History of York County Pennsylvania, Volume I, Part 112

Author: Prowell, George R.
Publication date: 1907
Publisher: J. H. Beers
Number of Pages: 1372

USA > Pennsylvania > York County > History of York County Pennsylvania, Volume I > Part 112

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

Hail

May 29, 1821, the temperature was oppressive, which was followed in the afternoon by one of the most

Storm

of destructive hail storms that ever

1821. visited this region. The growing wheat, rye and other cereals in the vicinity of York were almost entirely de- stroyed by the falling hail. The lightning and thunder which accompanied this hail storm were most prominent in the vicinity of Hanover, and three miles from the bor- excessive. On September 13, 1822, there ough hail stones fell in abundance, injuring all the crops.

In 1822, York suffered from an- other flood. Snow, eighteen inches

Flood of deep, fell on February 18. On the 1822. 20th, a south wind rose, accom- panied with heavy rain; the snow dissolved with rapidity, and on the 21st, the Codorus was within four feet, four inches. Beaver of being as high as on the memorable 8th of

August, 1817. From the vast quantity of floating ice, the flood was very destructive to bridges and mill-dams. Three arches of the bridge on Market Street, York, and five arches of a new stone bridge over the Cone- wago, at East Berlin, were injured by the ice, the bridges being destroyed.

The following is an account of the prin- cipal sufferers in York Borough. Michael Doudel's tannery was much injured; he lost moreover, a shop and a considerable amount of leather and hides. The dwelling house and brew house of Samuel Welsh was much injured; he lost a frame store house. Jacob Schlosser lost his still house and dis- tillery. The stables of Jesse Spangler, Joseph Morris and Andrew Neuman were carried off. Jacob Sechrist sustained a con- phenomenon, and described it to the writer siderable loss in his brick-yard.

Persons who had lived nearly a Drought of 1822. century, had witnessed nothing like the great drought of 1822. There was no rain of any conse- quence from February 21, the time of the flood, until some time in September, a pe- riod of about six months. Fountains which

up. Grinding of wheat into flour was done at only one mill out of ten ; and where grind- ing was done, the demand for flour could not be supplied. Many farmers went twenty miles to mill, and then were obliged to return with a quantity of flour not suffi- cient to satisfy immediate wants. An ac- count of the drought written August 13th, says " the summer crops have almost totally failed; some fields will yield not a grain of corn, and the best fields not more than a few bushels to the acre." Shortly after this there were two showers, which relieved the country ; the one fell on the 23rd, and the other on August 24th. The showers, how- ever, did not extend to the northwestern part of the county, where the distress was was not a drop of water to be seen in the channel of the big Conewago, at the place where the bridge is thrown across it on the Carlisle Road. At low water the stream there is generally from 90 to 120 feet wide. Turnips were raised in the bed of the stream that summer.

Beaver Creek, a branch of the Con-

ewago, is one of three by the same

Creek name in York County. During the Flood. summer of 1826, there was a sin- gular cloudburst above the south- ern slope of Round Top, in Warrington Township, which caused a terrible flood along this. stream. It was purely a local rain. James Griffith, of Warrington, who was standing one and a half miles west of Round Top in the open air, did not get wet. At this point the sun was shining. The cloud was passing in a southwest direction. The water rushed down the sides of the mountain, tearing deep gulleys. The tan- nery of William Ross, at Rossville, was re- moved by the high water, and the leather taken down with the dashing current. Daniel M. Ettinger, of York, was an eye witness to this remarkable meteorological as follows : " On the morning of that day, (Sunday), I was traveling from Dillsburg to Rossville, passing within a mile or two of Round Top, the highest point in York County. The top of the mountain was hid all the morning in a dense cloud. No rain fell where I was. When the clouds moved off, or rather disappeared, a great rush of

