A modern history of Windham county, Connecticut : a Windham county treasure book, Volume I, Part 100

Author: Lincoln, Allen B
Publication date: 1920
Publisher: Chicago : S. J. Clarke publ. co.
Number of Pages: 930

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Continuation of remarkable events: On the 5th of March, 1643, was another violent earthquake in New England; but no damage was sustained. The pre- ceding summer had been wet and cold, crops of corn were indifferent, English grain had suffered in an unusual degree by wild pigeons, and in winter the barns were infested by such numbers of mice as were never before known. These animals were so numerous as to eat the bark off the fruit trees about the roots under the snow. These causes occasioned a dearth, and many families,

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their corn being exhausted in April, were compelled to live on clams and fish. In 1647 happened the first influenza mentioned in the annals of America. It extended to the West Indies, where it was immediately followed by a malig- nant fever, so fatal and infectious as to be called the plague. In Barbadoes and St. Kitts it swept away five or six thousand people, seizing first the most hale, robust men. This is the first distinct account of the epidemic yellow fever mentioned in our histories. A pestilential fever prevailed in Hartford the same year, of which died the Rev. Mr. Hooker.

"A slight earthquake was felt in New England in October, 1653. Some gen- eral sickness prevailed in Massachusetts; for in the spring of the next year a fast was appointed in Connecticut for which one reason assigned in the proc- lamation was 'the mortality which had been among the people of Massachu- setts.' In 1655 another influenza spread over New England. In 1658 epidemic disease again prevailed, on which account, and the scarcity of grain and intem- perate season, a fast was observed in Connecticut. In 1659 the disease called rattlers, hives, or croup, first appeared in the colonies. In 1662 happened in New England an earthquake, a severe drouth, and epidemic disease; on the abatement of which our pious ancestors kept a day of thanksgiving. In 1668 a malignant sickness prevailed in New York, and occasioned the appointment of a fast in September. In 1677 the smallpox raged in Charlestown, in Massa- chusetts, with the mortality of the plague; and in the following year it pre- vailed in Boston.

"In 1683 great sickness prevailed and the people sought the throne of grace by a general fast. During the winter a fever so general and so fatal prevailed in Springfield in Massachusetts that the public worship on Sundays was suspended. A similar disease afflicted the same town in 1711, in 1733 and 1761. It raged at Hartford in 1717. Fairfield suffered equally by a malig- nant fever in 1698, after the influenza, Waterbury in 1713, Bethlehem in 1750 and 1760; East Haven was repeatedly visited and stripped of a great part of its most robust men. The last time was in 1761. This violent fever prevailed in many other places, with great mortality, but has not been epidemic since 1761. In 1702 New York was sorely visited with a pestilential fever-almost all the patients died. Philadelphia and Charleston, in South Carolina, suf- fered by a like disease in 1699. On the 29th of October, 1727, occurred an earthquake in New England as violent as any of the former ones. Slighter shocks are not infrequent. On the 18th of November, 1755, happened a shock of similar violence, but no injury was sustained.

"The influenza prevailed in 1733 and spread over the world. In 1735 commenced the scarlet fever, or malignant sore throat, at Kingston, an inland town in New Hampshire, and visited most parts of America in that and the following year. This was its first appearance in America as far as could be recollected. Before that period the usual form of disease in the throat was that of quinsy, which was often malignant and fatal. From the year 1735 to 1800 the malignant sore throat was epidemic six times in the northern states. The influenza from 1732 to 1800 prevailed nine times as an epidemic. The long fever, so called because it continued thirty or forty days, was formerly very common in New England, but has almost disappeared in the older settlements.

"Unusual Seasons. The seasons in all countries in the temperate climates are very variable. The winter of 1633-4 was mild-the wind mostly from the

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southward, with little snow till February, and no great frost. That was fol- lowed by cold winters, and in 1637 or 1638 the winter was noted as unusually severe; the snow lay about four feet deep from the middle of November to the first week in April. But the winter of 1641-2 was of the severest kind; Boston Bay was a bridge of ice as far as the eye could see, and the Chesapeake also was frozen. The Indians told our ancestors that such a winter had not been in forty years. A similar winter occurred in 1697-8. The 14th day of December, O. S. 1700, was supposed to be the coldest day that had then been known in America. In February, 1717, fell the greatest snow ever known in this or perhaps any country. It covered the lower doors of houses so that some people were obliged to step out of their chamber windows on snow shoes. There was also a terrible tempest. Eleven hundred sheep, belonging to one man, perished. One flock of a hundred was dug out of a snow drift on Fisher's Island, where it had been buried to the depth of sixteen feet. This was twenty- eight days after the storm, when two of them were found alive, having subsisted on the wool of the others, and they sustained no injury.

