Street Car and Auto Traffic Badly Crippled by Heavy Snow Fall

The heaviest snow that has fallen in this section for at least ten years, and by many old-timers said to be even a longer period, began to descend at about one o'clock Sunday afternoon and continued incessantly until about ten o'clock that night. By that hour it is said that the depth had reached, on a level, about ten inches.

It might have been a little more or a little less, but at any rate, the earth was covered to about that depth and it was as much as pedestrians, unaccustomed as they are in this latitude to such impediments, could do to make progress through it.

Early Monday morning, various kinds of sleighs (or sleds) had been rigged up, and many of our people enjoyed a real sleigh ride--the first, perhaps, for most of them.

Street car and auto traffic was almost completely tied up early Sunday afternoon, and cars were not running until late Monday morning, when street car employees rigged up an improvised snow shovel on the front end of a car, and with an additional car to help push the snow was soon cleared from the tracks, and car service resumed.

Commissioner Ed Williams brought into service his entire street force, and with a heavy road grader proceeded to clear the snow from the business streets, clearing fully two thirds of the street by throwing the snow toward the curb, where it piled up in many places several feet high.

The thawing process was very slow yesterday, and a freeze again last night will have a tendency to retard the thawing, and it is probable that we shall have snow with us for practically all of this week, even provided there is no further fall, which the weather man says will likely come.

(January 16, 1917, The Greenville Morning Herald)

Submitted by Sarah Swindell

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