Cedar Falls gazette. [volume] (Cedar Falls, Iowa) 1860-1895, 1864-01-15
THE GREAT STORM.
Its Extent and Severity.


fercest storms, ever experienced in this sec
ton Of the country. But it seems that its
severity was not confined to our own latitude,
but that it extended its freezing ramifcations
over the greater part Of the Union. For the
purpose Of giving an intelligent idea of it's
wide scope and almost unparalleled severity
We give the substance of reports received
from all points Of the compass:
The Madison (Wis.) Journal of the End
says:
"No Geographic dispatches since Thursday.
No eastern mail since Wednesday. A sus-
pension even Of the side mails carried on
stage rou o.. Tic Thermometer ranging from
IS to 20 degrees below zero down to the point
where the murcury becomes solid. There is
prospect Of the arrival of the eastern train
due here on Tuesday last, some time in the
course of the coming week"
At Keokuk it was the coolest weather
known in eight years. The river frozen solid,
and teams crossing on the ice.
At Cairo on Saturday the thermometer in
dictated thirteen degrees below zero, and the
river frozen solid.
A dispatch from Buffalo says: "The
weather is intensely cold. Business in tho
city almost entirely suspended" s
A Cincinnati dispatch of the Sd says:
| "There has been no snow to impede rail-
roads, but the intense cold rendered opera-
tons impracticable, and business is as good
as suspended. Trains that attempted to run
encountered broken rails, and several acct
dents occurred. Two soldiers were frozen to
death at Camp Chase, on Saturday The
soldiers in camp at indianapolis suffered con-
siderably. A number had their ears and feet
frozen. On Thursday night four rebel pris-
oners were frozen to death while asleep in the
cars at Jeffersonville, Indiana"
The McGregor Oowa) Ne,os says:
| "No trains left Prairie da Chen from
| Thursday until Monday A. M, when the day
express went out on time hoping to get thro'.
! We are informed that on the west division
Of the road, all the cuts are drifted full, and
some Of the drifts were more than twelve feet
in DEPTH
The Chicago Journal Of Saturday says:
."Early yesterday morning, in this city,
the mercury in the thermometer marked 80
ucSTttS otOW ZSIU me Quest TeSlQentS
say it is by all odds" the coolest spell,
taken as whole, that has ever been known
here" ...
The Milwaukee Daily Wisconsin, says:
The mercury dropped down to 80 de-
grees below Zero early Friday morning This
was the condition Of the thermometer in
many places about the city. No such wealth
err was ever known here. 1t never before
cot below about 20 degrees. and it has not
been as low as even that for good many
years. The oldest settlers own up beat, and
confess that they never saw the like before"
A Dss Moines dispatch Of the 9th says:
1--WE are in receipt of mail to-day from
the east, for the first time since Wednesday
of last week Accounts reach US from evory
quarter, of suffering from tho recent storm.
OF the extent of it, of course, no adequate
conception can be formed"
The Dubuque Times says:
at has been matter of dispute among our
citizens whether as cold weather as that Of
the past week was ever befoae known in
Iowa. The only one that any one pretends
to compare with it is that Of 1867"
The Davenport Gasstts says:
"Thc great storm of last week was the
most severe in it's immediate and probably
remote effects that has been experienced in
this region for years. Many persons are re-
ported to have died from the effects Of the
cold, in this vicinity hundreds were partial
! ly frozen, and almost everybody suffered to
some extent. Large numbers of horses, cat
tie and other dumb creatures died on the
plains and many more were so badly injured
| IL h., g., r,,.it AL ,.,T
ed that the fall crops will be greatly affected
| by this season Of almost polar weather. At
! five o'clock on New Years morning, the tenn
perature, indicated by thermometers in diff,
ferent parts Of the city, ranged from % TO 20
degrees below zero.
The storm ragged most furiously on Thurs
day. Nearly all that day and the following
night the wind blew a hurricane, piling up
and other thoroughfares, SO as to seriously
impede all attempts to travel, except on foot.
The Burlington Hgpkeye says that " Two
stage drivers in the employ Of the Western
Stage Company were frozen to death on Fri
day-one between Marshalltown and Des
Moines, and the other on some other route
near the latter place. Another driver was
nearly frozen to death. A lady was also fro
zen to death in the stage beside her husband,
beyond Des Moines.
A Boston dispatch says:
"The snow is already very deep and much
dritted, and railroads throughout the State
badly blockaded.'
All the railroads in Illinois, Iowa, Wiscon-
sin, Ohio, and many lines in other States,
were compelled to suspend operations for the
time being.
At Memphis tho thermometer was 10 de-
grees below zero, and soldiers froze to death.
As far South as Chattanooga the cold was
intense.
! Papers from all sections OF the country
contain accounts of persons perishing, and
of hundreds that were badly injured by the
intense cold.
The loss Of live stock is very heavy. II
is said that ten thousand hogs were frozen to
death on the North Missouri railroad alone
At State Center, in this State, one hundred
and fifty hogs perished, and similar reports
are coming in from all parts. Even cattle
were frozen to death. In Franklin County
one man lost eight head Of three year old
steers. Hank Wright, express messengel
from here to Fort Dodge, reports that wo
man frozc her face while sleeping in bed a
home,-at Iowa Falls, we believe.
We might ill up several columns with &C
counts of this terrible storm and cold, but
we have given sufficient We think to show
its unparalleled severity and wide extent
We hope never to have to chronicle its equal
IMPORTANT IF TRUE.
The Memphis correspondent Of the st
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