The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1916-02-21
NO SUMNER IN 1916
One Hundred Years Ago Ten Inches
of Snow Fell in June.

| be exact, vermont nau no summer
Ten inches of snow fell in June o
that year and people were frozen t
death. Overcoats and mittens wer'
worn all through the summer months
and there were suicides due to feal
that the sun was cooling off. Tht
following account of that remarkable
season was printed some years ago II
the Concord, N. H.. Monitor as being
the narrative of "the nonagenariaI
James Winchester of Vermont"
/ remember the year that was win
ter from one end Of 1t till the other
and when the weather was SO severe
in June that terrible snow storm
prevailed ON the 18th of that month
| and people were frozen to death In
| the month of roses. | don't think
| there are many people who have a
recollection Of the year without a
| summer, as l have, for various rea-
sons, one being that there are few
surviving who were as old as was in
that year. and another is because a
near relative Of mine was frozen to
death in Vermont on June II OF that
year, which was the year 1916.
/ was IA years old then and lived
in Vermont where have always lived
and where that memorable season
was at Its very worst, as in the other
New England States in June snow fell
FIVE inches deep, and in New York,
Pennsylvania and New Jersey 1t was
nowhere deeper than three inches. In
Vermont it was 10 inches deep on the
level | mean the great snow on June
IT, Snow fell several times during
that month. In fact there was snow
and Ice in every month OF 1916.
The snowstorm of June II was one
of the severest ones | ever saw. even
in the depth of winter in that locali
ty Of heavy SHOWS. An uncle Of mine
had some sheep in back pasture lot.
To get to that lot he had to go
through piece OF woods for nearly a
mile. The weather had been very
cold all through June. The big
storm OF the 18th began along about
noon, and my uncle started after din
ner to so to the sheep pasture to fix
up shelter OF some kind for The
sheep. No one had any idea. cold and
eccentric as the season had been up
to that time. that we would have a
fall of snow that would amount to any
thing at that time of the year
was at my uncie's when he left
home to go to the sheep lott and as
he went out OF the door he said to his
wife in d 1ocniar way. III am not
back In an hour cali the neighbors
and start them after me. June is, a
bad month to be buried in the snow
especially when 1t gets so near the
month Of July Nothing more was
then thought Of the matter
The SNOW increased in fury, and by
night it drifted so that roads We're
almost impossible. but even then, and
when it grew dark. none Of us felt
uneasy about uncle. The weather
had become bitter cold When night
set in in earnest, and there was no
SiSn vi my QhSlC iCtdlAt MO NiAS
sent me and my cousin who was two
years younger than |, to alarm the
neighbors and tell them that we be
lieved uncle had been lost In the snow
and perished.
We had hard time getting to the
nearest neighbor's less than a mile
away, and there gave the alarm, but
could go no further. The neighbors
summoned others, and in spite Of the
severity of the night they searched
the woods until morning. but no sign
of the missing man could be found.
The search WAS taken UP by others
the following day, and all the next
night, without any trace of him being
discovered except that he had reach.
ed the pasture and built shelter OF
boughs in one corner of the lot under
which the sheep we're huddled On
the forenoon of the third day the
searchers found my uncle buried in
the snow a mile from the pasture, in
an almost opposite direction from
home. He was frozen stiff. He had
evidently become bewildered in the
binding storm, and had wandered
about until he succumbed to fatigue
and cold. 1t seems n most improb-
able thing that a person ever fell a
victim to snowstorm in the middle
of June in this latitude, but have
this sorrowful knowledge of one In
stance at least where such a thing
was only too true.
The wind during June, July and Au-
gust of 1916 was continuously from
| the north, and it blew fiercely and
| cold. Farmers wore heavy overcoats
| and mittens while about their work
every day during these months. There
| was but little use Of planting any
thing, nothing grew to speak OF, but
they did plant corn as usual, and
planted with mittens on.
There was very little rain during
the entire season. The great piles
of firewood that always accumulated
during the summer months at the
farmhouse back doors in readiness
for winter didn't accumulate In 1916
They were needed for current use
July was colder even than June, and
August was colder than July. Ice hal