HOLT COUNTY INDEPENDENT,
December 30, 1948
Electric power furnished intermittenly until 3:00 Wednesday afternoon.
This community was visited by two storms since our last publication. The first starting last Thursday, and lasted until Friday afternoon with about six inches of snow falling. On Saturday afternoon, late Christmas day, the wind started blowing, the snow drifted, and again blocked most of the country roads.
Early Tuesday morning it started snowing agian with a strong northwest wind and turned it into a raging snowstorm which ended during the night with all of the highways and roads blocked and many towns in the state cut off without lights or telephones.
Most of the towns served by the consumers in this district were supplied power intermittenly until about 3 o'clock Wednesday afternoon when breaks in the high line were repaired.
In Northeastern Nebraska, the storm followed a drizzling rain which froze on telephone and power lines and the strong northwest wind battered the ice covered wires causing them to snap in many localities. Twenty-nine towns were isolated as far as telephone service were concerned.
The last storm was not as bad as the November 18th, but coming on top of the snow before it caused much drifting. Highway crews were out early Wednesday morning, and by evening most of the main highways were cleared. No buses were out until the afternoon. Railroads were not blocked this time, but snow plows were run ahead of the passengers which ran many hours behind time.
The Telephone company reported the heaviest damaged appeared to be from Neligh east to West Point and Fremont. And the Northwestern reported the heaviest snow on its lines was between Creighton and Spencer where five to eight inches fell.
It will be some time before roads are open again here, and some had just been opened after the November 18th storm. Mail carriers will be unable to make their routes for some time, until the roads can be reopened.
The mystery of the disappearance, last Thursday of Mrs. Neil Ryan, still remains unsolved at this time. She was last seen last Thursday afternoon about 3 o'clock, and although many clues have turned up, none has brought definite information.
She disappeared during the snow storm Thursday and relatives fear for her safety. Last Sunday afternoon, relatives asked for a check of O'Neill to see if she could be found here, and ask fire department to organize a hunt. At 3:15 the fire whistle was blown to call out the firemen and volunteers, and although the town was covered, nothing was found.
Many stories regarding to different people seeing her were traced, but to no avail. One Monday it was found that three different people said they saw her on the highway south of town, and Mr. and Mrs. Boyd Mills passed her. They decided to stop and pick her up, but in the meantime a truck stopped and picked her up. The truck owner was contacted Monday afternoon, and said he picked up a woman of her description and took her as far as three miles north of the Chambers corner, and then she started walking on south. Positive identification was not made.
At the time Mrs. Ryan left, she was wearing a light brown coat with beaver collar and cuffs, black boot type overshoes, red sweater, and black skirt. She is five foot, two inches with blonde hair and weigh 108 pounds. She took no extra clothing with her.
HOLT COUNTY INDEPENDENT,
December 30, 1948