Show st paul march 18 notwithstanding desperate efforts to clear the tracks neither the great northern northern pacific nor soo lines had managed at noon today to clear even the main lines the northern pacific still has fifty miles of track buried under big drifts the great northern was in tho same predicament there will bo no trains from the pacific coast before tomorrow afternoon this is the greatest blockade in the history of the northwestern roads today three overland lines sent out their first coast trains from st paul in several days by tho time thesa trains north dakota it is expected the track will have been cleared sufficiently to allow the trains to proceed west ward the blockade will cost the railroads half a million dollars the great loss canies conies in destruction of perishable freight in the heavy cost of clearing the tracks etc including branch lines n north da kota each road has had from to miles of track buried from sight there also has been a loss in passenger travel bismarck ND march 18 rotary snow plows have been working for thirty hours endeavoring to raise the snow blockade on this division of the northern pacific and this rooming the ploys were reported at sterling thirty miles east of here having made an average progress yesterday of little over two miles an hour the plows were followed by seven or eight delayed passenger trains and practically no trains were run on the road today on the road progress of about twenty miles was made when the plow left the track and traffic on that road is suspended efforts are being made to reach the coal mines at wilton to prevent a famine |