The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1877-02-17
An Illinois Winter of the Olden Time.

An Illinois Winter of the Olden Time.
John Carral Power has just issued his.
tory of Ssngamon county, ILL.,, volume Of
800 pages, IN which we find very interest
ing account OF the famous hard winter OF
1880, of which President Sturtevant is quoted
as saying, at is a consolation that such a
winter never occurs but once IN the memory
of man. The account states
In the interval between Christmas, 1880.
and January, 1884, snow fell over Central III.
inois to depth of fully three feet on a level
Then came a 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 was a few inches
of very light snow. The clouds passed away,
and the wind come down upon Us from the
northwest with extraordinary ferocity. For
weeks certainly not less than two weeks, the
mercury in the thermometer-tube Was not, IN
any one morning, higher that 12degrees be-
low zero This snowfall produced constant
sleighing for nine weeks" The snow and
the cold were exceedingly destructive to deer,
turkeys, and other wild game, which died of
starvation.
Yet still more extraordinary freak of the
weather occurred Dec. co. 1885, The morn.
ing vas mild with settled rain gradually
changing the snow on the ground into mis-
cradle slush Suddenly black cloud came
sweeping over the sky from the northwest,
accompanied with roaring wind. AS the
cold wave it bore struck the land, the rain
and slush were changed in twInkllng into
ice. 1t is related of one traveller on horse
back, caught in this storm, that he had bare
ly closed his umbrella, having dropped the
reins on the horses neck for the purpose, ere
the wind reached him. AT that instant wat
er was dripping from everything about him; ;
but, when he drew the reins taut, ice ratified
from them Within fifteen minutes the trav.
elers horse was walking on a solidly-frozeh
road The rider at this time was four miles
from Springfield, and, when he arrived at that
village and attempted TO dlsmeunt, his coat
was like mail Of sheetiron, and he found
himself held firm to his seat. "He then
called for help, and two men came out, who
tried to lift him Off; but his clothes were fro
zen to the saddle, which they ungirthed, and
then carried man and saddle to the fire, and
thawed them asunder.'
1t is stated, upon the authority of many eye.
witnesses, that the change of temperature in
this storm was so great and swift that "Chlck-
ems and geese, also hogs and cows, were fro
zen in the slush as they stood, and unless they
were extricated by cutting the ice from about
their feet, renamed there to perish A dro-
yer with herd of from 1000 TO 1900 hogs
was overtaken by the sudden cold on the
open prairie, eight miles from the nearest
town He left his hogs, and rode with his
men to the village for safety, of the party
being more or less frozen before shelter was
reached. The abandoned animals piled one
upon the another for warmth. Those on the
inside smothered, and those on the outside
froze; and, the next morning, pyramid of
500 dead swine was heaped up on the prairie.
The remainder wandered about, but eventu-
ally persisted of the cold. The loss of human
and amin al life from this extraordinary fall
of the temperature Is said to have been very
great