"A memorable tempest is recorded to have happened on the 24th of Feb- ruary, 1723, which raised the tide several feet above the usual spring tides, and did incredible damage on the eastern shore of New England. The winter of 1737-8 was extremely severe; but far less severe than that which closed the year 1740. A similar winter followed the summer of 1779, when all the rivers and bays, even the Chesapeake, were converted into bridges of ice. The severe cold was of three months duration, and the snow from three to four feet deep. Mild winters also occur frequently, as in 1755 and 1756, 1774-5, 1794-5 and 1801-2, when there was little frost and snow.

"Days of Unusual Darkness. Historians have mentioned many instances of extreme darkness in the day time, and in some cases this obscurity has lasted several days. Instances happened in Europe, in the years 252, 746 and 775. The first instance mentioned in our annals was on the 21st of October, 1716; the second on the 9th of August, 1732. A similar obscurity happened in Canada and on the lakes, on the 19th of October, 1762; and on three different days in October, 1785. On the 19th of May, 1780 a memorable darkness was spread over all the northern states. The obscurity was occasioned by a thick vapor or cloud, tinged with a yellow color or faint red, and a thin coat of dust was deposited on white substances. In these instances the obscurity was so great as to render candles or lamps necessary at noonday. The darkness in Canada was followed by squalls of wind, severe thunder, and, in one instance, by a meteor or fire ball. So ignorant were most people of this phenomenon that many were excessively frightened; although it had occurred three times at least within the period of sixty-five years.

"Northern Lights. From the earliest times we have some imperfect accounts of lights in the sky; and superstition has represented them as the forerunners of bloody wars and other calamities. Sometimes historians speak of them as troops of men, armed and rushing to battle. Such representations are the effusions of weak and timid minds; these lights and all others in the atmosphere proceeding from natural causes are no more the harbingers of evil than a shower of rain or a blast of wind. For about three hundred years past our accounts of the northern lights are tolerably correct. There was a discontinu- ance of them eighty or ninety years, anterior to 1707, when a small light was seen by persons in Europe. But they did not re-appear in full splendor until

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the year 1716, when they were observed in England. Their first appearance in America was December 11, 1719, when they were remarkably bright, and as people in general had never heard of such a phenomenon they were extremely alarmed, with the apprehension of the approach of the final judgment. All amusements, all business, and even sleep was interrupted for want of a little knowledge of history. From 1719 to 1790 these lights were frequent, when they again disappeared for ten or twelve years.

"Diseases Among the Brutes. The brutes have at times pestilential diseases which sweep them away in multitudes. A plague among cattle destroyed a great part of the species in Germany about the year 1800. The same happened in Italy and Germany in 1713 among cattle and horses. A like mortality among cattle happened in Holland and some parts of England in 1751. Fortunately no similar plague among useful animals has ever happened in America, although at times there has been considerable mortality among horses and cattle. In 1514 the cats in Europe perished by a pestilential disease, as they did in Europe and America in 1797. In 1763 dogs, sheep, mules, poultry, swine and horses, in several countries of Europe, were swept away by unusual diseases. In 1764 the blue fish all perished or abandoned the shores of Nantucket, where they had always been in great plenty. In 1775 the oysters at Welfleet on Cape Cod all perished and have never since grown on the same banks. In 1788 the cod fish on the grand bank of Newfoundland were mostly thin and ill flavored. In 1789 the haddock on the coast of Norway mostly or all died, and, floating on the surface, covered many leagues of water. In 1799 the small fish on the coast of North Carolina shared a like fate. At times oysters are found to be watery, sickly and ill flavored; dogs, wolves and foxes are affected with madness, and the wild fowls perish by epidemic diseases."

