The weekly pioneer and Democrat. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1855-1865, 1864-01-08
New Years, Day In WinOna.

From the Republican Jan. 2.
NEW YEARS DAY, 1864, it will be men,
orable in this latitude for the extreme de-
gree of cold with which it was marked.
On Thursday afternoon a strong nor'wes-
down from the Arctic regions, as if it had
been especially commissioned to remind
the inhabitants of the temperate zone of
the existence of region of polar bears,
ice-bergs, and greasy Esquimaux. The
effect was perfect. The wind whistled
around theacorners, making most doleful
music; it penetrated every crack and
Granny in every dwelling; it even ap-
preached the hottest stoves, and set at de-
fiance all their frantic attempts to diffuse
warmth and comfort around the domestic
hearth; it devoted itself to a most dismal
revelry, and as the laments of the poor
and the friendless, whose stock of fuel was
low, increased, their complainings COM
mingled with the rising glee of the gale,
which Kissed its bitter mockery into the
very ears of the shivering poor As the
evening wore on, people betook themselves
to their beds, as if they might there more
effectually keep out the cold. But even
this expedient- is by no means
new one, in more temperate winter eli
mates than that of ours-even this expe-
dent failed in it's object.
New Years morning dawned upon a
most desOlate looking scene. The wind
had increased in fury rather than abated,
during the night, and the mercury, about
o'clock A. NJ. stood at Mirty-eight de-
grees beloao zero! THE mercury was at
37o in st. Faul.-ED. PIONEER The
streets, the commons, every place out of
doors, were covered with heaps and drifts
of snow. Scarce human being stirred
abroad, and the genius of quiet-almost of
esolation--broodedo over the town. When,
in rare cases, a neighbOr CHANGED to meet
another, the customary salutation, 1"
wish you Happy New Year!" was not
given but instead, men hOarsely grOwled,
looking out from small mountains of furs,
and mufiers, and other contrivances to
keep the ears and face from freezing, 81
wish you Warm New Year!'' This was
supposed to be the warmest greeting that
one could extend to another. Towards
midday, the atmosphere moderated some
what. 1t lost some of those keen and Bit
ing qualities of which it had partaken in
such an unusually violent degree. Where
upon few venturesome individuals, 10th
to deny themselves the privilege of max
ing New Years calls, mustered up determ-
nation to start out for this eminently So
cial and praise-worthy purpose.
And thus wearily-even painfully to
many-passed the day. Night set in, less
boisterously, perhaps, but intensely cold.
No human being who could possibly avoid
it ventured abroad. Tho stages, on arriv-
ing liz the evening from La Crosse, were
compelled to remain here over night. The
drivers wisely refused to start out before
morning, and the passengers doubtless
sanctioned the determination. The trains
On the La Crosse railroad got stuck fast in
the great snow drifts which had been &C.
cumulating for two days, and failed to az
rive. All the wagon roads are blockaded,
and it will take several days to render them
passable for heavily loaded sleighs. Such
a period of intense cold, accompanied with
such high wind, we have never before
experienced in Minnesota The winter of
1856 possibly gave us weather as cold,
measured by the thermometer, but zone
so unbearable as that of New Years
Day, 1864.