METEOROLOGICAL NOTES. — DOANE. 365 



The loss to the province was enormous ; trade being tempor- 

 ■arily paralyzed, and the prices for supply of fuel, food and other 

 ;necessaries increased rapidly as the stores decreased. 



In olden times when snow fell deeply (but, perhaps never so 

 •deeply), and communication was wanted the roads were used, but 

 in these days in winter only main roads are kept open, and 

 when the snow falls deeply people stay at home or go by rail. 

 In but few districts are supplies put in to last the winter 

 through. The railways are depended on to provide from day 

 to day or week to week. A winter such as that of 1904-5 

 demonstrates the extent to which the whole economic system 

 of the country now hinges on the railways and how with all 

 oui progress we are still merely the plaything of the elements. 



A call from the pulpits of Wolfville and Kentville brought 

 volunteers to attack the ice and snow fetters of the Dominion 

 Atlantic Railway. Professors, teachers and students from King's 

 and Acadia Colleges, Horton Acadeni}' and Acacia Villa rendered 

 valuable assistance in clearnig the line, while ladies helped on 

 the work by ministering to the wants of the laborers. The first 

 train to Kentville after the disastrous blockade got through on 

 February 27 th with four cars of coal. The line to Sydney was 

 opened on the 22nd, but the railway to Yarmouth (Dom. 

 Atlantic Ry.) defied the best efforts of man until March 9th. 

 Even after the railroads were opened snow continued to fall 

 and drift into the cuttings, walled in by perpendicular banks 

 of snow level with the roof of the cars. One incident reported 

 in connection with the snow blockade on the Folleigh Mountain 

 is worthy of note : A farmer who was working his weary way 

 along a country road with a pair of horses and load of hay was 

 stopped at a railway crossing by a 12 to 14 feet cut in the 

 snow which had been opened by an Intercolonial Railway train 

 leaving the sides perpendicular. The crossing problem was 

 solved by backing the sno^r plow into the cut and driving the 

 team over the bridge thus temporarily provided. 