623

STORMS, FLOODS AND METEORS

water came down into Beaver Creek, which people and even others who have some flows past the base of Round Top. On that

claims to a knowledge of astronomy have Sunday a religious meeting was held near asserted that such showers occur every its banks. My sister attended it. She says, thirty-three years. One was predicted in America in 1866 and its approach was looked forward to with eager expectancy in the morning, she and others crossed the creek, in which there was but little water. No rain fell there on that day where the by astronomical observers. The display in meeting was held, which was but two miles America did not attract much attention, but from the mountain. During the meeting produced a marked effect in England and France. Another was predicted in 1899, but was never reported to have occurred in any part of the civilized world. There is,

the flood came rushing along the channel of the creek, the first wave being about seven feet high. The cattle grazing near the

creek were overtaken and carried off. therefore, no scientific reason for the peri- There was great consternation and confu- odical occurrences of this singular phenom- sion at the meeting on account of the flood." enon. An old gentleman, then living near the Con- ewago Creek, some distance above the Shower mouth of Beaver Creek, observing the water of 1833. in the Conewago running up its channel, re- versing its course, concluded the end of time had come. It is said. "he earnestly pre- pared himself the best way he could, for the great change which he thought was just at hand."

A violent wind storm pre- Wind Storm of 1830. vailed in York and vicinity on May 8, 1830. A number of wild ducks were dashed down in a terrific gale, into the streets of the town. They were beautiful specimens of the feathery tribe, on their way northward to the lakes, but were unable to withstand the violence of the wind. The storm occurred during the night and the ducks, many of which were dead, were taken up by the citi- zens the next morning. About four miles from town many more were found. The storm caused considerable destruction to orchards and property.

Meteoric Showers.

Meteoric showers have been known ever since astronomy was studied as a science by the ancient Greeks and Romans. The uneducated people have always believed that meteors scintillating through the heav- ens are stars, and hence the great meteoric shower which occurred November 13, 1833, has often been cited as the time " when the stars fell." The origin of meteors and aero- lites has never been clearly given even by the most advanced scientists of modern times.

The first shower known to have occurred in this latitude was visible at York in 1799. The second occurred in 1833. Superstitious

The meteoric shower of 1833 was the most remarkable known to the whole history of astronomy and the display was more brilliant in central and southern Pennsylvania than in any other part of America or in Europe. About II o'clock at night, apparently ema- nating from a point in one of the constella- tions almost directly overhead, were contin- uous lines of luminous meteors with long tails. An hour later these meteors seemed to be sent forth from a thousand sources in the heavens, and the whole atmosphere for six long hours was filled with these little heavenly messengers, crossing the track of one another, then suddenly disappearing when the light of each went out. This event was described by Henry Bott, before the Historical Society of York County in 1904. He was then a man eighty-four years of age and had a vivid recollection of this remarkable atmospheric condition. Many innocent people believed the world was coming to an end. They thought that the laws of gravitation were no longer in force and the many thousands of stars brilliantly shining in the heavens, millions of miles away, were falling to the earth and would burn it up. After the meteors had contin- ued darting through the upper regions of the atmosphere for two or three hours, the inhabitants of York and elsewhere became reconciled to the situation, for they found that instead of being burning, luminous bodies, they were entirely harmless and disappeared without any destruction to life or property. Meteors are frequently seen in small numbers during any hours of the night and are familiarly known as " shooting stars." According to the authority of the

624

HISTORY OF YORK COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

most noted astronomers, the largest of these Penn Streets. meteors do not weigh more than an ounce. How they become luminous by floating through the upper regions of the atmos- phere is still a mystery even to the most learned scientists, and they disappear with- out any visible results.

What is known to science as the aerolite is a solid metallic substance which occasion- ally falls from the sky to the earth, when it comes within the area of the gravitation of our own planet. A few of these specimens are on exhibition in different museums in this country and Europe.

The disastrous flood of 1884 is re-

Flood membered by a large number of stage.

of 1884. citizens of York County. It oc- curred on the night of June 25, and The destruction of bridges and the tearing up of railroad tracks was most prominent the morning of June 26, of that year. The along the Hanover Junction and the Han- amount of water precipitated greatly ex- over and York Railroads. The trains could not run over them for several days. The devastation was widespread along Muddy The grain crop was injured, and hay that was lying on the ground spoiled. The en-

ceeded the rain fall of 1817, and any other previous one known in the history of York County, and the devastation caused by the Creek, Conewago and the Little Conewago. flood which followed, was much more wide- spread. York and Adams counties in Penn- sylvania ; Frederick, Harford, Baltimore and tire county suffered heavy loss.

