Evening star., 1898-02-03
COLD WEATHER.
A Case Where the Ordinary Their
mOmeter Gave Up in Despair.

A Case Where the Ordinary Their
mometer Gave Up in Despair.
Speaking about cold weather." re-
marked Mr.. Joseph Cox, a cattle man
from Montana, who is now stopping at
the Ebbitt House. This IS nothing to
some of the weather 1 have seen at home,
ard especially on the ranges. You have
heard of Havre, Montana, which is a rival
of Medicine Hat in the matter of weather
records. 1t is but a short distance from
Fort Assinaboine. and is said to be the
coolest spot in the United States where
the government keeps a weather observer
situated, and. by the way, it gets about
as hot there in the summer time as any
place know of outside of Arizona" Con-
tinuing, Mr.. Cox said stories of cold
weather out there would seem incredible
to people who seldom see below zero
weather, but referred TO the records for a
substantiation of hts tales of frigidity
Il remember once in the winter of 1898.
which. next to 1885, was the coldest
heather We had there during my recollec-
tion, l was on my way from Helena to st.
Paul. A blizzard was raging when we left
Helena, and by the time We reached Ben
ten 1t became furious in fact it was so
cold and the storm ragged SO tiercely that
1t was a question whether our train could
get by Benton, but as Havre, a hundred
miles north, was a division point, the rail-
load officials were anxious to get the train
through. so we pulled out of Benton. The
engineer could not see a foot ahead of his
engine and consequently went very slowly
to avoid accident. Cold weather Is very
apt to snap rail, you know. Late at
night we reached Havre. when we went to
the hotel. There were about a dozen of us
in the party. Our train was what they
call a stub train that runs from Butte to
Havre a local, and carried no sleepers.
| was to catch a main line train at Havre
for st. Paul, but I was informed, as were
the rest of my fellow passengers. that the
road was tied up east and west as effect
ually as If there were no tracks. My train
was showed in lear the summit of the
Rocky Mountains on the west and no one
could foretell when 1t could be dug out
The next day it stopped showing and
kept growing colder. We were Informed
at the railroad office that the tracks in
the mountains were buried beneath the
heaviest fall of snow that had been known
in years, while the prairies on the east
We're covered with a great depth Of snow,
ard and in the cuts it was piled mountain high
We would have to wait until plows could
be sent out over the road. My prospects
o. proceeding eastward were not very
bright, for I knew what it meant to have
q train buried in the mountains after
snow fall of that caliber.
"Our landlord assured us that he had
plenty of coal and provisions to last
through the blockade. and, as Havre was
quite an important point, being a junction.
although not large, the hotel accommoda-
tions were quite ample and We had little
to complain of. 1 was acquainted with
many of the party. one Of them being Mr.
c. E. Conrad, a wealthy banker and cattle
man of my state. Among the others were
some travelling men and a newspaper man,
who had been down to the legislature at
Helena in the interest Of some measure.
Their we had couple of lawyers who had
been lobying. So it was a jolly party,
and we had but little trouble in passing
away the time
"On the second day it began 10 get alarm
ingly cold and We wondered how low
the thermometer would reach. Some of
the men commenced laying odds on the
mercury, the same as they do on the speed
Of an ocean liner That aroused a deeper
interest in the weather, and we received
frequent reports from the weather OBJ
servers office, which was but few doors
from the hotel. The observer said the
indications were that 1t would drop to
the lowest point ever reached and grew
very enthusiastic. Now 1t is not much
to enthuse over, to see it getting cold
that mercury would not record it. But
the observer grew ecstatfc as 1t kept drop
ping, and we began to imbibe some of his
enthusiasm. increased by the wagers we
had laid on the drop.
I'VE will beat Medicine Hat out yet"
joyously remarked the observer. He told
us 1t would reach the lowest point about
midnight, so number of us dropped in
little before that hour. See her drop!
exultantly cried the observer. It's now
down to 50 below and you can almost see
it move he added.
ut did keep dropping. and within a short
time 1t reached 81 degrees below zero,
where it remained The climax was reach
ed. and Medicine Hat was knocked out,
as the observer learned by telegraphic ad-
vices received the next morning. There
is record breaking for YOU he said, and a
gleeful smile played upon his countenance
I'VE were thankful that we had seen
something remarkable. II 1t was only
cold snap doing its worst; but I froze my
ears going from the weather doctors to
the hotel. To finish my story, we were
showed in there for twelve days, and be-
gan to feel like we were entitled to a vote
there. Between dances and card playing
and betting on the weather we had quite
an enjoyable time, but 1t is pleasanter to
tell about than it was to experience. When
my train arrived from its recent snowy
grave in the mountains we heard some aw-
full stories from the passengers. who were
in the cars all that time, and especially
from those who were in the secoNd-class
coaches. lily prepared for such an expe-
rience. The cattlemen brought some cold
weather stories that spoiled all my fun,
for lost a large number of cattle by the
freeze"