Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1886-01-12
THE LOWEST on RECORD
MERCURY GOES WITHIN THIR-
TEEN DEGREES OF ZERO.

Wave II as Come to StaY-Ihe NogetR-
bic Interests Heavily Damaged Zee in
theBiVera and p onds--W alter Pipes and
Gas Metres Frozen Up-Plumbers and
Coal Dealers UapDy-Looking for
Warm Wave.
The majority OF people wondered yes
terday If the cold wave that struck the
city last week had come to stay the rest
Of the winter. It showed no signs OF
moving on. Att O'Clock yes terday morn
ing the signal station reported the mer-
curry down to 10 degrees, the lowest that
1t has ever been known to 20 In savannah.
At o'clock 1t had crept UP 20 l8 degrees.
and at noon to 81. The highest 1T went
was % at 3 O'Clock in the afternoon. when
it got tired and started down again Al
10 o'clock last night it had gone as low as
u and was still falling.
Everybody that had overcoats, ear
mufiers and gloves wore them. a red
nose was no longer a sign that It's owner
was not a pr0bioitonist- People VINO
were compelled 10 be out OF doors walked
brisklV. Street car drivers whipped their
arms TO keep warm and every body was
in a hurry.
The flagstaff on the post Office building
shat has not been without signal OF some
ed butt was bare all day. The weather
was doing its prettiest without any help
from the Signal Service. There WAS some
talk Of building an ice palace. There is
plenty Of material fit gets in the right
shape and lasts Long enough. Toe ponds
around the city were smooth. crystal
sheets ice The small boy was hll Of
glee, and skated aud sind and tumbled to
his satisfaction. The Ogeeehee canal was
frozen in many places. At the I'D water
works reseryoirthe ice was strong enough
10 hold up a man. IN the slip at the
Ocean Steamship wharves 10 was an inch
thick. Herb river, which divides Isle OF
Hope from toe mainland, was frozen
: along itga&sas. Such "a thing was never
known before. Tie weather at the Isle Uf
Hope aud at all suburban points was ex-
ceedingly severe, and number Of people
moved into the city.
While 10 is impossible yet to tell what
is the extent Of the damage TO the vege-
table interests, it is thought that every
rHng in this section is killed. Farmers
who were in the city yestesday said that
it will be day or two yet before they
are able to tell anything about tue loss.
As soon as the weather mOderates, and
inc SUN thaws out the frozen plants, they
can tell what it will be. The principal
damage viii be 10 tine cabbage crop.
At Isle of Hope ana on the farms up the
river everything is frozen. One farmer
at Isle of Hone has 40. 600 cabbaQes in the
field and 10000 more in BEDS and thinks
they were all killed. The beet crop, it IS
thought, is killed. Flower and fruit gar
dens will also sui heavily.
A change in the weather is awaited
with a great deal OF anxiety. The warm
wave that the signal service SAID had
started in the Northwest was nowhere to
be found Yesterday. 1t probably backed
fe . rf az al Wi "A
a bearskln suit and arctic overshoes if il
comes this way. The plumbers
and gas men had busy day Of
it. Water pipes were frozen up
all over the city. The gas Office was be-
sieged with inquiries about frozen metres.
NOBODY seemed to know what to do when
the gas went down except TO start for the
gas Office. A good many business houses
and private residences burned candles
and Kerosene last night because the gss
wouldn't burn. One plumber said that
every other house IN the city seemed 10
have a frozen water pipe, The fountains
that were left running were frozen. The
1ull fountain in the Savannah Hospital
a1sse brds WIS a beautiful sight. The water
81 & : AZ .t'fell into the basin, and icicles
formed from the top, iii the whole
fountain resem hied an immense Iceberg.
Slender icicles formed around the sides OF
the basin, which WAS a mass OF sOn1 Ice,
and flashed and glittered In the sunlight.
The cold wave showed no favor TO any
body. Merchants said that there has been
a bag falling of in trade since il struck
she city. The coal dealers are about the
only men who are happy. All the dealers
were Overrun with orders yesterday,
and say they have ali they can
I'LL for q week. Most Of the trains
arrived behind time and the mails
are considerably DELAYED. Everybody
felt the effects OF the cold. There was a
good deal Of speculation as TO whether 1t
has ever been colder in Savannah. The
old inhabitant talked about 1887 when
snow was foot deep on the day Martin
Van Baren was inaugurated President.
Others thought Dee. 10 and 20, 1854. the
DAYS and night before the Confederate
army evacuated the city we're colder days
tnan yesterday. There Is no record Of
the temperature then and nobody can tell
whether to was colder or not. Nearly
everybOdV can remember pref
~ cold day bat very few can re-
tnem Der any that came quit
mp TO yesterday. The officer on duty AZ
ahe Signal station last night said be
thought the back OF the cold wave had
been broken, and that it will be warmer
to-day, but be wasn't sure about it.
Tue coolest place in the United States,
att O'Clock yesterday morning, was Bis
marck. Oak. where mercury registered
81 deg below zero. At 70. Paul IL was ,.
deg. below at Duluth and omaha il was
10 deg, az Davenport, Ia, l3 and az Gin
cinnGu II. LeayenwOrtb. HAS, and chi.
cago registered 10 deg, Cleveland
o., and Nashville registered 8. and
Knoxville, Cairo, H., and ST. Louis. 1
deg Portland. Me-, was the only
place in New England where Mercury wa.
below zero. At Boston it was . deg
above, at New York 10 deg. above, al
Philadelphia il deg, and Baltimore
degrees. Atlanta was the coolest place
south Of Knoxville, and, even there, mer
curry did not get below zero, though it wenI
down 10 IL. Tho warmest place was prob.
ably Key West, where the thermometer
registered %. AT Galveston il was %
Jacksonville registered % deg. Way
MP i'm Wyoming. Cheyenne reported 20
deg, and santa Fee, New Mexico, 10.
The Indications for to-day are: Fair
weather, nearly stationary, followed by
SLOWLY rising temperature, northwest Z
southwest Winds, become variable.