St. Paul daily globe., 1888-12-15
WHAT A DAKOTA WINTER is
There Have Been Others as Mild as the
Present, if Not More So.
SEVERE WINTERS ARE RARE.
The Recollecti0ns of Pioneer Of the
Weather for Eight Years
Past.
Special 10 the Globe.

Special 10 the Globe.
ABERDEEN. Dee. 14.-It would seem
that all things combine to boom central
companied by the high prices, the pros
pect of admission at an early day, the
general thrift and prosperity of the
farmers of this region, and the marvel
lous weather of the past two months
would certainly furnish the material To-
several new volumes of that roseate lit
erature with which Dakota has in the
past
DELUGED THE WORLD.
The weather is so fine and seems to
defy the approach of winter so success
fully that it has become the theme of
general discussion. The actual scene,
which the GLOBES cartoon of last week
represented, plowing and ice-cutting
progressing at the same time, could
have been witnessed at any number of
points along the James river almost any
day during the past two weeks. AT
Columbia last week while ice harvesters
We're
LIFTING SHINING BLOCKS
the lake farmers living along the shores
were engaged plOwing their stubble
fields. This is, of course. unusual and
is due to the extreme dryness of tho
soil this season, which prevents freeze
ing. But your correspondent can re-
late facts even more surprising. Last
week farmer living about three miles
north OF Aberdeen actually drew in a
number of
LOADS OF HAY.
The grass cut earlier in the season had
remained in the windrow, and one
beautiful day it was snaked out, gath
cred up and placed III the fragrant NOV,
as good in quality as if cut earlier in
the season. The frequency of the re-
mark, Il never saw such weather." led
the GLOBE correspondent to investigate,
with view to determining whether
the weather of the present November
and December was really so unprece-
dented as some people suppose.
Finding an old settler, a man with
one of those
NoN-ERAsABLE MEMORIES
occasionally met with, interviewed
him upon the weather of the past eight
years, with the following results:
81 came into the county in the sum-
mer Of $780, said he, ''and I've kept
the run of the weather pretty carefully
ever since. The winter of 1SS0-Sl
there was no snow until Dec %. though
Minnesota was drifted several feet
deep. We had little heavy snow until
the five days storm which began Feb. $.
In 1SSl-S2 there was no snow to speak
OF. though we had severe blizzard on
the 22d OF March. That year we soWed
1vhaot i'm thp middle 0f February
The winter OF 1SS2-SJ was Il mild one,
with very little snow.
That of 1sS3-S4 brought little snow,
though we had quite fall i'll the latter
part of March.
In 1886 there was no snow until
Jan %, when about eight inches fell.
That year we plowed clear up to Christ
mas.
In 1865, there was very heavy fall
of snow. followed by late spring.
remember We did not get to seeding
until April 10. very late for this country.
Last year, you remember, we had
snow before Thanksgiving, and II held
right on. 1t vas Que OF the most severe
winters j have seen in the Northwest.
From this summary of winters since
the settlement of Central Dakota it
would seem that severe winters
WE'RE THE EXCEPTION,
and at least two late falls have preceded
the present one. Though the severity
of Dakota winters is not wholly eTea-
ton. vet the region does not deserve its
reputation. In land where autumn
often extends far into December. and
where seeding is usually practicable in
March there is certainly little ground
for comDlaint.