Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1886-09-29
WITHOUT A SUMMER.
A Year In Which There Was mo- warn
Weather-Snow In June.

The year 1916 SO far as meteorolog-
ical conditions were concerned, was
the Annus Mirabilis of the nineteenth
century, and was known throughout
the United States and Europe as the
coolest ever experienced. 1t is beyond
the recollection of any person now
living. The following is brief alb
stract of the weather during each
month of that year:
January was mild, SO much SO as to
render fires needless in parlors.
February was not cold; with the ex-
sception of few days it was much like
it's predecessor.
March was cold and boisterous dur
ing the early part of the month; the
remainder was mild. A great freshet
occurred on the Ohio and Kentucky
Rivers, which caused g, great loss of
property.
April began warm, but grew colder
as the month advanced, and ended
with snow and temperature more
like winter than spring.
May was more remarkableforf rowns
than smiles. Buds and fruits were
frozen; ice formed an inch thick; corn
killed, and fields again and again re-
planted, until deemed too late.
June was the coolest ever known in
this latitude; frost, ice and snow were
common. Almost every green thing
was killed; fruit nearly all destroyed.
Snow fell to the depth of ten inches in
Vermont, seven in Maine, three in the
interior of New York, and also in
Massachusetts. Considerable damage
IN,
Quence of the rapid rise of the Missis-
sippi River; the suburbs were covered
with water, and the roads were passa-
warm days" How eagerly did
all classes look for them in
THAT MEMORABLE COLD TIME
seventy summers ago! 1t was called
q dry season. But littlerainfe fell. The
wind blew steadily from the north,
cold and fierce. Mothers knit extra
socks and mittens for their children in
the spring, and wood piles that usual
ly disappeared during the warm spell;
in front of houses, were speedily built
up again. Planting and shivering
were done together, and the farmers
who worked out their taxes on the
country roads wore overcoats and
mittens. In q town in Vermont, g.
flock OF sheep belonging to afarmer had
been sent, as usual, to their pasture
On the 18th of June a heavy snow fell,
the cold was intense, and the owner
started away at noon to look for his
sheep. "Better start the neigbbors
after me soon, wife," he said
in jest, before leaving, "oeing
the middle of June, might
get lost in the snow" Night
came, the storm increased, and he did
not return, The next morning the
family sent out for help, and started
In search. One after another the neigh
bors turned out to look for the miss
ing man. The snow had covered up
all tracks, and not until the third day
did they find him. Hewas on the side
OF hill, with both feet frozen, unable
to move. A farmer who had q large
field OF corn in Tewksbury, near Lowell,
built fires around it at night to ward
off the frost. Many an evening he and
his men took turns in watching them.
He was rewarded with the only crop
OF corn in the neighborhood. Fears
that the sun was cooling off abound
ed, and all picnics were strictly prohib
tied.
July was accompanied with frosts
and ice. On the 18th, ice was formed
of the thickness of common window
glass throughout New England, New
York and some parts of Pennsylvania.
Indian corn was nearly all destroyed;
somefavorably situated fields escaped.
This was true of some of the hillfarms
of Massachusetts,.
August was more cherries, If that
were possible, than the summer
months already passed. Ice was
formed half an inch in thickness. In
dian corn was so frozen that the
greater part was cut down and dried
for fodder; almost
EVERY GREEN THING WAS DESTROYED
in this country and in Europe. On the
3Oth snow fell at Barnet, forty miles
from London. Papers received from
England state ''that it would be re-
membered by the present generation
that the year 1916 was a year in
which there was no summer" Very
little corn ripenedin New England and
the Middle States. Farmers supplied
themselves from corn produced in 1915
for seed in the spring of 1917. 1t sold
at from 81 to s. per bushel.
September furnished about two
weeks Of the mildest weather OF the
season. Soon after the middle, it be-
came cold and frosty; ice formed a
quarter of an inch in thickness.
October produced more than it's
share of cold weather; frost and ice
were common. The summer and au-
tumn of 1916, cold, rainy and un-
genial throughout Europe, was pc
culiarly SO in France. Constant rains
fell during the months of July, August
and September. But for an abundant
crop of potatoes, famine in all it's
horrors would have been the lot of
France The Minister of the Interior
established granaries throughout the
kingdom, where corn was sold to the
destitute at g. reduced rate. Prices