The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1873-03-27
MEMORABLE WINTERS.
From the N. Y Herald

had lew parAlio IL In the latter climatic
history Of this country. Like the WRITER
of 1878, which broke in 80 prematur
~ upon the French campaign IN Russia,
the present cold season came early in De-
cember. The intensely low temperatures
through which we have passed may serve
to show that these boreal phenDmena are
not TO be altogether confined to a colonial
or prilneval age.
| We know that la the remote periods of
European civilization tue elm tie of the
Old World was much colder than it now
is. The italian SKY" now the boast tor
all that is soft and genial, must have worl
d torbtdding and very different aspect
when the classic 1nnallst, describe the
streets of Rome as blocked with ice an.
SNOW, the Ttber as solldIy frozen over,
and when tne tender herDJ we're the prey
Of frost. The fulrest valleys OF Central
Europe, now famous for their verdure
and vintage, were III those early periods
the abode of the arctic elk and reindeer;
and the STREAMS which drain them, AS
GlObon tells us, were annually covered
with firm bridges of ice, which the bar.
bar'an armies securely crossed Even ia
comparatively modern times intense colo
has visited large portion Of Europe. II
1853 the Baltic was clothed with AN i'm
mense Sheet of ice, over which Charles x.
marched his entire army rom Holstein To
Denmark, a distance OF fifty miles. There
marched his entire army from Holst,in t"
Denmark, distance of ifty miles. There
are not waiting several instances, extend
ing AZ far as 1898, when the Thames was
so thickIy coated with ice as tn furnish
safe entertainment to large fairs, while
just after our Western country was settled
at the close OF the last century, the ice
covered sea around Holland wss the the
atre of a Winters campaign.
Arago, the Distinguished French physi-
clan, attempted to argue from the collect
ed annals of extreme Winters that the
climate of the continents had in the lapse
of ages of the worlds physical life un.
dergone no changes. But in the light of
the present century, now nearly :hree.
quarters passed, such view must be dis.
csrded. Whether we accept the ten year
cycle Of hot and cold years, or whether we
adopt the cycle of forty years. indica ed
by the rigorous Winters of 1909, 1749,
1889. 1880 and 1871 '72, including the
present, We find great mitigation in the
cold. No winter in the ninetesnth CEN
tury will compare in severity with many
that can be named in the previous, the
mediaval and the classic periods, In
which latter Ovid mentions the fact that
the waves of the Eux ne or Black Sea
we're strongly congealed.
The colonial records OF America give
but very meagre accounts of accurate
thermometric data, but few facts show
that our climate, cold as this winter has
been, is not as rigorous as when the pres
ent century opened. Mr.. Jefferson states,
in his valuable papers, that in 1850 the
Chesapeake Bay was frozen solid from its
head to the mouth OF the Potomac River,
and at Annapolis, whore it is more than
1 Auo loo hot, ha ipfo <>f
land, tho ice was SO firm that loaded car
riages went over it. From this and other
phenomenal occurrences the Virginia phil
osophor inferred that when the country
was cleared the extreme cola would be
diminished. The old records Of Ameri-
can climate, such as those Of Rush and
Volney, indicate winters ofgreater severi
ty shan now occur. Samuel Williams,
Harvard, the learned author Of a series of
thermometric observations during the last
part of the previous century, computed
the change of winter climate at Boston at
ten or twelve degrees from 1880 to 1888.
AS before minated, there are no Their
mometric records sufficiently comprehen-
sive to afford inferential conclusions rs to
climate change in the West and the Val.
ley of the Mississippi; but the early ac-
counts Of the first settlers and explorers
all go to show extremes Of cold greater
than are now experienced. The Canadian
settlers, until after the middle OF the last
ceutnry. found the climate around Quebec
ton severe for corn to riDen