Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1907-06-07
Year without A Summer.

The year 1916 was known throughout the
United States and Europe as the coldesl
ever experienced by any person then living
There are persons In Northern New York
who have been In the habit OF keeping dia-
ries for years, and IL Is from the pages OF an
old diary begun In 1910 and kept up M.
broken until 1910 that the following infor-
m alton regarding this year without sum
m or has been taken:
January was 30 mild that most persons
allowed their fires to go out and did not
burn wood except for cooking. There were
a few cold days, but they were very few.
Most of the time the air was warm and
sprnglike. February was not cold. Some
days were colder than any in January, but
the weather was about the same. March,
from the LIST to the 9th, was inclined to be
windy. IL came In like q small lion and
and went out like very innocent sheep.
April came in warm, but as the days grew
longer, the air became colder, and by the
first of May there was temperature like
that of winter, with plenty of snow and ice.
In May the young buds were frozen dead
ice formed half an inch thick on ponds and
rivers, corn was killed, and the cornflelds
were planted again and again, until it be-
came too late 10 raise crop. BY the last OF
May In this climate the trees are usually In
leaf and birds and flowers are plentiful.
When the last of May arrived in 1916 every
thing had been killed by the cold.
June was the coolest month Of roses ever
experienced in this latitude. Frost and ice
were as common as buttercups usually are
Almost every green thing was killed all
fruit was destroyed. Snow fell to ten inches
in Vermont. There was finch fall in the
interior Of New York State, and the same In
Massachusetts,. There were only few mod.
erately warm days. Everybody looked, long
cd, and waited for warm weather, but warm
weather did not come.
II was also dry; very little rain fell. All
summer long the wind blew steadily from
the north in blasts, laden with snow and Ice.
Mothers knit socks of double thickness for
their children, and made thick mittens.
Planting and shlvering were done together,
and the farmers who worked out their taxes
on the country roads wore overcoats and
mlttens.
On June II there was heavy fall Of snow.
A Vermont farmer sent flock Of sheep to
pasture on June 10. The morning of tho
nth dawned with the thermometer below
the freezing point. About Q o'clock In the
morning the owner OF the sheep started to
look for the flock. Before leaving home he
turned to his wife and said, jokingly:
"Better start the neighbors soon It's the
middle of June and l may get lost In the
snow"
An hour after he had left homo terrific
snowstorm came up. The snow fell thick
and fast, and, as there was 80 much wind,
the feecy masses piled in great drifts along
the windward side OF the fences and out.
buildings. Night came and the farmer had
not been heard Of.
His vile became frightened and alarmed
the nelghborhood. All the neighbors joined
the searching party. On the third day they
found him. He was lying In hollow on
the side hill with both feet frozen; he was
half covered with snow, but alive. Most OF
the sheep were lost.
A farmer near Tewksbury, VT, owned
large field of corn. He built fires. Nearly
every night he and his men took turns In
keeping up the fire and watching that the
corn did not freeze. The farmer was re
warded for his tireless labors by having the
only crop of corn in the region.
July came In with snow and ice. On tho
4th oil July ice as thick as window glass
formed throughout New England, New
York, and In some parts of the State OF
Pennsylvania. Indian corn, which In some
parts Of the East had struggled through
May and June, gave up, iroze and died.
To the surprise OF everybody, August
proved the worst month OF all. Almost
every green thing in this country and
Europe was blasted with frost Snow fell
at Barnet, thirty miles from London, Eng
land, on August 80. Newspapers received
from England stated that 1916 would be ro'
membered by the existing generation az the
year In which there was no summer Very
little corn ripened in New England. There
was great privatloD, and thousands Of per-
nos hau f,ariahaH in thia country
had IL no. boon for tho abundance of fish
and wild game D1nljury (C0nn.l Keaos