Evening Star Newspaper, January 17, 1932, Page 72

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6 THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C, JANUARY 17, 1932. _Ii District Weather History Made Clear BY JOHN CLAGETT PROCTOR. PCENTLY, at the annual banquet of the Association of Oldest Inhabitants, one of the speskers referred to the differ- ence in the weather conditions we have Boen having in late years and the in- tense cold days and ihe heavy snow- falls of 40 and 50 vears ago. After the meet- ing was cver the writer calted the genlleman's attention to a statement, apparently emanat- ing from the Weather Bureau, printed in The Star of March 6, 1927, in which the records of that burecau for more ihan 50 years prior to that date conclusively showed that the cli- matic conditions herezbout were just about the same now as they had ever been. But still he seemed not convinced that suth was actually the case. Of course, the Weather Bureau is right. The scientific m>n who look after this phase of the Government's activities devote their best efforts to this special line of work, and their meteor- glogical instruments, too, are of the best man- ufactured, and as accurate as ingenuity and dexterity can make them, which is rarely the case with private instruments, where perfec- tion is not to be expected and is seldom found. About 30 years ago the writer got together an assortment of thermometers and then made tomparicons to sce which of the lot tallica with the temperature reccrds given out by the Weather Bureau, and of the entire lot he singled out about two, which he kept and used for a long while. He did this because he real- ized that there was s great difference, espe- cially at that time, with the average commer- cial thermometer. There is not a great amount of information available regarding the early climatic condi- tions of the District of Columbia, although re- ports on general weather conditions were made as early as 1817 by registers of land offices, sup- plemented a little later by reports from medi- cal officers at Army posts. By 1848 the Smith- sonian Institution was receiving weather re- ports from telegraph operators throughout the country, wherever they happened to be sta- tioned and the telegraph was available. Lit- tle of this information, however, has come down to us and even then, seemingly, in scattered form. JCHARD P. JACKSON, a littie more thoughtful than other writers on early local conditions, tells us in his chronicles of George- town : “The Winter of 1827 was of remarkable se- verity in this latitude. Alexandria was nearly burnt down on the eighteenth day of January of that year, and many citizens of our town skated on the ioce to Alexandria, and assisted in extinguishing the conflagration. The Win- ter of 1829-1830 was very cold, and the ice broke up with a freshet, carrying away the schooner Washington from Crittenden’s Wharf, where she had been made fast with numerous cables, which were rent like pipestems, and the vessel carried down the river until she grounded on Easbys Point. At the same time the Long Bridge was shattered to pieces by the jce, 14 gaps being made by the force of the freshet. Congress then purchased the rem- nant of the bridge of the Potomac Bridge Co. for $20,000, and afterward erected the present structure. “The Winter of 1831-32 was very long and extremely cold. The chronicler was, at that time, a scholar at Prof. Hallowell’s School, lo- cated in Alexandria, and well remembers the severe coldness of the weather. The cold weather commenced in November, 1831; the Potomac River was soon ice-bound and the boys enjoyed fine skating. On coming home to spend the Christmas holidays, we crossed the river at the ferry near the aqueduct, and saw on the ice, at the time, a wagcn loaded with wood, being drawn by four horses. The mer- cury (in the thermometer situated constantly in the shade on the west side of our dwelling) indicated 4 degrees below zero. In the first part of January, 1832, we had a thaw and the toe passed quietly away; but in the latter part of the month the weather again turned sud- denly cold, and the Potomac was frozen over. On the twenty-eighth of January of that Win- ter, after two nights’ freeze, I attempted to come home by way of the Long Bridge. On ar- riving at the bridge, I found no track broken for the ferryboat, and to cross on the ice was considered impossible, as the river is more than & mile wide. Having my skates with me, and not liking to turn back, I put them on, and, taking the branch of a tree in my hands, I crossed over in safety to the satisfaction of the crowd who steed locking on at my foelhardy