Carroll counties in Maryland, included the area over which the largest amount of rain fell on this occasion. It began to fall early in the evening, gradually increasing in amount until 9 P. M., when the water came down in torrents and was continued with- out cessation until 3 A. M., when it gradu- ally ceased. The amount of rainfall in cer- tain parts of York County was twelve inches, a precipitation never before or since equalled in the United States, in seven hours. The only parallel case in America was the rainfall at Honduras, in Central America, within the limits of the tropics. It was a phenomenon hard to explain even by the best hydrographers in this country.

000; a vast amount of this loss was to the borough of York caused by the Codorus overflowing its banks. The course of the stream through the built up portion of the town measures about one and a quarter miles. The Codorus, usually about eighty feet wide through Market Street, on this oc- casion was fully one-fourth of a mile wide, extending from the middle of the square be- tween Water and Beaver Streets to the middle of the square between Newberry and

An area of one hundred acres within the borough was under water. The stream rose rapidly about 5 A. M. Fortunately there were no lives lost at York, but there were many thrilling adventures and escapes. One by one the bridges across the Codorus were taken away; at 7 A. M. all were gone. Bridges from up the stream, buildings, farming implements, furniture, dead and living animals were seen in the passing waters. The stream rose so rapidly in headlong rolling waves, that many people were soon imprisoned in their houses, on the second or third stories. The Codorus at York was twenty-five feet above the usual

The commissioners of York County, Haines, Keifer and Bentz, placed wooden bridges at the following places, where the flood had taken away bridges previously placed there: across Codorus Creek at Sprenkle's Mill, at the New Salem Road and Hyde's Fording; iron bridges across the same stream at Penn, Princess, King, Mar- ket, Philadelphia and George streets, in York; two at Loucks' Mill in Spring Garden Township, at Myers' and Brillinger's Mill in Manchester Township; across the Little Conewago at Emig's and Neiman's Mills; across the Big Conewago at Gross' Fording, Diehl's Mill, Benedict's and Bowers' Ford- ings; one across Bermudian Creek in York County; across one of the many

The actual loss to York County occa- sioned by this flood, was not less than $700,- Beaver Creeks in York County at Mase- mer's Mill, two across Mill Creek in Peach Bottom, and two across Oil Creek near Menges' Mill. The cost of these bridges was $91,000.

What the American people called

Blizzard the "March blizzard of 1888,"

of 1888. was probably the most remarka- ble phenomenon known to the science of meteorology. The winter of 1887-88 was mild and noted for the great number of bright and cheerful days. Win-

625

STORMS, FLOODS AND METEORS

ter seemed to set in at the beginning of Feb- be seen evidences of its fury and destruc- ruary. Toward its close there were several tiveness. Houses were unroofed, trees up- rooted, buildings blown down, signs wrenched from their places, telephone and telegraph poles snapped off, and the electric wires a mass of confusion.

This furious storm created havoc to the property of the York County Agricultural Society, situated in the western part of York. It caused an entire demolition of the main building, carriage house, stove house and grand stand. The loss to the Society was about $22,000. No section of the county escaped. From Wrightsville to Hanover, from the upper end to the lower end, the desolation was on all sides. Hun- dreds of forest and fruit trees were blown down and barns and houses unroofed or wrecked. The bridge across the Susque- ern states of the Union. Telegraph wires hanna River between Wrightsville and Co- were blown down and for a period of five lumbia was entirely demolished. An eye days there was no direct communication be- witness to this remarkable scene described tween the cities of New York and Philadel- it as follows :

days when the sun shown brightly in a clear sky. On the evening of March II, a violent storm began to spread all over the United States. The wind blew in heavy gales from the south, bringing to the upper regions of the atmosphere in the North Temperate Zone an immense amount of moisture. When this moisture formed into clouds which were driven at a rapid rate, snow began to fall. This snow storm covered almost the entire United States, and was probably the greatest amount of snowfall ever known or recorded within any region of the North Temperate Zone. The wind blew for hours and the snow drifted. Rail- road travel was stopped for several days in all the Middle Atlantic as well as the West- phia. The line to Baltimore was opened a little earlier. All the railroads in York County were blockaded with huge snow Destroyed. drifts which had to be removed before the trains could be put in motion. Snow drifts filled the country roads, many of which could not be used for travel until the warm rays of the sun had melted them. The weather continued to be cold for several days after the storm.

