THE  GREAT BLIZZARD OF 1888






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  <div align="center"><img src="/Image/Manhattan/Snow.jpg"></div>
                              New York City
Monday, March 12-14

   The great blizzard of 1888 claimed a victim in Roscoe Conkling, the
eminent lawyer, who had been Senator from New York. He had made his way
through the drifts of snow in the morning and got to his office. In the
evening when he wanted to return home the cabman accosted by him bargained
for $50 for a fare, rather than pay which the ex-Senator preferred to try
the journey on foot. But the weather was too much for him. As a result of
the hardships of that day in the street he died a few days later.
    
	The blizzard of 1888 long remained a favorite topic among New Yorkers.
It visited the city on Monday, March 12, after nearly twenty-four hours of
rain, so that the streets were like rivers. On this watery New York a heavy
blanket of snow descended and covered the city with slush. Then came a
severe spell of frost, which turned the great expanse of slush into a huge
cake of ice, swept by fierce gales and blanketed again with a heavy descent
of snow. On the morning of the twelfth when the citizens looked out of their
windows or attempted to pass through the streets they saw enormous drifts
confronting them in every direction. The street cars were all confined to
their barns and though an attempt was made to move the elevated trains it
was found useless. Snow plows were requisitioned, but they proved a sorry
remedy, for though the mountains of snow might be removed, the gale still
blew and the snow still fell and the depth of frozen snow underneath had
taken on the persistence and density almost of concrete. The serious extent
of the calamity dawned on the people as the day progressed. The market, the
grocer and the butcher were divided from them by an arctic wilderness, and
families without proper supplies were forced to go hungry. There was a good
deal of distress and all the resources of the city were called upon to get
things back to normal. The shifts to which people were reduced provided food
for much laughter later on, but at the time the trouble was real and almost
calamitous, and showed what the freak of the weather could do at times to a
city that proudly believed it had learned to command the forces of nature.


Source:  History of New York State 1523-1927
Publisher:  Lewis Historical Publishing Company, Inc.-New York, Chicago.
Copyright:  1927   Volume I and V
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                  Transcribed by Miriam Medina
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