Evening journal., 1913-02-01
MEMORIES OF
HARD WINTERS
OF LONG AGO
Ice 50 Thick There Was
Sleighine on the Della
ware River
FORMER DELLA HAREAN
TELLS OF BLIZZARD

P. H. T. Wyatt Of Philadelphia, who
formerly lived in Red Lion, Dover and
Smyrna in this State, and subsequest-
ly in Pennsgrove, n. j., has written a
letter to relatives in this city which
should appeal strongly TO those who
delight in talking about hard winters,
heavy SHOWS and low temperatures Of
the long ago. II is as follows:
"We have had unusually mild winter
thus far. 1t looks now as though We
were going to have snow / don't
know how it will make out IL is some
thing we haven't had very much Of
yet this winter think it is likely
we will have 1t more wintry next
month. December, 1857. and January,
1858, we're unusually mild. In fact
January Of that year was like October
weather and continued so until Feb
ruary 10 Then i'm the evening II
commenced to snow IL showed all
night and part of the next day. We
had quite a good sized snow, the first
Of any account and the only big snow
that winter We had some very cold
weather the remainder OF February
and early in March that year. II clos
ed the Delaware river with ice FOR
two or three weeks so the boats could
not run. but by the latter part Of
March the river was clear of ice and
boats We're running again.
THE winter before. December, 1886.
and January 1857 were intensely
cold The cold weather set in the
first week in December. II contin-
ued very cold. without any rain what
ever or snow worth mentioning until
the evening of January II or IS. Then
there as a regular blizzard. It~blew
q hurricane The thermometer was A
degrees below zero when II commenc
ed showing The next day was the
coldest day | ever knew to snow. It
showed fast and the snow was very
fine Il was the most terrible day of
intense cold, snow storm and terrific
wind ] ever knew, or. ] suppose that
] ever will know. Il was neither fit
or safe for a human being or animal
TO be away from shelter on such a
day The blizzard of March. 1883,
coldn't compare with ii. so far as in
tense cold was concerned. The wind
banked the snow wonderfully.
1T had been so very dry before that
January snow came that the dust and
sand flew through the air like in time
of a summer drought and the dust
and sand blew into and on the snow
drifts in such quantities as to form a
crust so hard and compact as to bear
a person I'm many places I know il
from my personal and bitter expert
ence for ] Travelled four or five miles
the third day after that snow, on top
OF and into snow banks where no hu-
man being or animal had preceded
me. I had a big carpet bag. full OF
clothes and other things besides. to
carry with me | went down into
snow banks whore they weren't crust
ed with sand nearly to my waist many
times. and would crawl ont and go at
IL again until ] had reached nay des
tination
'Well. | was young man then, and
had enough physical endurance i'm those
days 10 Kill horse, The man that
followed me then on difficult tramp
had a hard road TO travel
"The Delaware river was frozen
over that year from shore TO shore. I.
I'm company with two others, walked
across the river TO Chester. Pa. about
the ~ Of January. that year. The ice
I'm channels was said TO be from II TO
IA inches thick. / knew man in
Bridgeport, n. j.. by the name of
Springer He slelghed across from
Bridgeport to Chester, going across
Just below us We watched him GO
ing at full speed as though he we're on
land After witnessing that exploit
we had no cause of fear that the ice
wouldn't bear us. The weather was
more moderate during February and
March that year
December. 1858. and January, 1859,
were about as follows: December
was mild. but for most part either
rainy, cloudy or foggy 10 continued
SO until about January, OF 1859, which
was on Saturday. That day was cold
and very windy On Sunday it was
not so windy, but much colder than
the preceding day II was very cold
during that night. The next day,
Monday, capped the climax. ! think
for a clear day of sunshine without
any snow on the ground. il was
throughout the day. one of the cold
est. IL not the coolest. / ever remem-
Der. Those three days and nights
made such heavy ice in the creeks that
It stopped boats running II moder-
ated the latter part of that week and
we had no really cold weather the
remainder Of that winter We had
one or two pretty cold days first week
In March, after which. the weather
was rather mild and springlike. In
February of that year the weather
was mild and very changeable. often
two or three kinds OF weather the
same day. but not cold at any time
scarcely freezing at all.
well. I've given you a brief ac.
count of three winters of my early
manhood which hope may interest
you somewhat, as they passed ava,
I hofor, afthar 90 ,.o,, mo-. I,,.r,