In 1896 a terrible wind storm

Cyclone swept northeastward from the of 1896. Gulf of Mexico along the Atlantic Coast, and a large amount of property in the city and county of York was destroyed by this furious cyclone. Rain began to fall early in the morning of Sep- tember 29, and increased during the day. It was accompanied in the afternoon by a strong easterly wind. When the evening came on, the rain increased, as did also the wind. About 9 o'clock there was a tem- porary cessation of the storm and the stars were visible through rifts in the clouds. Only, however, for a brief period, and about IO o'clock the storm began again with in- creased vigor. The rain and storm were furious from about midnight until I o'clock, when they began to abate, and the next morning was bright, and clear, but everywhere throughout the county were to

" The storm began about 11.30

Bridge P. M. with a heavy gale from the southeast, which lasted nearly an hour; about 12.30 the wind shifted to the south and a heavy black cloud appeared, coming from that di- rection bringing with it a tornado, such as this part of the country had never before ex- perienced. At exactly 12.35 the citizens of the two towns on the river bank were startled by a crash and grinding of timbers, as the entire structure was lifted bodily from the piers, carried about ten feet up stream and then dropped into the river. Scarcely a piece of timber was left in place. The west end at Wrightsville still rested on the approach to the bridge with the end of the span at the bottom of the river. Never was there a more complete destruction of the bridge as it then appeared. Both Wrights- ville and Columbia were in a high state of excitement and few eyes closed in sleep after II o'clock. The crash of the falling bridge was heard all over the two towns. The

wind seemed to have lifted the immense structure, a mile and an eighth in length, bodily and carried it off its foundation. Only the iron span in the centre of the bridge withstood the terrible force of the wind."

The first bridge across the Susquehanna

626

HISTORY OF YORK COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

at this place was built by authority of the state in 1819 and was taken away by an ice flood in 1832. It was situated at consid- erable distance above the present structure. The large covered wooden bridge which took the place of the one removed in 1832, was destroyed by fire Wednesday, June 28, 1863, by order of General Couch, command- ing the department of the Susquehanna, with headquarters at Harrisburg, during the second Confederate invasion into Pennsyl- vania, under General Lee.

WEATHER OBSERVATIONS.

Henry Wirt, of Hanover, from 1878 to 1885, kept a record of the amount of rainfall each year, with the following results :

Inches

1879 28.80

1880

37.20

1881

37.99

1882

35.99

1883 35.97

1884

49.46

During the succeeding five years traffic between Wrightsville and Columbia was The instrument used was an accurately made five-inch rain-gauge. It will be no- ticed the amount of precipitation in 1884 greatly exceeded that of previous years. carried on by means of a small steam boat. In 1866 the old piers were purchased by the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, and dur- ing the year 1868 this company had com- The yearly average for Pennsylvania is pleted a bridge, which was removed by the cyclone of 1896.

about forty-two inches. The amount of rainfall, as a rule, decreases in passing from the equator to the poles.

On the night of January 13 and the morn- ing of January 14, 1899, one of the largest snow storms occurred in Pennsylvania and extended over half a dozen of the adjoining states. The snow was light and feathery and on January 14, heavy gales of wind passed over this region. They blew the snow into huge drifts, blockading railroad travel and closing nearly all the public high- ways in the county. It was one of the most destructive snow storms that ever visited this part of Pennsylvania. The weather was intensely cold, the thermometer falling several degrees below zero. Some of the huge piles of snow remained unmelted until late in the spring.

