The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1908-06-16
MuIIiqan& Roche
YEAR WITHOUT A SUMNER
1916 Said to Have Been Coolest On
Record

Saws "The Observant Citizen In a
recent issue of The Manchester N.
n. Union: The other day THE Obser-
want Citizen" had a communication
concerning the GOODNESS OF an April.
| II seems that within the century there
have been colder seasons and once
there was a whole year that had no
summer apparently. The facts were
made known to the o. G. by John Z.
Bickford and are as follows:
Known as the year without a sum-
mer. 1916 was, throughout the Unit-
ed States and Europe, the coolest
ever experienced by any persons then
living. There are persons In north
ern 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 unbroken UNI
iii 1910 that the following information
regarding this year without a sum
mer has been taken.
| January was so mild that most per-
sons allowed their fires to go out and
did not burn wood except for cook
| ing. There were a few cold days but
they were very few. Most OF the time
the air was warm and spring-like'
February was not cold. Some days
we're colder than in January but the
weather was about the same.
March from the first to the sixth
was inclined TO be windy. 1t came In
like a small lion and went out like
very innocent sheep.
| April came in warm, but as the
days grew longer. the air became cold
er and by the first of May there was
a temperature like that OF winter,
with plenty OF snow and ice. In May
the young birds were frozen dead, ice
formed half an inch thick on ponds
and rivers, corn was killed and the
corn fields were planted again and
again. until It became too late to raise
a 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 1876
everything had been killed by the
cold.
June was the coolest month OF ro'
SEES ever experienced in this latitude
Frost and ice we're as common as
DutleTCupS uSudiiy diV' hhioSt
green thing was killed and all fruit
was destroyed. Snow fell ten inches
deep In Vermont. There was sew
en- inch fall in the interior OF New
York state and the same In Massachu
sets. There we're only few mod
erately warm days. Everybody look
ed but warm weather did not come:
1t was also dry; very little rain fell
IAN summer long the wind blew stead
lily 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 shivering were done TO-
gether and the farmers who worked
out their taxes on the country roads
wore overcoats and mittens.
On June l there was heavy fall Of
snow. A Vermont farmer sent .
flock OF sheep to pasture on June 16
The morning Of the 18th dawned with
the thermometer below the freezing
lpoint. About 8 o'clock In the morn
ing the owner of the sheep started III
to look for his flock. Before leaving
home he turned to his wife and said
jokingiy, Better start the neighbor'
soon; it's the middle OF June and
Imay get lost in the snow"
An hour after he had left home
TERRIFIC snowstorm came up. The
lsnow fell thick and fast and as there