Evening Star Newspaper, January 17, 1932, Page 73

THT SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C, JANUARY 17, - SRy g room, etc., and every possible convenience, and also enough rooms for business purposes to pring & handsome steady income in the way of rental. In any ordinary March weather in Washington the 2,500 gas burners and the steam pipes in use would have abundantly heated & structure as large as the inauguration ball room, but the experience of this year has shown that it is not safe to count upon the usual order of the seasons in these exceptional This was the first isauguration attended by the Annapolis Middies and the West Point Cadets and, though warmly clad for the oc- casion, yet the boys felt the severity of the weather and were glad to entrain for home and their warm and comlortable quarters. T the inauguration of Mr. Hoover, nearly three years ago, Col. Luther Hare, U.8. A, retired, one of the cacets who attended the second Grant inaugural ceremonies, said that the things that impressed him most at that time were the horse car ride through Balti- more on the way here and the perfect firing by the middies, of which he said: “My class had just completed the course in artillery and we were particularly in- interested in the salut- of the middies. I don't think that ever frca that day to this have I ever witnessed more perfect firing. We timed them to the quarter-second and it was as regular as clockwork. “The parade at that time pursued about the same line of march as it does now. We marched past the President at the reviewing stand in front of the White House and then we returned to our quarters at the hotel. That night we attended the inaugural ball “When we had returned to West Point we did an unheard-of thing—we cheered the commandant. Nothing could have more fully expressed our appreciation of the trip to Washington than that cheer.” Washington experienced scme very cold weather during the latter part of December, 1878, and the early part of January, 1879, when the Potomac was blockaded with ice and for a while closed to navigation, the channel being frozen over for many miles down the river. In matters of history it dces not always do to rely upon one's memory, especially when the facts are easily obtained as they are in the more recent events of this kind. So here is a reliable press account of this cold snap printed January 3, 1879, and which tells us: “The sudden and scvere change in the weather which commenced here yesterday afternoon is almost unprecedented, there being a fall of almost 30 degrees in the ther- mometer in a few hours. The minimum tem- perature last night was 5'. degrees below gero, as recorded in front of Hempler's store, near the corner of Four-and-a-Half street and Pennsylvania avenue, by registering ther- mometers. Today severe cold and biting winds recall the memorable 4th of March when Gen. Grant was inaugurated President the second time * * * The channel is frozen over completely and no passage for boats can be made at all. Rivermen report that some tugboats came up the river as far as Alexandria yesterday morning, which is the last communication held by boats below that point. The ice is reported to have formed quite thick as far down as Cedar Point, The tugboats are more or less injured by the ice, especially those which kept run- ning as long as was possible. Those which laid by are in the best condition and have avoided trouble and cost thereby. River craft are reported frozen in the ice all the way down to Cedar Point. “Ice is being gathered today at many places about the city, 5 and 6 inches thick, and the prospect is that a large quantity will be saved, as many carts and horses are employed - filling private ice houses.” In the press of Janusry 4 we find a further reference to this cold spell, which says: “ » * ¢ The weather last night is said to be the coldest here since 1856. The ice cut today is from 8 to 10 inches thick and still freezing. “ = » +« Many of the clerks in the Quar- termaster General's Office had to quit work yesterday on account of the cold and so did the female clerks in the sixth story of the Shepherd Building—the Pension Office.” building, which was erected by the late | Gov. Alexander R. Shepherd, stood on the site now occupied by the Raleigh Hotel and was removed a number of years ago to permit the erection of that building. Recently, when the writer visited the Rup- pert farm, on Bladensburg road, he saw two yery large ice houses, typical of those used by the butchers for storing their season's ice, and this they did to the limit, for it was just #s impossible then to depend upon continu- ous cold weather as it is now, and the thing to do was to get it while the getting was good, and the butchers never failed to do this, for fce was a very essential part of their business, The next real cold spell, when the ther- mometer registered 5.6 degrees above zero, oc- gurred January 11, 1886. Much snow fell upon this occasion and physicians and others who found it necessary to go out on business had to make their ecalls in a sleigh, and, as usual, everybody in town who had a horse and sleigh turned out on the Avenue to enjoy tfe sport. Upon this particular occasion Lieut. Arnold gave orders to his men to enforce the speed Jaw of six miles an hour on the Avenme and many arrests were made, for few obeyed the law then, just as they frequently ignore it to- day with their automobiles. During this storm a number of persons met death from severe cold and Charles Henry Car- ter—according to The Star-—was one who met bis death from this cause He was on his way home, near the race track (then on Piney Branch road), when he is supposed to have lost his way and wandered into John Saul's orchard, on the Seventh Btreet Pike, as Georgia avenue was then called, and here he was found frozen to death the pext morning HERE seems to have been much snow this whole Winter, and February 4 we find it said: “The snowfall coniinued all day yesterday, 1932. 