THE WINTER OF 1919-20 By Nathan Waldo Kennedy

The season of 1919-20 passes into history as one of the greatest open-air exhibitions on earth. From the beginning of winter in late . November until the middle of March the air was laden with bitter, zero-like frigidity. There was no January thaw; but, instead, eight or more continuous weeks of excel- lent sleighing-the longest period remembered by most residents-during which interval every conceivable sort of sleigh and sled was brought into requisition. Snow-beautiful, beautiful, bewitching and bewildering-fell to an average depth exceeding three feet on the level, and proved to be not alone the farmer's proverbial fertilizer, but the cause of seemingly endless trouble throughout Windham County.

February had only five clear days, against fourteen cloudy, and but three that could be called sunshiny. Graybeards pulled their long whiskers and declared that the storm of February 4-6 was the "wust sence the blizzard of '88." The cold was intense, the gales terrific and snow drifts, in the mad fury of the elements, rose up like pyramids from eight to eighteen feet, making main thoroughfares and crossroads impassable alike to auto, team and pedestrian. Not in decades has highway service been so completely blocked and traffic para- lyzed, town officials so puzzled and disheartened. It is estimated that the cost of removing snow in the various cities of Connecticut totals $230,000, with the state highway department spending $125,000 more.

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In places the driven snow had to be plowed and also cut with axes to loosen the three hard crusts, and horses and mules suffered real hardship. The old and faithful oxen, comparatively few of which are left, suddenly came into more prominence than for half a century, since they were the only animals that could wade through the depths with any degree of success and safety. On the trunk line snowplows attached to auto trucks were used to advantage, while land rollers and harrows were employed in packing down.

Notwithstanding that squads of shovelers were kept at work early, late and Sundays, roads remained in deplorable condition, for almost as soon as one fall of snow subsided another set in, accompanied by biting, swirling winds. Physicians, nearly swamped and exhausted with professional calls, were forced to refuse, and that at a time when the "flu" was most prevalent. In some cases whole families were sick abed, entirely beyond the reach of aid-abso- lutely marooned from the outside world. Although the Eastford carrier was first in the rural route to reach Putnam, no mail was received for five consecu- tive days.' Freight and express from the nearest railroad station were at a standstill, so that not only storekeepers, but the general public, feared a short- age of supplies. Dairymen in particular felt alarmed, not being able to ship any milk or get containers, in which emergency many either saved the cream for various purposes or made butter. A number were obliged to empty their output into the lot or feed it to fowls and swine. Grain and hay were scarce and prices soared. Farmers, as well as villagers, who in the fall hauled the usual quantity of wood to their door, found themselves without fuel in mid- winter. One man of eighty, who tried to tramp through the woods to fell a tree, nearly perished in encountering snow way up to his neck. Ice averaged thirty-two inches thick. On one pond it was sixty-one. Wells froze up for the first time. Schools and churches closed. Saw and gristmills shut down. Tele- graph and telephone construction workmen gave up. Mercury indicated from 20 to 28 below. Everything was snowbound and icebound.

Seldom, if ever, has so much snow fallen during such a long stretch of extreme cold, or been more evenly distributed despite the gales, which attained a velocity of seventy-five to eighty or more miles an hour. From four to six weeks the surface of the ground was a mammoth mantle of picturesque white, not a bare spot to be seen. Herds of deer corralled themselves together, shiver- ing with fright, hunger and cold; rabbits without number were caught or killed by laborers; half-famished crows, hawks, and passing wild geese sought food and shelter in sheds and barnyards, while immense flocks of bluejays, chicka- dees, juncoes, sparrows, woodpeckers and so on picked up stray crumbs and scattered grain, beside chipmunks and gray squirrels at the back door.

