Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1881-02-10
COLD WINTERS.

The winter of 1880, says the Albany
Argus, began as the present one did, and be.
fore the slight moderation in the atmosphere,
Sunday, many of the older residents, whose
fathers and mothers had told them many tales
Of that terrible winter, were specializing as to
whether the present one would resemble it
in other respects. In 1880 the cold wealth.
er set in about the middle of November,
and continued until the middle of February.
During that long period there was not enough
warmth in the suns rays to melt the snow on
the ground, nor to affect in the least the fet-
ters of ice that bound the creeks, ponds aud
rivers One snow storm followed another
until finally the ground was so covered that
it was difficult to 60 from place to place, and
the ice upon the rivers at all convenient points
was used by men and teams and animals in
place of roads The cold winds were 80 pier
cling that wild turkeys were found frozen to
death in the forests and domestic fowls fell
frozen from their roosts. The deer and buffalo
sought shelter from the blasts around the
cabins of the settlers, and all kinds of wild
animals pershed in the forest for want Of
foud, which was buried under the snow. The
fierce wolf and panther, which usually skulk-
ed about the boundaries of the settlements
only by night, now came near in broad day
light in search of the bones and ofal thrown
from the cabins of the settlers. No rain fell,
and the pioneers were compelled to get water
for drinking, cooking, etc., by melting ice and
snow. The Northern and Western rivers
we're tightly bound by frost, and even as far
south as Nashville, the Cumberland was froz
en- over with ice thick enough for the safe
passage of emigrant trains. The Delaware,
at Philadelphia, had ice three feet in thick
ness, and Chesapeake Bay and Long Island
Sound were frozen over.
Another similarity between the present
winter and that of 1880, was the mild
Autumn weather that preceded it. When
the cold began in November, 1779, the leaves
had hardly fallen from the forest trees, and
many o. the trees and shrubs were putting
forth new growth. The same condition of
thing was witnessed last Fall. The winters
of 1888, 1884, 1888, 1892, 1896 and 1899
are all reported as having been very severe.
"It is stated in "Hildreth's Pioneer His
tory" that on the 18th of December, 1888,
the Delaware and Ohio rivers were both
frozen over, anu HaVlSaCoH was suoPenue"
upon them until the 18th of the following
March,
In 1892, when soldiers were sent to the dis
astrous battlefield of General St. Clair, to
bury the dead, they encamped where Cincin-
natl now stands, January 23d. The snow
was reported two feet deep upon the ground,
and the Ohio river was so strongl ly frozen that
the soldiers rode their horses across from Ken
lucky on the ice.
The 9TH of February, 1907, known for years
as the cold Friday, was the ground work
for many grandfather's tale. On the even.
ing of the 18th, the weather was mild and
rain began to fall as night set in. In few
hours the rain changed to snow, which fell
to the depth Of six inches, after which, hur,
ricane began to sweep over the land. 1t
grew colder and colder as the night progress
ed, and the next morning the trees in the
forest were cracking like the reports of guns,
and everything was bound in tetters OF ice.
There was no thermometer to register the
cold, but the day comes down in history and
tradition as the cold Friday