Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1917-01-04
HAD OPEN WINTER
100 YEARS AGO
Prices Were High In 1915 and Ohio
Lady Recalls The Cold Sum.
mer Of That Year


ed to description Of the weather and
attendant incidents. II follows:
Coolest Summer
"The year 1916 was known thru
out the United States and Europe as
the coolest ever experienced by any
person then living. Very few per-
sons now living can recollect 1t. The
following il a brief summary of the
weather during each month Of that
year: January was mild, SO as to
render fires almost useless in par
lors. February was not cold; with
the exception Of few days, it was
like its predecessor. March was cold
and boisterous during the early part
of the month; the remainder was
mild. A great freshet occurred on
the Ohio and Mississippi rivers.
which caused much loss Of property.
April began warm, but grew colder
as the month advanced, and ended
with snow and ice, and a tempera-
ture more like winter than spring.
May was more remarkable for
frowns than smiles. Buds and fruits
were frozen; ice formed half an inch
thick; corn was killed, corn fields
were again and again replanted un-
til deemed too late.
Ice I'm June
"June was coolest ever known in
this latitude; frost and ice were
common. Almost every green thing
was killed; fruit nearly all destroyed.
Snow fell to the depth of ten inches
In Vermont, seven in Main. three in
{ the interior of New York, and also
Massachusetts. There were a few
warm days. All classes looked for
them in that memorable cold sum-
mer. 1t was called a dry season.
But little rain fell. The wind blew
steadily from the north, cold and
fierce. Mothers knit extra socks and
mittens for their children in the
spring. and woodpiles that usually
disappeared during the warm spell
In front OF the houses we're speedily
built up again. Planting and SILVER
ing were done together, and the far
mers who worked out their taxes on
the county roads wore overcoats and
mittens. In a town in Vermont a
flock Of sheep belonging to a farmer
had bene sent. rs usual. to their pas
ture. On the 18th Of June q heavy
snow fell: the cold was intense. anrd
tina own@r started away at noon to
shck for hts sacep. Better ,rtart the
neighbors soon. wife" he said IN lest
before leaving: being in the middle
OF June may get lost in the snow.
Night came. the storm increased and
he did not return. The next morn
ing the family sent out for help and
started in search. One after another
of the neighbors turned out to leek
for the missing man. The nsnow had
covered up all tracks. and not until
the end of the third day did they
md him on the side of ahill. with
both feet frozen, unable to move. A
farmer who had large field of corn
in Tewksbury built fires around It to
ward Off the frost; m ny an evening
he and his men took turns watching
II He was rewarded with the only
crop Of corn in the neighborhood.
River Takes . Rise
considerable damage was done in
New Orleans in consequence of the
rapid rise of the Mississippi river;
the suburbs we're covered with wa
ter and the roads we're passable only
In boats. Fears that the sun was
colling of abounded, and thruout
New England all picnics were strict
ly prohibited. July was accompanied
with frost and ice. On the 9Th ice
was formed of the thickness of COM
com window glass thruout New
England. New York and some parts
of Pennsylvania, Indian corn was
nearly all destroyed: some favorably
situated fields escaped. This was
true of some of the hill farms Of
Massachusetts,.
august was more cherries, II
possible, than the summer months
which preceded 1t. Ice was formed
half an inch In thickness. Indian
corn was so frozen that the greater
part was cut down and dried for fod-
der. Almost every green thing was
destroyed In this country and In Eu-
rope. On the seth snow fell at Bar
net, forty miles from London. Pa
pers received from England stated
that 1t would be remembered by the
present generation that the year
1916 was q year in which there was
no summer Very little corn rip
ened in New England. and the mid
die state farmers supplied them
selves from Corn produced in 1916,
for seed in the spring Of 1917. II
sold at from 81 to IS per bushel.
Potatoes Plentiful
september furnished about two
weeks of the mildest weather of the
season. Soon after the middle, 1t be-
came cold and frosty; ice formed q
quarter of an inch IN thickness. Oc-
tober produced more than its share
of cold weather; frost and ice were
common. The summer and autumn
of 1915, cold, rainy and ungenial
turnout Europe, were peculiarly 80
In France. Constant rains fell dur
ing the months of July. August and
September. But for an abundant
potato crop, famine with all its hor-
rors. would have been her lot. The
minister of the interior established
granaries thruout the kingdom
where corn was sold to the destitute
at reduced price. Prices rose. how.
ever, to more than double. and hun
dreds persisted of actual want. No.
vember was cold and clustering
snow fell SO as to make good sleigh
ing. December was mild and com.
Portable.
1.-THE above is a brief summary OF
the cold summer or 1916. as II was
called, in order to distinguish It from
the winter. The winter was mild
Frost and ice were common In every
month of the year. Very little vege-
tation was matured In the eastern
and middle states. The suns rays
seemed to be destitute of heat dur.
ing the summer: all nature was clad
In q sable hue. and men exhibited nc
little anxiety concerning the future
OF this life"