The Caldwell tribune. [volume] (Caldwell, Idaho Territory [Idaho]) 1883-1928, 1916-06-30
YEAR 1876 WAS 4 YEAR
OF TWO WINTERS
AND NO SUMMER

he season OF lSlO is Qi11eTent from
any season within the memory of the
people living today. Thus far there
has Deen no summer weather although
there have been a few hot days. The
srring was late; late frosts destroyed
the fruit crop and have even injured
the alfalfa; and in other respects the
weather has Deen different from what
people are accustomed to expect in
these parts.
The season is different from the
ordinary season in all parts of the
country. This fact has led people to
look up the weather bureau records,
old newspaper files, personal diaries
and other sources of history. The re-
suit of the investigation, or at least
one result it, the discovery that one
hundred years ago, in 1916, occurred
the year without a summer.
The following account of the year
1916 was kindly furnished The Tribune
by Mr.. G. D. Stafford, the we'll known
citizen of Lower Boise, and a pioneer
of Idaho. Mr. Stafford has a clipping
from the Keokuk County News at
Sigourney, Iowa. The account tells of
the very unusual weather conditions
throughout the United States CEN
fury ago. 1t follows:
Year 1916 Was Summerless
"The year 1916 was known through
out the United States and Europe as
the coolest ever experienced by any
person then living. There are per-
sons in northern 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 1916 that the follow
ing information regarding this year
without a summer has been taken.
January was so mild that most peo-
pie allowed their fires to go out and
did not use wood except for cooking.
There were few cool days, but they
were few. Most of the time the air
was warn and spring-like. February
was not cold. Some days were colder
than in January, but the weather was
the same. March, from the 1st 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 cooled and
by the first of May there was a tenn
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 the ponds
and rivers, corn was killed and the
cornhelds were planted again, until
it became too late to raise a crop. By
the last of May the trees are usually
in full leaf. When the last of May ar
rived in 1916, everything had been
killed by the cold.
June was the coolest month of
roses ever experienced in this lati-
tude. Frost and ice were as common
as butterflies usually are. Almost
every green thing was killed; all fruits
were destroyed. Snow fell ten inches
deep in Vermont. There was Finch
fall in the interior of New York state
and the same in Massachusetts. There
was only few moderately warm
days. Everybody looked, longed ano
waited for warm weather, but warm
weather did not come.
at was also dry; very little rair
fell. All summer long the wind blew
steadily from the north in blasts
laden with snow and ice Mother
knit socks of double thickness TO
their children and made thick NIT
tens, and planting and shivering don
together, and the farmers VIII
worked out their taxes on the count.
roads wore overcoats and mittens.
"On June II there was heavy fal
of snow. A Vermont farmer sent
flock of sheep to pasture June II
The morning of the 18th dawned wit
the thermometer below the freeing
point. About nine o'clock in the morn
ing the owner of the sheep starte
to look after his flock. Before leavin
home he turned to his wife and sal
jokingly:
BETTER start the neighbors OF
soon, it's the middle of June and
may get lost in the snow
IAN hour after he had left home
: terrible snow storm came up. Th
snow fell thick and fast and, as ther
was 80 much wind. the feecy masse
! piled in great drifts along the wine
ward side of the fences and OF
buildings. Night came and the farme
had not been heard Of
;; "His wife became frightened an
! alarmed the neighborhood. All tn
J party searched. On the third day the
found him. He was lying in a hollo'
on the side hill with feet frozen; h
X was half covered with snow, but aliv
: Most OF the sheep were lost.
+ "a farmer near Tewksberry, VI
owned large field of corn. He bui
fires. Nearly every night he and h
X men took turns in keeping up tt
: fires and watching that the corn d
not freeze The farmer was reward
:, cd for his tireless labors by havin
II the only crop of corn in the region.
Gully came in with ice and sno,
On the Fourth of July ice as thick ;
:. window glass formed throughout Ne
i York. In some parts of the state
Pennsylvania, Indian corn, which
some parts of the east has struggle
e through May and June, gave up, froi
Al and died.
"To the surprise of everybody. A
. gust proved the worst month OF a
Almost every green thing in tn
z country and Europe was blasted wi
+ frost. Snow fell at Barnc, 80 mil
from London, England, on August
Newspapers received from Englal
stated that 1916 would be remembe
ed by the existing generation as II
wear in which there was no summt
Very little corn ripened in New En-