Portsmouth, New Hampshire
Snow Storm
January 1, 1900
QUITE A STORM.
Beautiful Snow Embarrasses Things In This
Section.
No Great Damage Done, But Deep Drifts Heaped
Around.
Trains Late, Lost and Stalled--Trolley Schedule
Mixed Up.
There was a genuine touch of winter in the storm
that set in on New Year’s day and for a time it
looked like a record breaker. The fall of snow
was much more than expected and some very large
drifts were piled up around the city. As far as
known at present there was no frightful
disasters such have marked the appearance of
some of the winter storms of recent years. How
the storm affected the city and this locality is
told in the following detailed account:
About Town.
About town the storm was similar to the big
blizzard of last year and in the afternoon
travel on the streets was almost blocked. Very
few people, unless compelled to, ventured out,
as the sleet cut the face like a knife. The
stores were all deserted and the clerks found
very little to do.
Only one session of school was held,
Superintendent Morrison deciding it too severe
for the little ones to go out again in the
afternoon. The telegraph and telephone lines
suffered but little and very few wires were
reported down.
The electric road probably was the hardest hit
and it was only by the most strenuous efforts
that the line was kept open during the day. At 6
30 all cars were run into the car barn, and
those forced to be out after that time had to
walk home. The plow was kept going, however, and
kept the tracks fairly open. Superintendent
Howard expects to have things running bright and
early this morning, although it will be hard
work to run on time.
Chief Engineer Sullivan took every precaution in
case of fire and had the firemen all on duty.
The hydrants were kept free as possible and the
possibility of any big conflagration was very
small. Up to midnight no wrecks were reported
along the coast, but the live-savers kept a
close watch and had everything in readiness in
case there were
On the Railroad.
An extra freight, bound west, was stalled in
this yard, on Monday night. The bulk of its load
consisted of Maine potatoes, and Station Agent
Grant provided wood for the stoves in the cars,
to prevent the potatoes from freezing.
The efficient baggage-master, Frank Pickering,
was on duty as extra man at the depot, Monday
night.
Edgar J. White had charge of the shovelers in
the pit at the round-house, Monday night.
The snow plow and scraper went to Salem, Mass.,
Monday afternoon, in charge of Conductor John
Small. The gang of men was under Foreman Foss.
Baggage Master Nathan Spinney went to Salem on
the scraper.
The Yankee from the east was one and
three-fourths hours behind its scheduled time of
arrival, 7:25.
The chaps in the depot telegraph office had all
they could attend to, Monday night, keeping
track of the various trains, and local calls by
telephone elicited no response.
The Pullman and Bar Harbor trains fared badly,
with the rest of them, and were quite late into
this station.
The afternoon trains were not affected so badly
by the storm as were those after four o’clock.
The merits of coke as a fuel for locomotives
were put to a severe test, dur [sic] the storm.
Charles Chapman and George Smart were the
foremen of the gang at work in the yard.
Horace Howe was in charge of the plow working
between Portland and this city.
A large force of shovelers was at work clearing
out the switches in the yard, Monday afternoon
and night.
The train due here from Boston at 5:20 in the
afternoon, got stalled at North Hampton and did
not pull out from that station until 6:28
o’clock. It came along all right from there to
this city.
Conductor Law’s train from Concord reached this
city at 7:35 o’clock, an hour and twenty minutes
late.
The train that usually arrives in Portsmouth
from Boston at 6:35 o’clock, in the evening, got
here an hour behind the scheduled time.
All the afternoon and evening trains came in
covered with snow and presenting a veritable
winter aspect, the first of the season.
People on incoming trains from Boston reported
that the storm was considerably heavier this
side of Newburyport than between that place and
Boston.
Harry Tucker, the Portsmouth mail carrier, toted
the mail from the evening trains on his back to
the post office, instead of bothering to hitch
up his team.
Notes of the Storm.
Telephone and telegraph communication between
this city and others was not interrupted at all.
It is expected that the telephone people will
have some wires to straighten out today in the
outlying districts.
Officers Robinson and Burns picked a drunk out
of a drift on Market square on Monday evening
and took him to the station.
So far as could be learned none of the mails
from the west failed to arrive.
The wind rose about one o’clock this morning and
whirled the snow in brisk style. The snow fall,
however, had almost ceased.
It is considered a remarkable circumstance by
the police that not a solitary person applied at
the station for lodging on Monday night.
More than one person besides the firemen thought
what a bad night it would have been for a fire.
Happily, not an alarm was sounded.
The Dartmouth Glee club must have appreciated
the patronage of those people who turned out, in
the face of the storm, to attend the concert.
The new plow of the Portsmouth electric railway
was run over the several lines all night, and
today the cars will probably be very nearly on
time.
The patrolmen reported that although it was not
so cold a storm as many they remember it was
about as disagreeable as they care to be out in.
Portsmouth Herald, Portsmouth, NH 2 Jan
1900
Transcribed by Helen
Coughlin. Thank you, Helen!
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