Amador ledger., 1908-01-24
Cold Weather Facts.

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too early to give much encourage
ment to the oldest inhabitants to in
dulge in boasts of the cold winters he
has known, as our coolest weather
comes oftenest late in January or
early in February, but when the new
year is beginning to get its teeth the
venerable observer will doubtless
have something to say. As he will
talk of days preceding the records of
the Weather Bureau, he will have
clear field, with no ono SO bold as TO
deny his statistics.
IL may be we'll at this time not to
discourage him says the Indian
apolis News, but to go back i'm his
tory somewhat from traditionary re-
cords some account of severe freezes
that will be difficult for him to equal.
And here they are:
In the year 4O1 the Black Sea was
entirely frozen over. In 452 the
Danube was frozen so that Thredmare
marched on the ice to Swabia to
avenge his brothers. death. In 642
the cold was so intense that the
Strnit of Dardanelles and the Black
Sea we're frozen over 1t is chron-
icled that the snow in some places
drifted to a depth of 80 feet.
In $50 the Adriatic was entirely
frozen over. In 992 and 1893 the vines
we're killed by cold and the cattle
frozen in their stalls In 1907 the
cold was so intense in Germany that
many travellers we're frozen to death
in the roads. In 1898 it was intense
~ cold in Italy The River 20 was
frozen from Cremona to the sea. In
l234 a pine forest was killed by frost
at Ravenna. This was in sunny Italy.
In 1886 the Gategal was frozen be-
tween Norway and Jutland. In 1882
the houses in Austria we're covered
with snow. In 1872 the Kline was
frozen. In 1914 all the rivers in Italy
we're frozen. In 1854 the Rhine and
Scheldt and even the sea at Venice
we're frozen. In 1467 the winter was
SO cold in Flanders that wine was cut
with hatchets out of casks to be serv-
ed to the soldiers.
In 1894 many oaks and other forest
trees in England were split by the
frost. In 1892 the cold was SO in
tense that starved wolves entered
Vienna and killed men and CATTLE
In 1910 the Zuyder Zee was entirely
frozen over. This at least can never
happen again, as the Dutch are now
pumping out the Zee to reclaim the
land for agricultural purposes. In
1916 the Danube bore ice feet thick
below Vienna.
DR.. Kane, the American arctic ex-
plorer, in his narrative of the Grin
nell expedition in search of Frank.
lin, records that as a winter amuse-
ment the men of the ship performed
farce on February IA, 1851, called
The Mysteries and Miseries of New
York. The outside temperature was
80 degrees below zero; in the theater
on shipboard it was % degrees below
zero behind the scenes and 20 below
zero in the audience department.
One of the sailors had to enact the
part of damsel with bare arms, and
when cold tiatirons, part nf the ''pro.
perties' required in the play, touch.
ed his skin the sensation was like
that of burning with hot iron.
On Washington's birthday, Febru-
airy %, this crew in the arctics had
another performance. DR.. Kane's
account says the ships rmometer
outside was at AZ degrees below zero.
Inside, the audience and actors, by
aid of lungs. lamps and hangings, got
as high as 30 degrees below zero; that
is, 81 degrees below the freezing
point. DIR. Kane said: perhaps this
is the lowest atmospheric record of q
theatrical performance. The con,
densation was so excessive that We
could barely see the performers; they
walked in cloud of vapor. Any
extra vehemence of delivery was
accompanied by volumes of smoke
Their hands steamed. When an ex
cited thesplan took off his coat il
smoked like dish of potatoes.