Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1881-01-22
COLD WINTERS,
To which the Present is Not TO
be Compared for Severity.

The winter of1779-S0, says the AL
bany Argus, began as the present one
did, and before the slightest modera-
ton in the atmosphere, Sunday, many
of the old 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
1779-8O, the cold whether set in about
the middle of November and con-
tinued 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
effect in the least the letters OF ice
that bound the creeks, ponds and
rivers. One snow-storm followed
another, until finally the ground was
SO covered that it was difficult to go
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 so
piercing that many wild turkeys were
found frozen to death in the forests,
and domestic fowls fell frozen from
their roosts. The deer and buffalo
sought any shelter from the blasts
around the cabins of the settlers, and
all kinds of wild animals persisted in
the forest for want of food, which was
buried beneath the snow. The fierce
wolf and panther, which usually
skulked about the boundaries OF the
settlements only by night, now came
near in the broad daylight in search
of the bones and ofal thrown from
the cabins Of the settlers. No rain
fell, and the pioneers were compelled
to obtain water for drinking, cooking,
ETC., by melting snow and ice. The
northern and western rivers were
bound by frost, and even as far as
Nashville the Cumberland was frozen
over with ice thick enough for the
safe passage of emigrant trains The
Delaware at Philadelphia had ice
three feet in thickness. and Chesa-
peake Bay and Long Island Sound
were frozen over. Another similarity
between the present winter and that
of 1779-S0 was the mild autumn
weather that preceded it. When the
cold began, in November, 1879, the
leaves had hardly fallen from the for
est trees, and many of the trees and
shrubs were putting forth new growth.
The same condition of things
was witnessed last fall. The winters
of 17S3-84-85-88-93-96 and '99, are
all reported as having been very Sc
we're. 1t is stated in Hildreth's Pho
neer, that on the 18th Of December,
1888, the Delaware and Ohio rivers
were both frozen over, and navigation
was suspended upon them until the
18th of the following March. In 1892,
when soldiers were sent to the disas-
trous battlefield Of General st. Clair
to bury the dead, they encamped
where Cincinnati now stands January
23rd. The snow was reported two
feet thick upon the ground, and the
Ohio was so strongly frozen that the
soldiers rode their horses across from
Kentucky on the ice. The 9TH of
February. 1907, was known for years
as cold Friday, and was the groundwork
for many a grandfather tale. On the
evening of the 18th the weather was
mild and rain began to fall as night
set in. In a few hours the rain
changed to snow, which fell to the
depth of six inches, after which a hur-
%ricance began to sweep over the land.
1t grew colder and colder as the night
progressed, and the next morning the
trees in the forests were cracking like
the reports of guns, and everything
was bound in letters Of ice. There
was no thermometer to register the
cold, but the day comes down in
history and tradition as Gold Fri
day"