The Weather Bureau of the United States government at Washington has stations in about 4,000 places in this country. No offi- cial station was opened in York County un- til 1888, when Mrs. L. H. Grenewald, of York, was appointed co-operative observer by the chief of the Weather Bureau at Washington. She was furnished with a government rain gauge and rain-measuring stick, a thermometer for maximum temper- ature and one for minimum, and a slat shel- ter on four posts about four feet from the ground for protection ; a column barometer of regulation dimensions, encased in a box, placed near a window in her home, two hu- The ice flood on the Susque- Ice Flood of 1904. hanna in 1904 was one of the most destructive known to the present generation. The ice had frozen on the river to a thickness. of ten or twelve inches. Heavy rains had fallen in the upper valleys of the river which caused a rapid rise of the stream. The ice refused to midity thermometers and a twirler for gaug- ing the humidity. Mrs. Grenewald made monthly reports to the Weather Bureau at Washington and also furnished one of the York papers daily with observations. She continued at York from 1888 until April, 1904, and then moved to Hanover, where she made observations until her death in break near Columbia and farther down the October, 1904. On October 1, 1904, Dr. A. C. Wentz, of Hanover, was appointed her successor and has since made observations and reported them monthly for the United States Weather Bureau. The following tables showing the mean monthly tempera-

river. It floated in huge cakes from the Juniata, the North Branch and that part of the Susquehanna above Harrisburg, and was piled up to an alarming extent at Mid- dletown, York Haven, Marietta, Columbia and Port Deposit, near the mouth of the tures and precipitations of rain and melted river. The York Haven Power plant and the paper mill at the same place suffered heavy damages by this ice flood.

snow were carefully prepared by Dr. Wentz from the records kept by Mrs. Grenewald and himself from 1888 to 1907:

627

STORMS, FLOODS AND METEORS

PRECIPITATION

Year

Jan. inchs.

Feb. inchs.

Mar. inchs.

April inchs.

May inchs.

June inchs.

July inchs.

Aug. inchs.

Sept. inchs.

Oct. inchs.

Nov. inchs.

Dec. inchs.

Annual inchs.

1888

2.70

2.20

3.78

1.17

5.10

2.23

2.84

5.65

4.05

2.24

2.68

3.62

38.26

1889

4.30

2.20

3.40

3.91

5.65

5.13

4.34

2.83

6.87

4.03

8.25

1.05

51.99

1890

1.84

2.85

5.44

1.94

6.65

3.29

1.77

5.65

4.55

6.60

0.80

3.29

44.67

1891

3.65

3.37

6.07

2.01

2.39

3.98

10.77

3.29

1.88

3.20

2.13

4.20

46.94

1892

6.08

1.25

5.87

1.70

4.10

3.85

8.59

2.81

2.66

0.14

4.44

2.18

43.61

1893

1.76

4.76

1.76

4.37

6.53

2.50

1.58

3.40

1.57

3.03

3.55

2.22

37.03

1894

1.34

4.20

1.58

4.48

4.40

3.06

2.22

2.93

9.16

4.24

2.09

3.90

43.60

1895

4.03

0.98

2.50

3.73

2.73

3.10

1.41

2.41

4.01

2.36

1.80

3.30

32.36

1896

0.94

4.88

4.20

1.45

2.53

3.92

4.00

1.05

2.54

3.44

3.10

0.45

32.50

1897

1.55

4.59

2.51

3.42

6.61

2.42

3.69

4.04

2.73

2.60

5.69

3.37

43.22

1898

3.67

1.15

3.00

2.71

6.86

1.08

3.47

6.44

1.84

4.31

4.75

3.58

42.84

1899

3.61

6.64

5.16

1.28

5.71

3.54

5.32

6.76

6.07

0.93

3.59

1.15

49.76

1900

2.12

4.62

3.06

1.35

1.87

4.67

2.36

3.07

3.18

1.48

2.50

2.52

34.26

1901

2.72

0.53

3.94

2.51

2.55

1.55

3.33

6.27

2.36

1.59

2.50

6.17

36.03

1902

2.73

6.74

4.78

3.41

1.24

5.15

5.74

4.22

4.12

6.40

2.39

6.05

52.97

1903

4.67

6.13

3.06

3.21

1.18

6.21

6.08

6.96

2.72

3.51

1.89

2.90

48.52

1904

4.39

1.98

2.93

1.42

2.21

4.30

3.57

3.88

2.74

2.62

1.75

2.30

34.09

1905

3.70

2.09

3.73

2.70

2.65

5.15

6.60

9.16

2.58

4.13

2.19

3.75

48.43

1906

2.58

1.89

4.23

4.45

3.46

5.53

2.90

6.85

1.34

6.92

0.86

5.21

46.22

Average per month

3.07

3.30

3.73

2.69

3.91

3.71

4.24

4.61

3.52

3.35

3.00

3.22

42.35

TEMPERATURE

Year

Jan. Deg.

