The Ouachita telegraph. [volume] (Monroe, La.) 1865-1889, 1877-01-27
WEATHER RECORD.

WEATHER RECORD.
The driest Fall known in this section
for number Of years was that ending
on the 3Oth of November. Long before
that date the planters had gathered thiel
crops, and a large proportion of the cot
ton was in market. Cisterns were eX-
hausted, the ground was hard and dry
several feet down, and the bayous and
ponds were nearly all dry as a bone.
Stock suffered greatly for want OF
water.
Winter opened with no indications OF
severe cold. A few heavy frosts inter-
vened ts-"'een the opening and Christ
mas, and few light showers also, with
increasing cold.
Christmas day was followed by very
cold weather. The ground was hard
frozen, with a slight thaw on Saturday.
At night there was second freeze with
slight fall Of snow and sleet. The
next day Sunday, and the last day of
ZIG, the Centennial year, the snow fell
ffo" stboSr~ Q, d. H., uHtfi u =. A.,
when there was fall of sieet for three
hours. The ground was now covered
by snow and sleet to the depth of s
inches.
Sunday night, the Old Year and the
New, with a joint effort, added 5 inches
more of real snow, and New Years
morn dawned with IL inches of snow
and sleet combined, something the
oldest resident had never witnessed.
"Snowed in" became phrase many II
could not leave his enclosure until his
gate was relieved of the snow drift.
Unusual spectacles and scenes follow
ed, and a thousand times it was asked,
tsDid you ever see such a SNOW 9" with
out once getting an affirmative answer.
"Fields of ice'' came floating down the
river; two or three small gorges in front
OftOWn gave one a miniature dea of the
roar and crash Of a Nothern sspack''
and 'sbreak up''; improvised sleighs
of all kinds and patterns, save the real
sleigh, usurped the place Of buggics
and even of drays and hacks. The
sidewalks became trails, where, two
meeting, one felt.impelled by polite
ness to step aside on the untroGden
snow; business ceased, and the whole
population and the very atmosphere,
not only seemed but were, in fact,
subtlued and brought to silence and /.
standstill. 1t was u rare occurrence-a
real "weather itcm''-for this sunny
latitude. AS matters OF fact, and for
future reference, it should be mention
cd that both above and below Monroe
the Omtcliita s'ire,' acas frozen oue1. soiicLy,
and that ice was found below this city
in the river measuring four inches IN
thickness. The damages by the snow
amounted to the destruction of the
Methodist church and of the superstruc-
ture Of the Wharfboat, both falling in
from the weight Of snow on the
roofs. The Methodist church had been
occupied but few hours before the
crash by the Sunday School, and Mr..
Head, at the Wharf boat, was about
going to the boat just before the de-
struction came there. The church cost
near five thousand dollars. 1t will not
be rebuilt. The Wharf boat will be
repaired at a cost of about 5000. In I'M
exposed places little piles of snow were
to be found two weeks afterwards.
For very little money you can now
buy several handsomely bound books,
by the best authors, at the bookstore
Of b. Rills. Don't fail to go and price
them.
The installation of the new officers of