venture. As I skated on the ice, it was so thin that it would crack and bend under my light weight, and I could distinctly see the leaves and twigs floating in the water under my feet. Having arrived on the Washington shore, I felt so well satisfied that I would not have returned for the fortune of Stephen Girard. “The Winter of 1835 was the coldest ever ex- perienced in this latitude. We had some weeks a thaw, and then the weather would turn ex- tremely cold. The mercury indicated in Jan- uary 16 degrees below zero. We had three severe cold spells of weather during that year, one of which was in March. On the third of that month I skated on the Potomac, playing Bandy and Priscner's Base. I THE Winter of 1339-40 was long and cold. The ice broke up in the Potomac on the 10th of February, 1840, and carried away the Chain Bridge and the draw of the Long Bridge. The Winter of 1840-41 was long and cold; though the degree of cold was not as great as some previous Winters. The 12th of February, 1841, was the coldest day during the season and it is well remembered by the fnhabitents of this town as the day that Gen. Harrison peid Georgetown a visit just before his ineunguration as President of the United States. “we all remember the Winters of 1855, 1856 and 1857; the snows were deep and the cold was severe. During the Winter of 1057 sleigh- tng was cnioved by enr jubohiamts Wieet | Impressive Tales of Old Fashioned Daysof Freezing Are Based on Conditions in Scatter- ed Periods—Some Severe Times Recorded, but Continuous Cold in Winter Months Very Rare— Big Storms Recalled. Pennsylvania avenue at Seventh street during the snowstorm of January, 1922. Metropolitan Hotel may be seen at the left. horses were brought on from other cities to race on Pennsylvania avenue, and when the drivers would be arrested for driving at an improper speed, they would pay the fine, crack the whip over the head of justice and go #t again. This was the Winter that a Jocomotive was run on the ice across the river from Mary- land to Alexandria; also sleepers and rails were laid upon the ice at Havre de Grace across the Susquehanna River and trains of cars crossed over for more than a month. “There is a iaw of nature that one extreme is followed by another. The extremely hot Summer of 1834 was followed by the cold Winter of 1835. The centennial year of 1876 was very warm; the heat set in about the 20th of June and never broke until the 13th of July, when we had a few pleas- ant days, when the heat set in again and lasted until the first of September. The Winter of 1876-77 was severe. The extreme cold set in on Saturday, the 9th of December, and con- tinued to the 13th of January, when we had a thaw.” ‘Thomas Jefferson, in his “Notes on Virginia,” goes back even farther and tells us that the Winter of 1780 (probably 1784) was 50 cold that the Chesapeake Bay “was frogen from iis head to the mouth of the Potomac River, and at Annapolis, where the bay is five miles wide, the ioe was five inches thick.” EORGE WASHINGTON PARKE CUSTIS, who began the erection of Arlington Mansion in 1802, and who surely knew the Potomac River and the intensely cold sea- Northwest corner of Tenth and Litile B streets (site of the ncw Internal Revenue Building) during the heavy snow of February 11, 1899, when tha temperaiure dropped to 15 degrees below zero. sons of early Washington, gives us an intere esting aocount of the ice during the Winter of 1784—the year probably referred to by Mr, Jefferson. This is what Mr. Custis says: “The ice in the memorable year of 1784 moved twice. It first descended in vast quan- tities from the Upper Potomac till it reached the Three Sisters, where it stopped and accu- mulated iIn great masses and froze together again; then came the deep snow, followed by a general thaw and violent rains. The second movement carried all before it. The shoving off of a strongly built stone house or stable from the bank of where now is your town is & well remembered story of the past. Both branches of the river around Analostan Island were open in those days, the Eastern Branch being used as the ship channel. The freshet of 1784 tore open the Western Branch and formed in the one freshet a channel way that would have admitted the passage of an Indiaman to Georgetown, being from 27 to 30 feet depth up to the wharves of the town. “This channel was in all its usefulness when I came to live in your vicinity in 1802, and would have been a ship channel for the largest shipping up to this time but for the unfortu= nate erection of the unfortunate causeway, which, while doing goodi to none, has done infinite harm to every one.” Indeed, when this “Old Man River” gets worked up and excited and goes on a rampage he I8 quite likely to upset things as he races by Washington, and it will behoove those hav= ing the development of Analostan Island in hand to build securely and well, for history will surely repeat itself sconer or later and great damage be again done by ice to property along the river front. The Spring and Summer fresh- ets must also be taken into consideration, for even the Weather Bureau cannot tell with any degree of certainty how much water will fall on any particular dsy & year hence. s ICHARD P. JACKSON mentions among the great freshets in the Potomac those of June, 1836, “which overflowed the wharves and cellars along the line of Water street and did great damage to the canal,” and tells us: “The freshets of April and September, 1843, were equally as destructive, So wis the freshet of October, 1847, when the banks of the canal were rent asunder and navigation suspended until the Spring of 1848. The freshet of April, 1852, was very destructive; navigation was sus= pended on the canal all Summer, and it cost the company several hundred thousand dollars to repair damages. The water in the river was 'so high that it ran over the causeway which joins Analostan Island with the mainland, and washed away the stone wall and made & new channel for the river, which damage cost the town several thousand dollars to repair. We have had since a number of freshets in the Potomac during the years 1856, 1860, 1863, 1866 and 1867, but none of them doing much damage. The freshet of October 1, 1870, was very destructive, carrying away more than one- half of the Chain Bridge and washing away the causeway and south draw of the Long Bridge. The canal was greatly damaged, seve eral lock gates were seen floating down the river, and navigation suspended for several weeks, which cost the company between $80,000 and $100,000 to repair the injury. The freshet of November 24, 25 and 26, 1877, was higher than either of the freshets of 1847, 1852 or 1870, doing serious injury to the banks of the canal, which cost the company $250,000 to re= pair, and again washing away the stone cause« way, which joins Analosian Island with the mainland, giving & chance to the Commission= ers of the District of Columbia to repair the damage.” PEAKING of the Potomac River, reminds the writer of a recent sarcastic allusion made by & member of Congress, in which he refe to the members of a certain citizens® n as residents of Swampoodle. Tom: Moore, the famous Irish poet, who visited this city in 1i said of the Potomac River, though more cleverly: “Thus let us meet and mngle cenverse dear By Thames at home or by Potomac here! O'er lakes and marsh, through fevers and through fogs, 'Midst bears and Yankees, Democrats and {rogs, Thy foot shall follow me; thy heart and eyes With me shall wonder, and with me despise.” Later on, Moore xegretted the unkind things he said about Washington, and let it be known, and maybe the legislator will, toc. . As will be observed by the dates given by the early writer before mentioned, intense weather in Washington is the exception and not the rule, “and another thing to be borme. in mind is that cycknes, heat waves or bliz= zards do not originate in Washington, but are- always reported as coming from Texas, Okla= homa, Alaska, Michigan and other places. There have been many severe Winter storms occurring here within the memory of & num- ber of our older residents. The one which took place at the time of Grant's second inaugu- ration, March 4, 1873, was especially severe for that time of the year. In speaking of this notable event the following day The Star said! ““The inauguration ball last night may be noted a great success, except in the matter of the temperature, which the ball managers, with the best intentions in the world, could not well control. In the memory of the oldest inhabi- tants there has not been before such a freezing fourth of March, and when the cold was SO severe as to cause soldiers to drop in the ranks from its effects, and under the noonday sun at that, it was not within the reach of possi bility that at night a temporary hall 350 feet long and 75 high could be warmed up to the point of comfort for ladies in the thim costume of the ball room. What was deme onstrated last night was the necessity for having in Washington a permanent builds ing with & hall of proper dimensions capable - of being well warmed in severe weather. The amount that has been spent in Washington i:unfinn h.nxrm y o a would have built a magnificent edifice of stone eor brick. with spacions wpoer \

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