The Burlington weekly hawk-eye. [volume] (Burlington [Iowa]) 1860-1876, 1864-01-23
Intensity Of the Cold Three Hun
dred Miles South Of It. Louis.
ON BOARD OF THE STEAMER IDAHO,
AT THE Foot OF ISLAND IA,

January 1st, 1864.
Editor Missouri Republican On yester-
day morning the Slst ult., at half past Z 4.
m, we left New Madrid, Mo-, bound for
Memphis. At that hour it was raining; at
81 it commenced showing; at 81 it com
menced freezing, with high wind; by 1Oi
the wind fecame so furious that we saw
that it would be impossible to keep from
being blown ashore. / stood on the deck
all u this time, and had the boat held
Iuartering to the wind until we had blown
within three hundred feet of the Missouri
shore. At this point we east anchor, and
were fortunate enough To have good an
| Choir, and good chain. The storm held
us stern up stream for twenty-four hours.
After the anchor was made fast and the ex
element Was oven with me, | started for
the cabin. At this moment / found that
my clothes, my face and hair were one
solid cake of ice. But this was OF but lit
! tie importance to lae. AZ the boat was vet
surging Ike a mad bali or a wounded ger
anu the temperature growing colder and
colder The wind now had a fair ansi nm
molested sweep Of over ter miles at IA. We
mad Tears ~ being torn lose from oar an
chor age, 50 We KEEP. mp steam all the time
But now for proof Of the intensity OF the
cold. Our machinery is so arranged thai
the engines exhaust steam into the chin.
neys, but before he steam would OF
! could reach the chimneys ii all turned into
| water. tbeing cOraersad1 then the water
twollid run down over the breeding ana
over the ire doors. lii doing this il froze
and cakes OF ice as large - = mans body
made in the breeding, and icebergs sever
feet long by ten inches thick closed up the
fire doors. All this slime il was CROWN.
colder and colder. During the night. oul
starboard engine fro2a mp and hursted th,
head ont. The stand pipes under the Ell
glne. which are al all times filled with ho
water, froze up and bursted. On Frida,
morning, January lst the weather became
calm but the cold was intense. The TO.
would freeze and turn into frost, and blow
rs thick as snow and would stick TO every
thing ii touched. Now, for 4 beautiful
sight an iceberg in the Mississippi river
The chimneys stood like pyramids Of fin.
snow. Each guy rod was from four to SIX
inches in diameter, and not a break or darl
| spot TO be seen on any part Of the boat, a.
this frost penetrated every part of The
deck-room and every air hole about tn.
| cabin. II would have been impossible fol
u man to have lived one hour on the fore
castle of the boat. At charlottesville, fivs
miles below us, the Thermometer stood a
22o below zero, and at the point where ",
We're exposed TO the blast, with ten mile
sweep, it certainly must have been 400 be
! low zero.
On a plantation near where We lay every
hog on the place froze to death, and grea
many cattle. The ice is now fast making
all around us; il fro2c during the nigh
solid. from our boat to the shore, a distance
| OF 300 feet; but thank heaven, we are al
safe once more. Suffering will certainly
be no name for the intense distress thai
Will be brought upon the people of this
country where supplies cannot be had.
Respectfully, G. II. TYLER.
Captain Steamer Idaho.