Great snow Storm at Boston
--
Embargo on Railroad Travel.--
Boston has been visited by a real old-fashioned snow storm, recalling, in the length of its duration and in its effects, the traditional snow storms which in
New England, years ago, used to bury whole villages.
Commencing on Thursday forenoon, it continued with unabated violence for nearly two days. The Journal says of it:
‘
Such a tempest has not occurred hereabouts for years.
The snow, damp and heavy, feels great flakes, and was dashed with blinding fury into the faces of all who chanced to be abroad.
Buildings exposed to the force of the gale rocked and creaked from base to roof; loose blinds and shutters annoyed their owners by their continual slamming, or were blown from their hinges and scattered about the streets.
A great deal of damage was done to trees, both in the city and the suburbs; large limbs were broken off and strewn about, fences were blown down, and swing signs carried away by the wind.
’
The snow was blown in drifts into doorways and upon sidewalks, and not a little muscular development will result from the exercises in the manual of shoveling snow, through which hundreds were put in the morning.
The windward sides of buildings received a fresh coating, laid on by the boisterous stucco-worker of the
North, and the ideal "winter scenes, " often seen on canvas, but seldom in nature in this latitude, were fully realized in the fantastic dashes of the pencil of the
Storm King.
The storm ceased for a few hours Friday morning, but having gathered new strength as noon approached, it was renewed with fresh vigor until one, when it ceased.
The railroads, both steam and horse, were laid under a complete embargo.
The snow fell heavy and deep upon the tracks of city railways, forcing a substitution of omnibuses on runners for cars on all the roads except the
Cambridge, and even preventing this mode of conveyance between the termini of the branch lines and the city.
Up to half-past 10 in the forenoon nothing had reached town over the
Cambridge road from
Watertown, Brighton, or
West Cambridge.
The people of
Somerville,
Medford, and
Malden, were equally unfortunate; while on the south side of the city, business men were detained until a late hour.
The shore train from New York over the
Providence road was only an hour late Thursday night. It rained between New Haven and
Providence most of the afternoon, and thus kept the track open.
