Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1920-03-11


Friday night. tying UP the railroads, put
ting the street car system completely out
OF business for two days. and causing
many business concerns TO declare a sat
urday special holiday. Saturday nigh
many stores closed early for the eason
that there was no one on the street, and
IN the morning some concerns. such as
the Fl. II. Hickok Insurance agency, teleI
phoned their help not to come to work.
The help was unable to reach the mills,
and only some very necessary work was
done. At the Vermont Chocolate COM
pany plant. only score of the workers.
who lived nearby, appeared. The plant
WAS practically shut down.
Tho snow fall was a record breaker for
this station and other conditions entered
in to make tho weather the worst since
1888 In the opinion of many. The total
precipitation Of melted snow and rain to-
gether was two inches, and this included
IA inches of snow. Coupled with this was
o high wind which reached n velocity Sat-
urday morning OF 80 miles. 1t ragged all
the preceding night and in the morning
the light snow had been driven into
drifts Is or more feet deep The storm
started with a rain which changed to
snow about seven o'clock Friday night
and this formed as troublesome foun-
dation Of slush as was possible for We
hicles and pedestrians.
In the lumber yards business was sus-
pended and the drifts are so great that
it Is doubtful If work can be done there
today. The night watchmen Saturday
night could not reach all their boxes on
account of drifts of snow and were ex.
cused from doing so. Burlington received
no mail after Friday night and the mail
men went around their routes with only
the local mail. There was just enough of
this to force them into making the trips,
The street department made attempts
to clear the walks but owing to some
misunderstanding some OF the main thor
oughfares In the city were not touched by
plough until late Saturday afternoon
Church goers were Obliged to wade
through the snow Sunday morning.
The Traction company had it's ploughs
and extra cars running along the tracks
as far as possible in order to keep them
open and these formed the principle ave.
nues of travel. The Essex line was given
up for lost Saturday morning and moth
ing was done on that all day Sunday
There is more snow on the ground a,
the present time than at any time since
the weather bureau was established ir
1906. There are now "a inches on the level
Another record for the station ia the 1!
inches Of snowfall The wind was also
about as bad MS ever strikes this section
and piled the snow into the deepest drifts
In years.
MILK MEN BATTLE WITH DRIFTS
The men who put up the hardest fght
of all were the milk men and they tel
some interesting stories of battling witt
drifts which were 10 feet high on thu
cross roads. The wind made things wors.
and the underfootng of water and snow
made matters difficult for the horses
The drivers were forced to keen to thu
roads and there was always chance Of
breaking q horses leg when he wen
| through the thin upper crust of snow
and ice into the slush beneath
1t was the worst day that they ever OK
perienced on the road Most teams war,
equipped with two or more men whc
had shovels. and Foster Strong's team
came through after struggling for man,
hours with eight horses pulling the milk
j. Stewart and man were on the roac
from daylight until three o'clock in tn.
afternoon, coming the distance from hi!
farm. In addition to the man with him
| he had three men shoveling part o.
| the way. Yesterday afternoon some o
the teams had not reached burlington
| from the furthest points, such as Willis
! ton.
! The amount OF milk which reached tn.
| city was about one-third the normal sup
| ply The farmers on North avenue
| Spear street and a part of Shelburn,
road fought it through, but beyond tina
no one got in except very few who tool
i -An 80 g..
than that but the strain on horses ant
| men was too much and they put int,
neishborng farm houses to rest UP 70
the battle back home again, which wa
even worse. The deliveries were mad
about the city out not until hours lat
and it was afternoon before most of tn
places had been visited. The large mill
concerns In Burlington keep a supply o
one day ahead all the time and that tidet
over SO that no one went without mill
because Of lack Of supply.
| COMPLETE TIE-UP OF TRAINS
Almost a complete tie-up on bot,
the Rutland and Central Vermont rail
roads was the result, of the storm
which railroad men say was the wors
they had experienced in many years
The thaw OF Friday afternoon filled tn
roads with water and slush, floodin,
the rails In the cuts. and then as tn
storm changed to snow this waite
froze and, added to a heavy snowfall
and high wind. produced conditions tina
could hardly have been worse. Fror
three O'Clock Saturday morning unit
noon Sunday there was bnly on
train through Burlington on the Rut
land road. This ono train was the Mont
real-New York flyer which left Mont
real on time Saturday morning. arriy
Ing here at $40 o'clock in the after
noon and continuing on to New Yorl
This took care OF the local traffic be
tween here and Troy.
The sleeping car trains suffered NOR
than any of the other trains Especial
unlucky were the sleepers from Ne,
York to Montreal Saturday morning
sleeper got to Middlebury, runnin
three hours late, when it was tied u
there for Is hours because the sno,
pillow ahead of 1t was stalled at the C,
south OF Vergcnnes where the sno'
mad drifted In to height of 10 fee
FINALLY II got to Burlington at 81
O'Clock Saturday night and RENAME
here until 1880 o'clock Sunday after
noon when it left for Montreal, pre-
coded by a snowplow. Just about q
hour after that Sundays sleeper pull
cd IN and left. running just two hour
behind that OF the preceding day. Ths
was also preceded by a half hour by
snowpiow and at Isle La Motto the plo,
was derailed and the train forced
return to Burlington about mid nigh
: Sunday night.
Tho Boston to Oedensburg sleeper {
Saturday got in at midnight that Nigh
and turned around and left at 1895 Sun
lday noon as the Montreal To Ne,