Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1922-02-22
WORST ice STORM
in LOCAL HISTORY
Covers Western Wiscon-
sin, Southeastern Iowa.
and Northeastern
Minnesota
TELEPHONE And LIGHT
SERVICE DEMORILIzED
The Streets Are Blocked with
Poles, Wires and
Shade Trees

/ The most disastrous ice storm which
! has ever visited this section of the
Upper Mississippi valley commenced
Tuesday night and continued for about
"a hours. The storm opened Tuesday
afternoon like typical June thunder
storm, which does not occur once in a
generation in February. In the ev-
ening the temperature dropped to 80
degrees above while the rain descend
ed at times in torrents with lightning
flashing and thunder rolling in ap-
proved summer style.
Shortly after midnight, the high
tension line between here and Sparta
gave way, was repaired, broke again,
and the boys steamed up the plant.
Viroqua awoke to find itself gripped in
a complete ice blanket, with ice-laden
branches falling on every side, carry
ing down light and telephone wires by
the score. Danger of electrpcution
from down wires forced suspension of
light service shortly after daylight.
The passing of the hours found the
situation continually growing worse.
The thunder storm continued, the rain
fell, the thermometer stuck at 80 and
the ice blanket thickened. Giant limbs
commenced to come down, the tops of
telephone and light poles toppled with
their dozens of wires, and whole trees
commenced to split open and crash
down with mighty roars. The eulmin-
alton of the destructive period came
as night fell, when the thermometer
dropped little while the drizzle con-
tinued and brisk wind sprang up.
A steady cannonading resounded thru
the city as the twilight deepened into
a night as black as the very couch of
death. To venture out was folly.
Morning dawned on as desolate a.
scene of destruction as Viroqua has
witnessed since the cyclone of over
half century age. Whole trees block
ed many of the streets, and the rest
were but shattered wrecks. The no
BILE trees along jefferson Street and
Rusk Ave-, and in the city park, some
of which had taken close to century
for growth, were ruined. The tele-
phone system was almost a complete
wreck. The light primaries were
mostly intact, but service wires were
everywhere down, and the heavy poles
and wires from Decker Street south
to the Normal school were laying in a
tangled mass of wreekage. Over it
all was the merciless blanket of ice,
topped with a few inches of snow.
The storm king reigned SUPPRESSED
To attempt to repair the telephone
system or restore light service was
futile, the ice coating and dropping
temperature making it impossible.
Manager Schultz found that the pri-
maries from the plant to Main Street
and around the Brown Music Store
corner through the alley south to the
Gund building were unbroken. The
primary wires leading from these
were chopped off, and at 1890 on
Thursday, Juice" flowed down from
the plant to supply the west side of
the business street and the Censor Of
fee block. The line down to the
Creamery was also cobbled up, and
Schultz and his men also strung wires
temporarily to the Star Theatre. The
White Way is of course in shape, so
that things took on better look
Thursday night. Service to the east
side of Main Street viii be restored as
rapidly as possible.
~ Concerning the extent of the storm,
1t is hard to learn definitely because of
being completely cut off from the out
side world by wire communication.
Sparta was even harder hit than VII
roqua, if that is possible. During the
electrical storm the Catholic church
was struck and the steeple burned off.
Sparta was always noted for her
beautiful trees; now practically ruin
ed. Travelling men coming from Por-
tage say conditions are as bad there.
The Lacrosse Tribune describes the
affected area as Western Wisconsin,
southeastern Minnesota and north
eastern Iowa. The damage to wires
is enormous. We doubt if $25, 900 will
cover the loss in Vernon county alone
possibly twice that figure would be
more correct. As an example of how
hard hit the telephone companies are,
linemen found that out of the 200
poles between Viroqua and Bud only
forty were standing. II practically
means the rebuilding of telephone
systems in this county.
1t seems like pioneer days to be
without telephone or light service, and
the small business section of the city
which now has current after interrupt
ton of two days is to be congratulate
ed. The Censor goes to press tw
days late, and is thankful it is no
worse. Nothing like this storm has
ever been seen in this locality, and
probably never WILDE again in the life
time of those now here. A severe
storm of similar character struck here
in the early sos, but it was by no
means so serious, and there were no
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