Idaho semi-weekly world. [volume] (Idaho City, Idaho Territory) 1875-1908, 1893-06-27
THE SUMNER OF 1916.
EXTRAORDINARY WEATHER FOR JUNE
AND JULY:

Ten Inches of Snow In june when People
Froze TO NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. aud Mittcns
All Summer Lung Suicides Through
Fear That Tire sun Was Cooling on.
II haven't heard much else but talk
about the weather since | came to New
4 York" said NonagenaTian James Wincpes-
ter OF Vermont, who is visiting his daligh- |
I ter In this city land you have had pretty |
fnug winter for here, ! suppose. but re |
! member the year that was winter FROM one l
end Of it until the other, and when the |
weather was so severe in June that terri |
BILE snowstorn prevailed on the nth ofthat |
month. and lsople were frozen to death in
| the mouth Of roses don't think there are
many people WHO have as vivid recollec-
ticn Of the yea. without u summer as
have, for various REASONS one being that
there are few surviving who were as old as
was III that year, and ;inother is because
near relative Of mine was frozen to death in
Vermont on June " OF that year. which
was the year 1916 ia
II was ~ years old then. and lived in
Vermont, where | have always lived, and
where that memorable season was at it's
very worst, MS in the other New England
states in June snow fell but 5 inches deep
and in New York, Pennsylvania and New
Jersey 1t WIS nowhere deeper than INCHES
In Vermont it was 10 inches on the level. |
mean the great snow of June H. Snowfall
several times daring that month, and ice
fioze 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 sevcrest opes J ever saw, even in the
. depth of winter in that locality OF severe
SHOWS, An uncle Of mine had some sheep
r in back pasture lot To get to that lot
, he had to 70 through piece of woods for
nearly IL mile. The weather he'd been very
J cold all through June The big storm Of
! the 18th began along about noon, and my
! uncle started after dinner to go to the sheep
pasture to fix up "a shelter of some kind for
, the sheep. No one had any idea, cold and
: eccentric as the season had been up to that
i time, that we could have a fall of snow
i that would amount to anything at that
9 time of year. | was ut my uncle's when lie
: left home to 90 to the sheep lot, and as he
o went out of the door he said to his wife in
+ Il iocuar way:
a If I'm not back in an hour, call the
neighbors and start them after me. June
: is Il bad month to get buried in the snow,
a especially when it gets to be so near the
!. month Of July
a Nothing more was thought of the mat
n ter. The snow increased in fury, and by
% night it had drifted SO that the roads were
q almost impossible, but even then, and
s 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 uncles return
9 his wife sent me aud my cousin, who was
" two years Younger than me. to alarm tn,
neighbors and tell them that we believe
uncle had been lost in the snow and hao
persisted. a#fE
= 1--WE had hard time getting to the near
- est neighbors. less than Il mile away, anc
Il there gave the alarm, but could go no fur
!, ther The neighbor summoned others, and
-, in spite of the severity of the night they
-, searched the woods until morning, but nj
70 sign of the missing man could be found
N The search was taken up 10y others the fol
- lowing day and all of the next night, with
co out any trace of him being discovered, ex
= cept that he reached the pasture and bull
os a shelter of boughs in one corner of the lot
", under which the sheep were huddIed. o.
- the forenoon Of the third day the searcher
found my uncle buried in the snow IA mil
a.. from the pasture, in almost an opposite d
rection from home. He was frozen stiff.
ne He had evidently become bewildered i
- the binding storm and had wandered abou
- until he succumbed to fatigue and cold
IL, seems u most improbable thing that Il pei
- son ever fell victim to Il snowstorm in tn
~ middle of June in this latitude, but hav
.a this sorrowful knowledge of one instanc,
nc at least, where such a thing was only to
= true.
Oh The wind during June, July and Al
pr gust of 1916 was continuously from I'll
north, and it blew liercely and cold. Farm
erS wore heavy oyercoats and mittens viii
ah-at their work every day during tho'
At months. There was but little use Of plan
ry Jag anything, nothing grew to speak o
tn but they did plant corn Is usual, and plan
gel ed with mittens on.
me There was very little rain during the e
he tire season. The great piles of firewoc
rly that always accumulated during the sur
ley mer months at the farmhouse back doc
vs.; in readiness for winter didn't accumula
nat in 1916. They were needed for current us
1ut July was colder even than June, and A
the gust WAS colder than July. Ice half an inc
act thick formed in July, hut in August it fro
ill an inch and more There was hea'
7ill snowstorm On Aug 30, The whole SUI
mer was us bleak and dreary as Noyembe
ice There WAS not green thing to be seen an
y" where Tho first two weeks in Septemb
st. brought the first real warm weather the
hud been during the year. The thermol
eter went up to 20 degrees, which was
degrees warmer than it had been since Ma
lbs The general opinion had been that t
the cause OF the cold summer was Il sudden 81
ago rapid cooling Of the sun by some yiole
4ed disturbance, and many believed that +
GUS end ef all tEiles was mt hand. The appei
sti- anca OF the warm spell in Septemb
ut though, disrelled that fear for time, b
elk on the 10th Of the month the cold weatE
it'll returned suddenly, and the calamity
ev- levers were once more made miserable
OF their old fear, One old man. James Cos
Of ing by name, was so hopeless over the pr
and poet that he killed all his cattle and Ia
)ers hanged himself, after yaiuly trying to
Ia duce his wife to make away with hers
uer also, TO escape the terrible and gradr
the death by freezing and starvation which
b. believed WA to be the common doom.
Gold increased from the middle Of s
tgmber until winter returned, and it IN
truly be said that, in Vermont at least,
in year 1916 had neither spring. summer I
400 autumn. There wasn't grain enough gro
IL, that year to seed the next year, and th
who were lucky enough to have more of
III, crop of 1878 uu hand than they wanted
nro. their own use Ind DO difficulty in selling
,ho for s. and more Z bushel. New York s.
n'ea Womans Variable Moods.
Woman is Il perpleXity to man, and
J, - is disappointed because he cannot keel
~ with her There is a grave in almost ev
w, woman's heart. Something is buried
- of sipht. and the inscription over it is, -