People's Pilot, Volume 2, Number 37, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 March 1893 — FAST IN THE DRIFTS. [ARTICLE]

FAST IN THE DRIFTS.

Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan in the Grasp of a Terrible Blizzard—Railroads Are Blockaded. St. Paul, Minn., March L—The passenger train on the Duluth, Bed Wing & Southern road has been stuck in 15 feet of snow since Monday night about 4 miles north of Zumbrota, Minn. Six women passengers had to remain all night on the train. They were taken from the train on toboggans by men on skis Tuesday about 1 o’clock. Conductor Manley started out about 7:80 Tuesday morning to find aid He was picked np by a ski runner at about II o’clock in an exhausted condition, and now lies ill at a hotel in Zumbrota. When found he was praying for help, and had none come he would have perished The bulletins at 8 p. m. indicated that all trains on the Kansas City and 800 roads were hopelessly blockaded out on the lines. No. 2on the SL Paul road was abandoned, and Nos. 1,2, 5 and 6 on the lowa and Minnesota division were- indefinitely late. All trains on the Omaha were from ten to twelve hours late. The fast mail due from Chicago at 2:80 got in here at 7 o’clock in the evening. One of the officials of the Omaha said that the road would be open for traffic by this afternoon. He said that they had three snow plows at work on the various branehes of the A 400 miles of road Reports from southern and southwestern Minnesota indicate that trains are stalled in every direction. Those which have been able to make stations have pulled into the small villages, where passengers have taken up temporary quarters at hotels and residences. In some places passenger trains have been caught on the open prairie and those aboard have been put to considerable inconvenience. Their chief suffering, however, has been from hunger, as the temperature has been from 10 to 80 degrees above zero ever since the storm broke. Ishpeming, Mich., March I.—Locomotion by snowshoes is the only means of travel in the entire upper peninsula. Trains on all roads are abandoned or stuck in snowdrifts. The street railway tracks are covered with several feet of snow and telegraph wires afe down in all directions. Ironwood, Mich., March I.— The very worst storm of the winter was as a June zephyr to a Dakota blizzard in comparison with the terrific storm that has raged The snow is from 8 to 8 feet deep and it is impossible to drive teams in the streets. All business is at a standstill Lake Shore and Wisconsin Central trains from Milwaukee and Chicago are snowbound 80 miles south of here. Grand Rapids, Mich., March I.—The Grand Rapids & Indiana railroad has the worst blockade of the winter on its northern division. A terrific wind has filled the cuts with huge rifts of snow 6to 10 feet deep. The Mackinaw passenger train due here at 10:30 Monday night is stalled tft Mancalons, and the snow plow sent out to relieve the train is also stuck. The road for miles is impassable. Traffic is suspended, but no accidents have been reported. Port Arthur, Out, March 1. —Within the memory of the oldest inhabitant no such snowstorm ever visited a country as that which raged here for the last thirty hours. It commenced Monday at noon and by evening street cars were snowed up. By midnight the streets were impassable, and now by general appearance one would think 6 feet of snow had fallen on the level.