Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1886-01-21
REMARKABLE WINTERS.
"reminiscences of the Billiards of
Former Days.

Some "reminiscences of remarkably
cold winters will be interesting at this
time. The severest of which there is any
record was that of los years ago, 1779-SO
The cold then set in about the middle OF
November, and lasted until the middle
of February. In this long period there
was not warmth enough in the sun to
melt the snow upon the ground. nor the
ice fetters off the ponds, creeks and
rivers. Continued SHOWS accumulated
so deep that it was difficult to get from
place to place. and the ice on the rivers
was so thick that animals and vehicles
passed over them like roads. The cold
winds were SO piercing that that wild
turkeys and other fowls fell frozen from
their roosts, and deers and buffaloes
sought the cabins Of settlers at night to
shelter themselves from the blasts. All
kinds of wild animals perished in the
forests for want of food which they
could not get from beneath the snow and
from the intensity of the cold; and the
fierce wolf and panther, which bad only
skulked about the settlement by night.
came near in the broad daylight to get
the bones and offal which had been
thrown from the cabins. No rain fell
and the pioneers had to obtain water for
drinking and cooking and washing by
melting the snow. The Ohio and all
rivers in the State were frozen over with
ice thick enough to be traversed fer
miles as highways. As far south as
Nashville the rivers were thickly frozen.
The Delaware at Philadelphia, the Ches-
apeake Bay and Long Island Sound
were frozen over too.
BEAUTIFUL ICE FORESTS.
The severe winter of 17s1-S2 was re-
markable in this region for the appear
ance of the unbfoken forests which GOV.
cred much of the State. Rains fell, and
the water congealing upon the trees gave
whole forests the appearance of trees of
glass. The rays of the sun, when the
days were not cloudy, were reflected from
tree to tree, as if grove of diamonds
was lighting up the landscape with its
reflections. The weather was too cold
for the ice to melt from the branches,
and as other rains fell upon them the
ice grew so thick that many fell with
the weight, and the forest in many places
appeared as if tornado had swept over
it.
The winters of 1888, 1884. 1855, 17ss.
1892, 1896 and 1893 are all recorded in
the scrap books of our ancestors as being
excessively hard.
In 1907, the 7th of February was known
as "Cold Friday" Many a tale of this
terrible day has been recounted to the
men and women of to-day by their fore-
fathers. On the evening of the 9th it
was mild. and the rain fell as night set
in. In few hours the rain changed to
snow, which fell 10 the depth of six
inches. A hurricane now began to sweep
over the land, and soen it was too cold
to snow. 1t grew
COLDER AND COLDER
as the night deepened. and the next
morning the trees in the woods were
cracking and breaking like the reports
of guns, and everything was bound in
fetters of ice. In this, as in all of the
above instances. no exact thermomstric+
al record of the temperature is left.
In 1864. New Years Day was ushered
in precisely the same as Cold Friday,
about foot of snow falling and the
mercury dropping as low as 20 degrees
below zero, a change of 81 degrees in IL
hours.
In 1918, 1921, 1855 and 1856 the thsr
mometer registered 20 and "a degrees be-
lew zero. The latter temperature was
reached on the 10th o. January, 1857,
which was really the coldest day ever
recorded iu actual figures in our latitude.