The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1917-02-09
ST. PAUL PASSENGER STALLED
NEAR CLEVELAND
Held Out Ali Night; Was Due At This
Station Yesterday Afternoon; Great
Western Badly Crippled; Snow Storm
lnterferred With Omaha and the
Northwestern Encountered Endless
Trouble West of Sleepy Eye
From fridays Daily.

; Local rdlTOdu ulSu uSCldIc ludI INC
great snowstorm that has just fallen
upon this part of the country, to-
gether with the winds and cold wealth
er, has proven a more serious handi-
cap to railroad traffic than did the big
blizzard of January 20. The first
storm filled up the low. and empty
places. The railroad plows came along
and cleared the tracks, piling up the
great masses of snow on each side,
so that the trains have been running
between snow walls ever since. The
latest storm easily filed up these
channels, and the snow has blown
around worse than it did after the first
storm. Drifts ave'been more serious.
+ Freight traffic was at a stand-still
on all of the lines today. The offices
were refusing all perishable freight
and all livestock. Six Mankato pass
enger trains were this morning re-
ported stuck in the snow near diff
ferent stations. Many other trains
were tied up or annulled.
Traffic Tied Up.
This morning all the traffic on the
Great Western through Mankato,
freight and passenger, was complete
ly tied up. The last train that had
been at the Mankato passenger sta
tien was No. IA, which left at nine
o'clock yesterday morning for Ran
dolph. This train was SCHEDULED to
leave at 6 a. m. There was no other
service of any kind on the Great
Western all day yesterday either to
or from Mankato. A big freight en-
CINE was added to Nc. 144 yesterday
to afford plenty Of power. 1t was ex-
Epected this morning that the snow
plow would be at work between Man
kato and st. Paul on this line.
On the Milwaukee line, No. Al,
which was due yesterday morning
from Wells at 1910, arrived at 11:30
a. n. No. 40, due yesterday afternoon
at 2:55 from st. Paul, got stuck in the
snow a mile and a half this side OF
| Cleveland, and was still stuck there
this morning. That train vas very late
anyhow. 1t did not get past Farming
ton until six o'clock last evening. This
train was about two hours behind Q
snow pillow, and had two engines, and
yet it got stuck. Arrangements were
made this morning to send a snow
pillow to the spot and to get that train
dug out and moved along on its way.
No. A3, which was due at 7:10 last
; evening from Wells was abandoned,
and No. 40, due at 9:55 last evening
from the twin cities, was also aband-
oned.
Omaha Was Handicapped.
On the Omaha the interference was
! also very serious. No. 6, going east,
due at Mankato yesterday at los
p. N. arrived at $40 p. m. This train
this morning was reported stuck in
the snow at the station of Cliff, a
short distance from st. Paul. No. II
of yesterday, due at Mankato at 5:15
D.. m, was stuck in the snow at
Mountain Lake. No. 4 of yesterday,
due at Mankato at 5 p. M, got as far
as Sibley, and was there stuck in the
snow. No. l., west bound, due here at
1895 last evening, was reported stuck
in the snow west of st. James. No. 9,
due in Mankato at 1885 a. m. today,
arrived at 4:05 a. M, and tied up in
Mankato. No. 7, due at 8 p. IN. yes
terday arrived at 1929 p. M, and
tied up in Mankato. No. 5, due in
Mankato this morning at 1890
O'Clock, was reported stuck in the
snow between Minneapolis and st.
Paul. No. 8 was due to leave Mankato
this morning at 1926. This was de-
,layed on account of inability to get an
engine in time. Three branch lines OF
the Omaha were tied up all day yes
terday. These were the lines from
Fairmont to Sleepy Eye, from Bingham
Lake to Currie and from Heron Lake
to-Pipestone. A snow plow went
through Mankato yesterday to the
twin cities.
On the Northwestern.
On the Northwestern line, the snow
storm was reported so bad west OF
Sleepy Eye that no attempt was made
to run the passenger trains yester-
day afternoon, last night or this morn
ing, west of that point. No. 514, going
east, due at 4:35 yesterday afternoon,
arrived in Mankato at 1858 p. n. No.
SIT, coins west, due at 1910 this
morning, arrived at 4:15 a. m. No. SIG,
due at 1928 a. m. was reported fo1
arrival at $3.50 a. IN. The old line b.
tween Mankato and New Ulm via st.
Peter was very had during and after
the storm. 1t was not so badly blocked
at anytime in twenty years, accord
ing to employees at the Northwestern
freight depot. No. 10 went out yester-
! day morning around by that way and
made the trip to New Ulm right be-
! hind a snow plow. That "a the only
train that traversed the route all dav
Yesterday. No. 10 went out again by
the same route this morning.
Clarence Staley, superintendent OF
Sibley park, reported that at eight
O'Clock this morning, his gauge OF
precipitation showed that the snow
fall during the previous twenty-four
hours amounted to 28-100 of an inch
of water. This, taken together with
yesterdays reading, shows that the
total fall of the latest snowstorm was
considerably over half an inch of wa
ter. This is a heavy precipitation of
snow.
At no time during the storm, OF
after it, was the street car traffic
stopped, or even seriously interfered
, with, though at times the movements
, of the cars were necessarily slow. To-
day the service was right on the
schedule.
l.. w. Andrist spent yesterday at
st. Peter attending to business mat
tiers. AstsixIg,