The winter of 1919-20, with its accredited thirty-five snowfalls, large and small, reminds us of the winter of the great blizzard of Monday, March 12, 1888, at Putnam. Newspaper files show that the snowflakes began falling in the early morning. They were large and heavy. About noon a driving rain and wind- storm also commenced, which changed to snow again between 2 and 3 o'clock. The gale continued all night, and trees, fences and telegraph wires were torn down. Street lights were not lighted. Darkness enveloped the town. By 9 o'clock snowbanks appeared in full view. The piercing cold conspired to make the night wild, weird, hideous and dangerous. Next day the snow lay in drifts from one to three feet, with a layer of slush beneath. Wind blew nearly, if not fully, eighty miles the hour. The clock in the Congregational spire was put

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out of commission at 12:30. Streets and stores were deserted. The mills, the foundry and schools were closed. For the first time in many years the public was obliged to forego all mail and newspapers. In a word, Putnam was snow- bound. In the outskirts and outlying districts the unrestricted blizzard swept the land like an incipient cyclone, and the snow and sleet were stifling. Tuesday noon the first passenger train succeeded in getting through from Norwich with two locomotives, throwing up a whirlwind of feathery flakes in its encounter with 15-foot drifts. A train coming from Boston was stalled at East Douglas. The railroad company served sandwiches and hot coffee to all the passengers, who were marooned a night and a day, covering thirty hours in going a distance of sixty-two miles.

The memorable winter of 1919 and 1920 eclipsed that of 1887-88 in the grand total. Its counterpart may be found in 1867, when there were, if pos- sible, more striking features of the real blizzard, with its accompaniment, which made February, 1920, one of the most trying and disagreeable months in sev- eral generations.

It may be pleasing to note facts, gleaned from various sources, regarding past winters.

In December, 1716, snow fell an average depth of five feet, impeding all travel except on snowshoes. On February 6th, in exposed acres, it drifted to twenty-five feet, and in the woods a yard or more on the level. The "great storm" proper continued incessantly four days and nights (February 18-22). On the 24th it repeated again so violently that all communication between houses and farms ceased. During this storm the aggregate snowfall was suffi- cient to bury the earth to a depth of from ten to fifteen feet on the level. In some points it was twenty to twenty-five feet deep. Farmers had to dig tunnels to their barns to feed livestock. One-story houses, in instances, were entirely submerged. The chimneys, even, could not be seen. Aged Indians said they never heard their fathers tell of any storm that equaled this.

The winter of 1740-41 was cold and raw, with a record of twenty-seven snow- falls. Three storms near together filled the roads from five to ten feet. On April 4th the tops of fences were covered, while in the woods there was still a blanket of four feet. As late as May 3d there were remnants of drifts that had not melted.

In the winter of 1747-48 there were thirty snowfalls. They came, storm after storm, four to five feet on the level. Snowshoes were the only means of getting about.

During December, 1786, the snow, after a day and night of falling, lay six feet. The same week another storm broke, and it was estimated that there was larger precipitation than that of the "great storm" of seventy years before.

In November, 1798-99 occurred the "long" storm, when, within an interval of a few hours, it snowed five days steadily. Banks were so high that men on horseback could not look over them. Houses were out of view and the occu- pants forced to excavate their way out.

The winter of 1801-2 began very mild. In. January it was the warmest that people recalled-60 degrees above zero. Without warning the wind changed northeast and a big snowstorm began, lasting nearly a week and covering the ground with a deposit of snow and sleet several feet deep. Intense cold pre- vailed, causing the sleet to freeze on the snow and making a crust that was

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used in sleighing for weeks. No attempt was made to clear the roads, as the hard crust served as well.

January 19, 1810, was called "cold Friday." The northeast wind blew tremendously. Previous to the storm the temperature was 45° above freezing, but rapidly sank to 5° below-a drop of fifty degrees. The hurricane was so furious that pedestrians could not keep to their feet, and trees, sheds and small buildings were blown down. Several persons almost froze.

The winter of 1835-36 had many cold days. From November to March snowstorms came frequently and copiously. Sleighing continued twenty weeks. On April 1st "the beautiful" held full sway in the woods to the depth of four feet.

In 1839-40 there were two feet of snow throughout the winter, and here and there fifteen feet. Roads were not broken out, and people had to travel on snowshoes.

The winter of 1856-57 set in earlier than usual and lasted until late into spring. On January 1st the mercury bulb registered 20° to 30° below. There were thirty-two storms and snow averaged six feet and two inches. Drifts measured eight to ten feet in height.

In the great storm of November 27, 1898, snow drifted heavily and attained a depth of twelve inches on the level. All kinds of outdoor work and travel were suspended. The vociferous gale reached at times a velocity of 125 miles an hour !

