Iowa voter. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1867-1874, 1871-09-21
The "Deep Snow" In Illinois Forty
Years Ago.

The following graphic account of the
"deep snow" an event so often referred
to by the old residents of Illinois, is from
a recent address delivered by President
Sturtevant, of Illinois College, before re-
union of the old settlers of Morgan, Cass
and Scott counties, at Jacksonville.
The constitution of your society defines
an old settler. He is one who resided here
before the deep snow. The thought has
occurred to me that it might be interesting
to many in this audience to be informed OF
what we mean by the deep rnow. We
shall have no difficulty in making ourselves
understood on that subject. In the inter
val between Christmas, 1880, and New
Year, 1881, of course, forty years ago last
New Years, snow fell all over Central IL
linois to depth of nearly three feet on
level. Then came rain, with weather so
cold that it froze as it fell, forming crust
of ice over this three feet of snow, nearly,
if not quite, strong enough to bear man,
and, finally, over this crust of ice, there
were few inches of very light snow. The
clouds passed away and the wind came
down upon us from the northeast with
extraordinary ferocity. For weeks, GER
tainly not less than two weeks, the mer-
curry in the thermometer tube was not on
any one morning, higher than IL degrees
below zero. The wind was steady, fierce
gale from the northwest, day and night.
The air was filled with flying snow, which
blinded the eyes and almost stopped the
breath of any one who attempted to face
it. No man could, for any considerable
length of time, make his way on foot
against it.
The story of such q winter as this may
be pleasant enough to hear to one who
hopes never to experience it; but the sit.
uation of the inhabitants of this country
was certainly rather alarming. The peo-
pie were almost wholly from regions more
southern than this, and knew nothing by
experience of dealing with such depth
of snow and such cold. Indeed, / had
then some experience Of New England
winter, and have had some since, but have
to this day never seen any other which
bore any comparison to this Jacksonville
had then about 400 people. We were de-
pendent chiefly for keeping warm on hav.
ing plenty of wood, for our houses were
certainly far enough from being warmly
built; and yet sur supply of fuel for the
winter was not as is more commonly the
case now, piled at our doors before the be-
ginning of winter 1t is in the forest, and
must be brought US, through the snow,
and by people who were quite unaccus-
toned to it. Could it be doney 1t was at
first not quite apparent that 1t could. Our
corn was ia the fields, over which this
covering of snow was spread, and to
great extent the wheat for our bread was
in sacks in like condition. Snow paths
could not be broken after the New Eng
land fashion. There few hours of wind
blows all the snow from exposed places,
and deposits it in valleys and behind hills,
where the wind cannot reach it. A little
energy with OK teams and sleds
will break out q road and there
is no more trouble till the
next snow-storm. There is no truer
picture than that given by Whittier in his
"Snow- Bound" Of the frOlic of breaking
the roads after great snow storm. But
nothing of that sort would have been OF
much use in our case. In this level coun
try there is no end to the drifting as long
as the snow lasts and the wind blows.
There are no covered places in which the
snow can be driven, consequently the
path would fill behind team, or any
number of teams in few minutes, SO that
its track could not be seen. The only
way in which snow paths were finally
made was by going as nearly as we could
in the same place, till the snow was trOd-
den hard, and rounded up like turnpike.
The snow fall produced constant sleighing
for nine weeks, and when at last warm
ram and sunshine prevailed, about the
first of March, in melting the snow from
fields and untrodden places, the roads re
NAMED as lines of ice, which disappeared
but gradually. The New Highlander has
scarcely any such experience Of winter as
thn-certainly Eot unless it be quite In |
Northern New England. We had Nd
railroads then, nor indeed any dream Of
them. But our mail communication with |
the rest Of the weird was quite interrupted |
for several weeks continuously: We In
those days had one mail week, and that