-Feb. Deg.

Mar. Deg.

Ap1. Deg.

May Deg.

June Deg.

July Deg.

Aug. Deg.

Sept. Deg.

Oct. Deg.

Nov. Deg.

Dec. Deg.

Annual Deg.

1888

24.4

29.7

33.9

50.9

60.2

70.8

71.3

73.7

61.6

49.5

44.5

35.9

50.5

1889

34.0

26.0

42.5

50.2

63.2

66.5

74.5

70.2

62.9

50.7

44.8

42.1

53.1

1890

39.9

39.1

35.8

50.1

59.8

71.2

72.7

71.5

67.3

52.9

43.2

29.3

52.7

1891

32.0

37.0

34.9

52.5

59.8

69.8

70.0

71.2

69.0

50.0

39.3

39.9

52.1

1892

26.8

30.6

42.2

48.9

60.7

74.2

74.0

73.5

64.0

52.2

41.9

28.8

51.4

1893

19.6

29.6

37.1

50.4

59.7

71.0

74.5

72.1

63.3

54.2

40.5

34.0

50.5

1894

33.4

29.6

45.1

49.8

62.2

70.2

75.2

70.3

68.1

54.7

40.3

38.2

53.0

1895

21.4

37.6

50.0

61.4

72.0

70.6

71.5

69.6

48.5

43.5

35.0

49.0

1896

32.6

33.4

54.8

66.0

68.1

74.6

73.2

65.4

50.3

47.6

· 31.6

52.2

1897

27.9

30.5

42.4

50.4

60.1

66.8

75.7

70.0

65.0

55.0

42.2

34.9

51.7

1898

32.6

31.1

46.4

47.0

61.4

71.4

77.4

74.2

67.8

54.8

41.0

31.0

53.0

1899

28.7

22.8

38.9

51.4

62.3

71.8

74.8

73.5

63.4

54.2

41.3

32.3

51.3

1900

30.6

29.8

34.5

51.0

61.6

71.5

77.7

77.4

70.3

56.1

45.9

33.0

53.2

1901

31.1

24.7

41.2

48.9

61.2

72.4

80.0

75.8

66.6

54.7

37.8

31.2

52.0

1902

28.6

26.5

43.6

51.3

63.5

69.9

75.7

71.1

64.6

55.5

49.5

30.0

52.5

1903

30.4

34.4

48.8

51.7

63.0

68.0

74.6

69.6

66.4

58.7

40.4

26.2

52.6

1904

23.8

25.4

38.1

47.7

63.6

67.9

73.6

70.8

69.2

52.7

40.9

27.8

50.1

1905

28.2

24.5

42.6

52.3

64.4

71.0

75.7

78.5

66.2

56.5

43.3

37.3

53.4

1906

39.1

34.0

36.0

55.4

64.6

73.0

75.6

75.8

72.5

56.3

45.8

33.1

55.1

Mean

29.8

29.4

39.7

50.7

62.0

70.4

71.4

&73.0

66.6

53.5

42.8

33.2

It will be noticed from the above table the temperature rose to 107 degrees Fahren- that February was the average coldest month from 1888 to 1907 and that August

heit. The coldest day was February II, 1899, when the mercury fell to seventeen was the hottest month. On July 2, 1904, degrees below zero, at York.

25.7

29.5

628

HISTORY OF YORK COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

CHAPTER XXXVI

DISTILLING AND TOBACCO CUL- TURE

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

History of York County Pennsylvania, Volume I, Part 112

Author: Prowell, George R. Publication date: 1907 Publisher: J. H. Beers Number of Pages: 1372

Author: Prowell, George R.
Publication date: 1907
Publisher: J. H. Beers
Number of Pages: 1372