THE BLIZZARD OF FEBRUARY, 1920 By Editor Charles F. Burgess

Previous to February of this year the storm of March, 1888, was commonly referred to as "the big blizzard," and those who experienced its severity were keenly aware of the full significance of that phrase. Snow fell continuously from the 12th for about sixty hours, and from Monday until Wednesday noon. We were without mail of any kind and a week elapsed before trains were running on regular schedule. Nearly all roads were impassable, and business of all kinds- suffered. Snow was about three feet on the level, with drifts seven and even ten feet high. Residents said the storm was the "most severe in twenty-one years," so it would seem that about once in a generation is as often as nature is likely to favor us with a blizzard of this kind, quite often enough, be it said, to satisfy most mortals.

The blizzard of 1920 began to make itself felt as a storm of more than usual severity February 4th. Since the day before Christmas snow had been with us, and indeed the ground was white continually for about ten full weeks. When the blizzard came, snow was accompanied by sleet and high winds, and the icy conditions following made the storm of thirty-two years before seem tame in comparison, in some respects at least. Snow fell on an average of from two to three feet deep, with frequent drifts seven to ten feet in depth; and to make the situation more interesting, sleet, which fell at intervals during several days and then froze, resulted in layers of ice which ordinary shoveling could not remove. Men with pickaxes found the job of clearing highways a rugged and difficult one, and in many instances axes and even dynamite were called into play. While snow was of such a depth as to make it necessary in the country districts to drive across lots, over stone walls and fences, this was

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made comparatively easy by the fact that the icy crust was frequently firm enough to hold horse and sleigh. Some two weeks after the main blizzard, another storm visited us of nearly equal severity. Highways which, by much hard work, had been made nearly passable, were filled again with snow, the high winds making drifts where there were none before.

Trolley service from Moosup and Central Village to Danielson was sus- pended from February 4th until the last of March, the tracks being imbedded in ice. The steam road, too, had its tough experiences, and the public had to depend upon uncertain service for weeks. Outside the villages there were many cases of real hardship, especially when in case of sickness it was almost impossible to procure the services of a physician. Funeral directors found it frequently necesary to convey their dead in sleighs or on sleds.

When trolleys and even steam roads were found unreliable, busses thrived, and proved a great convenience. Farmers, who thought they had a good supply of wood ready for use, were up against the fact that most of this was under snowdrifts or impossible of approach with teams.

When the thaw came farmers frequently had to go part way to town on runners and then change their load to wheels. The thaw was gradual, thereby preventing freshets, for which all have reason to be truly thankful.

There are many instances on record where families in outlying districts were snowed in for weeks, but were kept supplied with mail and the necessities of life by the kindness of neighbors who often sacrificed personal convenience and comfort to lend a helping hand. Thus this severest storm in the memory of the oldest inhabitant has had its bright side, and may serve to help us all to better appreciate the sunny days which are bound to follow.

NEWSPAPER ACCOUNTS OF THE BLIZZARD

The Connecticut newspapers of February 27, 1920, gave accounts of the big snow and ice storm of the two days before, and the following quotations will give some idea of the conditions.

The Hartford Times said editorially :

"Close observers of the weather have noticed that a tendency to cloudiness and precipitation which began about the middle of last July, and produced pretty consistent dull weather all summer and fall, has been continued without material change all winter. The aggregate rainfall was not such as to break any records of importance, but it did spoil our good weather. A little rain every day or two soaks into a thirsty earth with a result of more good than harm; it seems different with snow. That stays with us and "every little bit added to what you've got makes just a little bit more."

"Snowfall records of twenty-seven years have been broken in Portland, Maine. The total for this month is 47.1 inches, and for the period since Janu- ary 1st it is sixty-six inches. At present there is more than four feet on the ground. This is representative of the condition in all the northern parts of New England. The winter may have been lacking in snowstorms of extreme depth and unusual drifting, but the persistent dropping and the preservative coldness of the winter have produced a great accumulation."

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A modern history of Windham county, Connecticut : a Windham county treasure book, Volume I, Part 100

Author: Lincoln, Allen B Publication date: 1920 Publisher: Chicago : S. J. Clarke publ. co. Number of Pages: 930

Author: Lincoln, Allen B
Publication date: 1920
Publisher: Chicago : S. J. Clarke publ. co.
Number of Pages: 930