OF the ear
wheels hard worked with their little
scoop that the cars might run Three
big snoWpiows went over all the lines
in the ( y. keeping the rails IN sight
Some seventy-fve or eighty cars
equipped with sweepefs or scrapers
were distributed throughout the city
and kept in motion. Regular pas
senger-carrying cars were run fire.
auently About two hundred and
Atty men worked with hrooms keep
ing all switches clear. Other EN-
ployes OF the Virginia Railway and
Fower Company stayed after hours
on the job that service might be
given.
The afternoons snowfall was of
character unlikely to give wire
trouble. the flakes for several hours
having a feathery, dry. consistency,
The slightest breeze kept wires clear.
During the later hours OF the after
noon and those of the night the snow
took on an added moisture. 1t chung
to the wires and stronger winds were
required to blow wires clear. Late
last night an official Of the telephone
company. keeping in touch with the
situation. said there will be little or
no trouble from breaking wires, I'M
less snow gets too wet and too heavy
for the lines. Trouble men remained
in call throughout the night and
should wires break In the early hours