Fairhaven herald. [volume] (Fairhaven, Wash.) 1890-????, 1893-03-02
THE SUMNER OF 1916.
EXTRAORDINARY WEATHER FOR JUNE
AND JULY.

All Summer Long - Suicides Through
Fear That the sun Was Cooling on.
81 haven't heard much else but talk
about the weather since l came to New
York. said Nonagenarian James Winches
Ter OF Vermont who is visiting his daugh.
ter in this city, land you have had a pretty
knug winter for here, 1 suppose, but re-
member the year that was winter from one
end Of it until the other, and when the
weather was so severe in June that a terri
BILE snowstorm prevailed on the nth of that
month, and people were frozen to death in
the month of roses. | don't think there are
many people who have as vivid recoItec-
tion of the year without a summer as
have, for various reasons, one being that
there are few surviving who were old as
was in that year and another is becausea
near relative of mine was frozen to death in
Vermont on June II of that year, which
was the year 1916.
II was IA years old then and lived in
Vermont, where l have always lived, and
where that memorable season was at its
very worst, as in the other New England
states in June snow fell but inches deep,
and in New York, Pennsylvania and New
Jersey it was nowhere deeper than 8 inches
In Vermont IL was 10 inches on the level. l
mean the great snow Of June II. Snow fell
several times during that month, and ice
froze every day in the month. In fact,
there were snow and ice in every month OF
1916.
THAT snowstorm Of June II was one of
the severest ones ever saw, even in the
depth Of winter in that locality Of severe
SHOWS. An uncle Of mine had some sheep
in back pasture lot. To get to that lot
IaasH -, 81 a.
nearly a mile. The weather had been very
cold all through June. The big storm Of
the 18th began along about noon, and my
uncle started after dinner 10 go to the sheep
pasture to fix up shelter of some kind for
the sheep. No one had any idea, cold and
eccentric as the season had been up to that
time, that we could have a fall of snow
that would amount TO anything at that
time of year. was at my unole's when he
left home TO go to the sheep lot, and as be
went out Of the door he said to his wife in
iocuiar way;
If I'm not back in an hour, call the
neighbors and start them after me. June
Is bad month to get buried ia the snow,
especially when it gets to be so near the
month of July
Nothing more was thought of the mat
ter. The snow increased in fury, and by
night it had drifted so that the roads were
almost impossible, but even then, and
when it grew dark, none of us felt uneasy
about uncle. The weather had become bit
ter cold. When night set in in earnest,
and there was no sign Of my uncle's return,
his wife sent me and my cousin, who was
two years younger than me, to alarm the
neighbors and tell them that we believed
uncle had been lost in the snow and had
persisted.
>. 1--WE had hard time getting to the near
est neighbor's, less than mile away, and
there gave the alarm. but could go no fur
Their The neighbor summoned others, and,
In spite of the severity of the night they
searched the woods until morning, but no
sign of the missing man could be found.
The search was taken up by Others the fol-
lowing day and all of the next night, with
out any trace Of him being discovered, ex-
cept that he reached the pasture and built
a shelter Of boughs in one corner of the lot,
under which the sheep were huddled. On
the forenoon Of the third day the searchers
found my uncle buried in the snow mile
from the pasture, in almost an opposite di-
rection from home. He was frozen stiff
'He had evidently become bewildered in
the binding storm and had wandered about
until he succpmbed TO fatigue and cold. Il
seems a most improbable thing that per
son ever fell a victim to a snowstorm in the
middle of June in this latitude, but have
this sorrowfuI knowledge Of one instance,
at least, where such thing was only too
true.
1.-THE wind during June, July and An
gust Of 1916 was continuously from the
north, and il blew fiercely and cold. Farm
ers wore heavy overcoats and mittens while
about their work every day during those
months. There was but little use Of plant
ing anything, nothing grew to speak Of,
but they did plant corn as usual, and plant
ed with mittens on
There was very little rain during the en-
tire season. The great piles of firewood
that always accumulated during the sum
mer months at the farmhouse back doors
in readiness for winter didn't accumulate
In 1916. They were needed for current use.
July was colder even than June, and Au-
gust was colder than July. Ice half an inch
thick formed in July, but in August it froze
an inch and more There was a heavy
snowstorm on Aug. 30. The whole sum
mer was as bleak and dreary as November.
There was not green thing to be seen any
where. The first two weeks in September
brought the first real warm weather there
had been during the year. The thermom-
eter went up TO 20 degrees, which was 25
degrees warmer than il had been since May
"The general opinion had been that the
cause of the cold summer was a sudden and
rapid cooling of the sun by some violent
disturbance, and many believed that the
end OF all things was at hand. The appear
ance of the warm spell in September,
though, dispelled that fear for time, but
on the 10th Of the month the cold weather
returned suddenly, and the calamity be-
levers were once more made miserable by
their old fear One old man, James Good
ing by name, was SO hopeless over the pros
pect that he killed all his cattle and then
hanged himself. after vainly trying to in
duce his wife TO make away with herself
also, to escape the terrible and gradual
death by freezing and starvation, which he
believed was to be the common doom.
"Cold increased from the middle OF Sep
tember until winter returned, and 1t may