Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1886-10-15
A YEAR WITHOUT A SUMMER.
Lost In n Snow-Storm I'm the Month
OF June-Farmcrs ut Work In
ONcrcoats and Mittcns.

day before the thermometer was stand
ng at 46 degrees" said an old resident
to Honesdale, Pa, correspondent of
The NeW York. san. '-and that is the
most practical and vivid reminder l
have ever had of the year without a
summer, when it was common thing
to see the farmers. every day from
June till September. wearing not only
heavy coats but overcoats and mittens
as well. as they went about their work.
That was in 1916, and | was II years
old. and SO | have lively recollection
OF the remarkable summer. | lived in
Vermont then, where the season was at
its worst, us in New York state and
Pennsylvania only three inches OF
snow fell during the month of june,
while in Vermont we had ten inches.
Snow fell several times during that
month, and ice came daily.
Zone of the severest snow-storms
within my recollection fell in Vermont
on the 18th of that June; that was the
day we got the ten inches, and it was
ten good, solid inches on the level.
have good reason to remember that
day. My father had some sheep in n
back pasture, TO reach which we had to
90 through piece of woods for nearly
a mile. The snow began TO fall on the
18th about II O. clock in the forenoon.
and my father started. after dinner. to
fix up some sort of q shelter for the
sheep in the pasture. No one had any
idea, cold and eccentric rs the season
was, that we could have snow to
amount to anything at that time of
year. | remember father, as he went
out of the door. turning to my mother
and saying in a jocular way:
" If I'm not back in an hour, moth
or, call the neighbors and start them
after me. June is a bad month to get
buried in the snow, especially when it
gets TO be so near the Fourth of July
The snow increased in fury, and by
night it had driftcd SO that the roads
were almost impossible. but even then,
and when it grew dark. none Of the
family felt uneasy about father The
weather had grown intensely cold.
When night set in, however. and there
were still no SIGNS of fathers return,
mother sent me to alarm the nCighbors
and tell them that we believed father
had been lost in the snow. In spite of
the severity of the night all the neigh
borS that could be reached turned out
and searched the woods all night, but
no sign of the missing man could be
found. The search was kept up all
the next day and the next night with
out finding any trace of him, except
that he had reached the pasture and
built shelter Of boughs in one corner
of the lot, under which the sheep were
huddled. On the forenoon of the third
day they found father half buried in the
snow mile from the pasture. in al
most the opposite direction from home.
He was dead. He had evidently be-
come lost in the binding storm and
had wandered about until he succumb-
ed to fatigue and exposure. 1t seems n
mostimprobable thing that a person
ever fell n victim to a snowstorm in
the month OF June in this latitude, but
have sorrowful knowledge of one in
stance where it was only too true.
The wind during June, July, and
August of 1916 was almost continually
in the north, and it blew fiercely and
cold. Farmers put in their crops and
shivered under their wraps while doing
so. There was but little use in plant
ing. Nothing grew, to speak of.
There was very little rain during the
entire summer. The great piles of
frewood that always accumulated dur
ing the summer months at the farm
house back doors, in readiness for win
ter. didn't accumulate in 1916. They
were needed for current use.
Il remember that an old farmer
named Shay was the only man that had
any corn to gather in our neighborhood
that year. He saved his crop in a funny
way, and that was by building immense
bonlires around his field. which he kept
burning all night and on the coolest
days. He and hired help took turns in
patrolling the field at night and keep
ing the fires well supplied with pine
knots. which were an abundant material
in those days. This novel cxpcdient OH
the part of Farmer Shay kept his corn
field warm and free of pests, aud he
had the only crop of corn in that part
of the state.
July was colder than June, and
August was still colder. Ice formed a
quarter of an inch thick in July. but in
August. in Vermont, water was frozen
to the depth of nearly an inch. On the
30th of August there was a severe
snow-storm. August was as cherries
and dreary as November sometimes is.
There was not green thing to be seen
anywhere. The first two weeks in Sep