Rensselaer Republican, Volume 17, Number 23, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 February 1885 — As Bad as the Worst. [ARTICLE]

As Bad as the Worst.

In many respects the storm which began last Sunday evening,, was . the worst of the season. The thermometer did not indicate so low a decree of temperature as on some previous occasions, but the presence of a fierbe wind made the cold much more penetrating, and hat'd to endure. At the beginning of the storm, Sunday night, occurred several heavy peals of thunder, an unusual* phenomenon in the winter in any case, and still more so in a*auow storm. On Tuesday, tho worst day of the storm, the high and bitterly cold wind, com - bined with the thickly falling and heavily drifting snow, made it a day to be remembered as one ot the severest ever experienced in the state. In respect to drifting and blockading wagon roads and railroads, this storm is by far the worst of Abe present winter, and, probably tho worst for years. At this writing (Wednesday afternoon,) the condition of the wagon roads in the vicinity can only be surmised, as no one, 30 far as we know, has ventured into town since the storm: but from the magnitude and density of the drifts in the immediate neighborhood of the town, it is evident that their condition must be lairly appalling. The condition and extent of the blockade on the railroads, i 3 not known, ’ either) but that it surpasses auy thing of the kind that has happened tor yea rs, is unquestionable. On our own road, the L., N.A. & C., the blockade has been complete. The la3t trains to pass* Rensselaer were the two early, north bound trains, of Monday morning. They were kept in this place for several." hours by the stalling in the snow of a freight train, but they at last succeeded getting away from town, but have not yet succeeded in getting to Chicago, but are stuck fast somewhere up the road, in the vicinity of Lowell, according to a report from the depot. Monday’s forenoon rq ail train left Chicago on time, but got no further than Hammond. The evening train, north bound, ot the same day, got as far as Monon, and fin all/ returned to Louisville. Nrt les3 than six engines, it is stated, are stuck fast, at different points, between the Kankakee river and Hammond.