Grand River times. [volume] (Grand Haven, Mich.) 1851-18??, 1856-02-27

Ir ,..HI-fI State Central Committee.
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THE WINTER-ITs PECULIARITIEs.--Th
almost universal opinion seemed to prevail,
even among those who were considered, or
at least considered themselves "sage" in mat
tiers of cold and heat, rain and snow, wet and
dry, that the winter, now near its termina-
ton, would be one of comparative mildness
with but little snow, and hence unfavorable
for extensive business transactions. But alas !
how vain, how deusive are human calcula-
tions even in predicting the weather. New
er perhaps, since the white man first set foot
on American soil, has winter of the sever.
ity of the present one been known to exist
In some of the extreme southern portions of
the union, where frost and snow have scarce
ly ever been seen, the inhabitants are storing
their ice houses with ice, from twelve to four
teen inches in thickness, cut from the lakes
and ponds in latitude but few degrees
north Of the tropics. Never before has the
Mississippi been INSTRUCTED with ice to its
very entrance into the gulf Not only the
southern, but the eastern and western states
have suffered from the intense cold. Never
has there been winter productive of SO
much injury to railroads as the present.
The expense of running the trains has been
enormous. Upon the different roads, num-
Der of engines are brought in almost daily
disabled; some with pumps frozen up and
bursted; some with side rods broken; and
some with cylinders bursted but the great
est difficulty seems to exist in the broken
tires of wheels. These are of the best
wrought iron and over two inches in thick
ness, but they are not sufficient to Withstand
the difference of contraction between the
cast iron centres and the wrought iron bands
upon frozen road, where all elasticity was
CONCEALED TO a rocky solidity. The break
age of axels, wheels, rails, and in fact, all
the stationary or moving iron has required a
more untiring vigilance and an extraordina-
ry expense. So that very many roads have
but little more than paid expenses, some not
even that mar, 7r,ol n, haqa.>.i ce,l54s Id
In the Grand River Valley, we have had
steady cold weather, but not uncommonly Sc
we're. AT Grand Haven, but few days have
been SO severely cold as to cause the index
of the thermometer to descend more than
ten or twelve degrees below zero. The wa
ter in the lake has been visible most of the
time within short distance of the shore
This comparative mildness of the atmosphere
is mainly attributable to the modifying in
tluence Of the prevailing winds from the
lake. -
An opinion seems to prevail extensively
that the extreme cold in many localities must
prove disastrous to the prospective fruit crop,
particularly TO the peach. 1t is affirmed by
some thatpeach buds are destroyed by great
er degree ofcold than twelve degrees below re-
70 others affirm that cold of much greater in
tensity than that cannot affect peach buds, if it
is accompanied by dry atmosphere, and that
it is the freezing and thawing of the buds in
the spring that destroys the fruit. The pres
ent winter will, no doubt amply test the
truth of the respective theories. 1.ar.q