GRAFTON TOWNSHIP – A tractor-trailer truck jack-knifed on an icy hill on Route 26 Thursday morning, sliding 40 feet before coming to a standstill and blocking traffic for more than 90 minutes, an Oxford County sheriff’s deputy said.

“She knew it was icy, and was going 30 to 35 miles per hour,” Cpl. Chancey Libby said. “I think the big problem was she was going a little too fast.”

He said Valerie M. Clary’s 73-foot rig also was empty, making the back end of the truck light and helping to cause the rear end to slip out on the slippery road.

Also, since the area is mountainous and remote, nobody’s cell phone worked, delaying any rescue efforts.

“It is in the williwacks,” Libby said. “My radio barely works there.”

Clary, 53, of Michigan, was driving the USA Truck to Jay from Montreal. She had carted some plastic goods to a Carharts Company facility in Canada, Libby said. He said she was familiar with the roads in that area.

Libby said about 15 trucks and four or five cars were blocked on the southbound lane of the route. One or two cars and eight or nine more trucks, including a Maine Department of Transportation truck that was trying to sand the road, were waiting in the northbound lane.

Someone finally called dispatch from a land-line telephone after the truck drivers radioed for help, Libby said.