The Oskaloosa herald., 1918-01-10
CHICAGO CENTER
Of HEAVY STORM
MIDDLE WEST is vERTIARLE
WHITE DESERT TO-DAY.
BUSINESS BADLY INTERRUPTED
Railroads Using Snow Plows to Cut
Through the Big Drifts and Lake
Traffic acknowledgements
able Suffering Reported.

Chicago, Jan THE Middle West
was great white desert today. The
heavy snow which fell throughout this
section of the country with minute
gale in sections, resulted in drifts
from twelve to thirteen feet high.
All traffic was paralyzed, and much
of the business in this region was at
standstill today. More than one
third OF the seasons snow fell in
|twenty-four hours. The weather bur-
eau reported fall of as high as fifteen
inches on the level early today, on
top of four and one-half inches which
had previous fallen.
The storm centered on the lower
Mississippi Valley and moved east
ward until today it extended from Mis-
souri, east into Ohio.
The heaviest participation was in ILL
.npis, Wisconsin, Michigan and in the
northern part of Indiana where the
rail and wire communication were
badly crippled.
The weather bureau expected the
snow storm TO abate in this territory
some time today.
.484 Chicago Is Hard Hit
In and around Chicago for a wide
distance almost a foot of snow had
fallen between three o'clock Sunday
morning and five this morning. Driv-
en- by thirty-fiye mile gale the snow
piled in drifts OF six and more feet,
sometimes assuming fantastic shapes
AMI filling the entrances Of such
place as remained closed on Sunday.
Surface lines made strong efforts to
keep their tracks clear, but toward
tho later part of the day service on
many of the cross town lines was
stopped. Main north and south lines
maintained an irregular service the
latter part of the day, with the trans
portation officials uncertain as to
whether even such a service could
continue for many hours.
Elevated railroad lines suffered ire
least from the storm. The strong
winds swept the snow from the ele-
waited structures, and the companies
managed to maintain a fairly regular
service, although all schedules were
awry.
Taxicabs Are Abandoned
One of the larger taxicab companies
withdrew nearly a thousand of its
vehicles from districts outside Of the
central aree, operating only in the
loop or downtown section. Innumer-
able automobiles were abandoned in
snowdrifts.
Lake shipping was endangered by
the. storm. The steamer Missouri OF
the Northern Michigan Transportation
Company, plying between Racine, Mil
waukee and Chicago, is icebound two
miles outside the harbor. Life guards
at the harbor entrance caught the
call of the steamer and big ice ram
ming tug reached the Missouri and
reported by wireless it was preparing
to tow the steamship into port.
Suffering Is Feared
Steam railroads suffered severely,
traffic on some of the lines being
practically at a standstill and fears
were expressed that a number OF
places in the area affected would SUI
fer for want Of fuel.
Wisconsin Completely Buried
Eyas ligging herself out Of d deep
snow today in order to get to work
Railroad traffic was BACKED in man!
sections. Snow plows were preceding
the thains and it will be some time
before the traffic will be in its nor
NAL condition.
New York Walks Slippery
! New York, Jan. 7-One man was
killed and several injured this morn
| ing on the icy walks and pavements
| A mist began falling early last nlgh'
and was still falling today. The SIDE
walks are coated with slippery ice
and all the trains are behind scheduie
Snow in Southwest
Denver, Jan. There was hSh
fall of snow Sunday in Colorado an'
portions of New Mexico, but not ser
ious enough to handicap train service
Snow fell at Denver, Leadville ant
Grand Junction, Colorado, and a
/ Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Nebraska Cold
Omaha. Nebr., Jan. Records iron
NEBRASKA indicate uniformly col
weather with light snow. Only 81
degrees variation was recorded Il
Omaha, with highest temperature a
la.