OCR Text |
Show I FIERCE HE Entire Region Between Missouri River and Pacific Coast Suffers Damage. H HEAVY SNOW PALLS IN H ' MANY PARTS OP COUNTRY Telegraph and Telephone Lines Hj Are Demoralized and Rail- roads Are Crippled. DENVER, March 29. Winds of al-most al-most luirricano violence, accompanied by hcav' rain and. snow, liavo today niraosb cut off from thcoutsido world tlio entiro region west of Kansas City (o tho Pacific coast. From Santa Fc, N. M., well into central Wyoming the Hj storm has raged sinco last night, pros- irating telegraph and telephone poles by the score, dclaj'inp: railroad traffic and blocking country roads. Tlio Western "Union lost practically every wire o the east of Denver early this morning. Two telephone wires, the only ones available, were pressed into service, but thev, too, soon went down before tho storm. The Postal had a small hole through during the morning, but that company lost tis wires beforo noon and for several hours every wire east of Denver was silent. Furious winds swopt Great Salt lako and ilcd tho heavy waters of the snlt sea against the embankment of tho Lucin cutoff until railway traffic ovor tho Southern Pacific was suspended. Around Julcsburg, Colo., long strctcHes of telegraph poles wcro blow down, blocking that avonuo of overland telc-graph telc-graph traffic, whilo high winds, rain and snow loro down tho wires on the South Central routes via Pueblo and through Kausns. Telograph and tolc-phone tolc-phone companies have dozens of men out repairing broken wires, but it will probab'lv be mnnv moro hours beforo it is restored to anything liko normal conditions. Heavv snow Is roportcd at Santa Fc. N. JI.. with a temperature of 24 above, a drop of 32 degrees since yesterday. The snow extends nil the wny to central Vyy-omlnp. Vyy-omlnp. Durango. Tellurldc and other mountain cities of Colorado report heavy snow, and the storm In Denver almost took on the proportions of a midwinter Hj blizzard. Signs of Improvement. j Tonight storm conditions throughout '.he Rockv Mountain region showed signs of Improvement. The high winds J Hat have prevailed for the last two days have subsided, and, except In the higher altitudes, snow had riult falling, while 1 rnnny sections of Colorado, notably the 1 fruit-growing regions, reported statlon- ary or rising temperature. The local weather bureau tonight Is- 1 sued a forecast predicting tomorrow would witness the passing of the storm. Latest reports from tho fruit districts of Colorado Indicate no damage has been done by today's storm, while from many sections come reports of incalculable Hj benefit to ranchmen on account of the moisture precipitated. The most serious damage from today's storm came from the prostration of the telephone and telegraph wires. Early this morning Denver was practically cut off from telegraphic communication with the east, and this condition showed little Improvement at midnight. Practically the only means of communication was a single wire over a circuitous routo from Chicago through St. Paul. Bismarck. Helena and Salt Lake to Denver, put In operation about 9 o'clock tonight Tn some portions of the mountains tTaln service was seriously delayed, though no serious accidents were re- Snowstorm Is Baging. From Gunnison comes the report thai a snowstorm Is raging around Marshall pass, delaying railroad traffic. The storm appears to have diminished in the eastern slope of the Rockies, and moved rapidly eastward, the heavy snow helng followed in its wake by a sleet I storm, and whizzed across the prairie by a wind which has assumed almost the proportions of a gale. The telegraph companies report that there Is not a wire Into Denver from the east, the last on.c, which was routed by the way of St. Paul. Helena and Suit .Lake City, falling. In many places miles of poles have been carried down, nnd the wires He tangled In a mass of wreckage, which. It is understood, will require several sev-eral clays to clear away. Wire communication with the Pacific coast aleo had suffered materially from the storm, and what telegraphic communications com-munications are possible are going by circuitous and unusual routes. Snow Is Drifting. At Limon, Colo., the snow Is five feet deep, blocking all traffic on the Chicago. Rock Island & Pacific railroad. The high wind Is blowing the snow Into Immense Im-mense drifts. The railway station at Genoa, Colo., was blown away. but. a far as known, no 'one was hurt. Forty miles of telegraph poles were blown down between Fort Morgan and Wray, Colo. The Kansas division of the Union Pacific railroad is reported blocked east and west of Llmon. Not a train was moving west of .Tulesburg on tho central division of tho Union Pacific. Several Overland trains were reported stalled In snowhanlcs at Snyder. Colo. Traffic was said to bo Impeded on the Denver Sz Itlo Grande between Denver and Pueblo. North Dakota experienced an old-fashioned blizzard, tho wind piling up the snow in drifts. |