Fort Mill times. [volume] (Fort Mill, S.C.) 1892-current, 1907-06-13
WITHOUT A SUMMER.
Snow and Ice Prevailed In June.
July and August
Or the Year Eighteen Hundred and
Sixteen Throughout The North

Sixteen Throughout The North
and East.
The yeQ 1916 was known through.
out the United States and Europe n.
the coldest ever experienced by any
person then living. There are per.
sons in Northern New York, who
have been in the habit of keeping
diaries for years. and it is from the
pages of an old diary begun in 1910
and kept up unbroken until lS4C
that the following information re.
garding this year without a summe,
has been taken:
January was SO mild that most
persons allowed their fires to 20 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
springlike. February was not cold
Some days were colder than any in
January, but the weather was about
the same. March. from the 1st, was
inclined to be windy. 1t came in like
La small lion and went out like very
IAnnocent Sheep.
April came in warm, but as the
days grew longer, the air became cold
er. 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
cornfields were planted again and
again. until 1t became too late to
raise crop. BY the last of May in
this climate the trees are usually in
leaf and birds and flowers are plenti-
full. When the last of May arrived
in 1916, everything had been killed
by the cold.
June was the coldest month OF
roses ever experienced in this lati-
tude. Frost and ice were as common
as buttercups usually are. Almost
every green thing was killed; all fruit
was destroyed. Snow fell ten inches
deep in Vermont. There was a
7-inch fall i'm the interior of New
York State, and the same in Massa-
chusettes. There was a seven-inch
fall in the interior of New York
State and the same in Massachusetts
There were only few moderately
warm days. Everybody looked, long
ed, and waited for warm weather
but warm weather did not come.
1t 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
their children, and made thick NIT
tens. Planting and shivering were
done together. and the farmers who
W. nrE a1
try roads wore overcoats and nit
tens.
On June IL there was a heavy fall
of snow. A Vermont farmer sent a
flock OF sheep to pasture on June ! 6
The morning ofthe1 tn dawned with
the thermometer below the freezing
point. About 8 O'Clock in the morn
ing the owner OF the sheep started
to look for his flock. Before leaving
home he turned to his wife and said
| jokingly:
Better start the neighbors soon
| it's the middle of June and | may
get lost in the snow"
An hour after he had left home &
terrible snowstorm came up. The
snow fell thick and fast and, as
there was so much wind. the fieecy
masses piled in great drifts along the
windward side OF the fences and out
buildings. Night came and the far
mer had not been heard of.
His wife became frightened anC
alarmed the neighborhood. All the
neighbors joined the searching party
On the third day they found him. Ht
was lying in a hollow on the side hill
with both feet frozen; he was hal
covered with snow, but alive. Most o.
| the sheep were lost.
A farmer near Tewksbury, VT.
owned a large field of corn. He bull
fires. Nearly every night he and hi!
men took turns in keeping up the fire
and watching that the corn did no
freeze. The farmer was rewarded
for his tireless labors by having th'
only crop OF corn in the region.
July came in with ice and snow
On the 4th of July ice as thick a
window glass formed throughon
New England, New York and in soT
parts of the State OF Pennsylvania
Indian corn, which in some parts o
the East had struggled through Ma
and June, gave up, froze and died.
To the surprise of everybody, Au
gust proved the worst month OF all
Almost every green thing IN thi
country ami Europe was blasted wit
frost. Snow fell at Barnet, thirt
miles from London, on August g
Newspapers received from Englan
stated that 1916 would be remember
ed by the existing generation as tn
year in which there was no summer
Very little corn ripened in New En-
gland. There was great privatior
and thousands of persons would hav
perished in this country had 1t nc
. been for the abundance of fish an
wild game-Danbury, Conn, News