View source for Dusting Off the Old Ones (143)

'''143. The Year Without a Summer'''

Our open winter this year (1958, June 8, issue) probably had the fewest zero days of any winter within the memory of the oldest oldtimer. It brought to mind a clipping made by made by Mrs. Ted Nelstead and handed the writer of these stories and we believe it will prove interesting to all, so we give it to you in its entirety.

"Freaks in the weather have forever been a subject of interest. Recently information has come to light that the year 1816 was a year without a summer. A clipping from the Elizabeth Pioneer of 44 years ago refers to the freak year as follows:

January and February, 1816 were warm and springlike. March was cold and stormy. Vegetat1on had gotten well underway in April when real cold weather set in. Snow and sleet fell on 17 different days in May. In June there was either snow or frost every day but three. July was cold and frosty. August was worse, for ice formed nearly an inch thick and killed every green thing in the United States. In the spring of 1817 corn, which had been kept over from 1815, sold from $5 to $10 per bushel for seed only.

The phenomenon of 1816 was further described by the Yorkshire, South Carolina, Enquirer: January was so mild that most people allowed their fires to go out, and did not burn wood except for cooking. February was not cold. March was windy. April came in warm, but as the days grew longer, the air became colder, and by the first of May there was a temperature like that of winter. The young buds were frozen stiff, the ice formed half an inch thick upon the ponds and rivers. Corn was killed and the cornfields were planted again and again. When the last of May arrived in 1816, everything had been killed by the cold. June was the coldest month ever experienced in this latitude. Frost and ice were as common as buttercups usually are. All fruit was destroyed. Snow fell 10 inches in Vermont. July came in with snow and ice. On the Fourth of July, ice was a quarter-inch thick throughout New England. To the suprise of all, August proved to be the worst month of all. There was great privation and thousands of people would have perished in this country had it not been for an abundance of game."

The coldest 4th of July in tha memory of Shade Tree Bill was in 1915--on the day that Terry celebrated the creation of Prairie County. On that day, falling snow interfered to a considerable extent with the celebration.