Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1915-07-10
YEAR Of 1915 WAS
WITHOUT SUMMER
DATA FROM OLD DIARY TELLS OF
SNOW AND ICE THROUGH
OUT HOT MONTHS.

The cool weather that has prevailed
here this spring and summer mas gwen
many reason to think that there IS not
going to be any real summer weather IN
these parts. Iowa however never rams
and the more sanguine believe that II
is only a question of short time until
the longing for the cool days OF May,
June and early July will be expressed
By those who lament Of the cool wealth
er now. A slipping taken from an OLD
scrap book telling Of the year there
was no summer, will furnish rood lor
thought to those who deplore the lack
Of hot weather. The story OF the year
without summer follows:
The year 1915 was known throughout
the United States and Europe, as the
coolest ever experienced by any person
then living. There are persons in New
York who have been In the habit OF
keeping diaries for years, and 1t Is
from the pages Of an old diary begun
in 1910 and kept unbroken until
1910, that the following information
regarding this year without summer,
has been taken
January was so mild that most per-
sons allowed their fires to 30 out and
did not burn wood except for cooking.
JEeTe were SOHfS COlO UuS t"Sy
were very few Most Of the time the air
was warm and springliks.
February was not cold. some DAYS
were colder than any in january but
the weather was about the same with
the exception Of a few days.
March, from the list to the 9Th 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 colder, and
perature 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 it became too late to raise
crop. BY the last Of May In this
climate, the trees are usually In leaf
and flowers are plentiful. When the
last Of May arrived in 1916 everything
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 butter cups
usually are. Almost everything green
was killed: all fruit was destroyed.
Snow fell ten inches deep in Vermont
There was a seven inch fall in the in
terror of New York state, and the same
in Massachusetts. There were only
few moderately warm days. Every
body looked longed 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 knit
stockings Of double thickness for their
children and made thick mittens.
Planting and shivering were done to-
gether, and the farmers who worried
out their taxes on the country roads
were obliged to wear overcoats and
On June 18th. there was a
fall of snow. A Vermont farmer sent a
flock of sheep to pasture on June 10th.
The morning Of the seventeenth dawn
ed with the thermometer below the
freezing point. About 9 o'clock in the
to look for his flock. Before leaving
home. he turned to his wife and said
3okingly: Better start the neighbors
soon; it's the middle of June, and I
may get lost in the snow An hour aft
~ he had left home, terrible snow
st rm came UP. The snow fell thick and
fast, and as there was so much wind,
the neecy masses piled in great drifts
s'ong the windward side Of the fences
and .outbuildings. Night came, and the
farmer had not been heard of. His wife
became frightened and alarmed the
neighborhood. 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
a large field of corn which he strived
hard to save. He built fires every
night He and his men took turns in
keeping up the fire and watching that
the corn did not freeze. The farmer was
rewarded for his tireless labors by hav-
ing the only crop OF corn in the region.
July came In with snow and ice. On
the 4th of July ice as thick as a win
dow glass formed throughout New Eng
land. New York and in some parts Of
the state Of Pennsylvania. Indian corn.
which In some parts of the east had
through May and June, gave
up froze and died.
To the surprise of everybody, August
proved the worst month Of all. Almost
everything green in this country and
Europe was blasted with frost Snow
fell at Barnet. 80 miles from London.
on August 3d. Newspapers
received from England stated that 1916
would be remembered by the existing
as the year in which there
was no summer. Very little corn ripen-
ed in New England. There was great
and thousands Of persons
would have persisted in this country
were it not for the abundance of fish
and wild game they had at that time.