7 Selling mistletoc and holly, Christmas eve, 1888, at Seventh and B streets, just outside the old Center Marlet. with great persistency, and the result was one of the heaviest i~lls of snow that has been known here for y-us. This morning it be- gan snowing again and the prospect is that the total fall will reach the neighborhood of a foot and a half. * * * The unusual quantity of smow has stirred up the recollection of some of the oldest inhabitants, and the Winter of 1877 is recalled as having witnessed a some- what similar fall of snow. There are those who recall also the Winters of 1849 and 1838, as remarkable for heavy snows.” The following day, the paper states, it was so cold that the minimum instrument failed to operate properly and refused to go lower than 4 degrees below zero, when it was evi- dently much colder. And this, by the way, was not one of the only two severe snow starms the Weather Bureau credits Washington with since that bureau has been in existence, both of these coming at a later date. As the writer recalls it, the latter part of that year was also very cold, with plenty of snow. He remembors particularly buying a wax doll for his niece on Christmas eve of 1886 from Emmons S. Smith’s Variety Store, on Market Space, the site being now occupied by Kann's store, and of the wax being brac- keled on the way home from tbe severe cold. On March 11, 1883, another heavy storm made its appearance. The writer recalls this one very well, for he was then liviog on Meridian Hill and had to face the blizzard on his way home over what was then open fields almost all the way from the car barns at Florida avenue and Fourteenth street to Rock ON April 6, 1889, a freak storm made its ap- pearance. It stormed hard the night before, including wind, rain and hail in its assortment of bad weather, and it was cold. About 8:39 am. the rain turned to snow and the air became dense and thick with great flakes driven southward by a strong north wind. “Se heavy,” we are told, “and so damp was the snow that it penetrated the thickest clothing.” Umbrellas were useless and rubber boots and woolen gloves in great demand, but still the Weather Bureau would not credit it with being what it would call a great snow storm. On January 4, 1892, a blizzard is recorded of sufficient severity to tie up the street cars. And this reminds the writer of two outstand- ing things connected with the cold weather of 50 years and more ago that he will never forget. Ome was the old blacksmith shop with its waiting line of horses on a freezing, snowy day. The flaming forge; the sparks from the mold as it was being drawn by the perspiring smith to be made into the horseshoe; the snow falling outside, giving a contrast to the flames shooting toward the ceiling of the shop within. Then the street. cars, when there was con- siderable smow on the ground, for the horses were always doubled upon occasions of this kind ‘The one-horse cars were increased to two horses and the two-horse cars to four. Indeed, no city kid whe lived before the advent of the automobile will ever forget this sight, with four big, sturdy animals pulling, tugging The O’Hare home in a snowstorm, 1881, near the junction of Blair and Shepherd roads. Creek. In looking up this storm in The Star, the writer found under date of March 12, 1888, the following item, which tells exactly what kind of a day it was. It said: “The storm that visited Washington yester- day was one of the most remarkable known for years. In fact, the Capital seemed to have dropped into the very center of a cyclone thag brought with it a blinding sdccession of rainm, snow, wind and cold. In the early hours of the day the gutters ran high, and in many low places the sewers were blocked, thus flood- ing the streets. The deluge continued until about 5 o'clock in the afternoon, when immense rain drops turned to snow as by magic, and from that time until the lights went out the air was filed with twirling, fluttering flakes that stuck on the trees and the windows, the cornices and the fences until the city was sheeted in a mantle of white that grew thicker every minute.” and straining at the traces to pull the heavy car, filled to overflowing with passengers, over the snow-clogged rails—and this, too, in the good old days when the car stopped just where you wanted it to, or the president of the road got a nice letter the next day. On January 21, 1893, there was considerabie ice on the Potomac, and skating here, at Sol- diers’ Home and on Babcock Lake, in the Monument Grounds, was indulged in by those who owned skates or were able to hire them. Money was rather tight at that time and some of the unemployed mechanics who could handle a flle skillfully made money sharpening skates wherever a crowd of skaters was assembled. This freezing weather centinued for some time, until the river was frozen over and tug- boats had to begemployed to break the ice and keep the channel clear. The next year, mn 1894, there was a severe blizzard, and on Jan- uary 13, 1895, the temperature dropped ,40 degrees to 6 above, and the next month, we are told, occurred the worst blizzard Washe ington ever had up to that time. UCH cold weather and snow were experie enced during the Winter of 1897, and two years later a real record was made for cold in this locality. It was the Winter of 1899, and one day in January and three in February gave tempera- tures and snowfalls not soon to be forgotten. January 2, 1899, a blizzard was recorded by the press and the temperature is said to have gone one degree below zero. Omn February 8 the temperature went to seven degrees below, which is said to have been the coldest since 1881, but the day to which the Weather Bureau seems to attach the maosi importance, as being one of the two having exceptionaly severe storms, occurred February 11, 1899. ‘This snowstorm began at 3:30 p.m., on Feb- ruary 11, and continued to 11 p.m., February 13, “and was attended by intense cold and westerly gales. On the morning of February 11, the temperature was 15 degrees below zero,” said to be the lowest ever recorded by the local bureau. Before the storm began, there were 14.7 inches of snow on the ground which had accumulated from other snows, and to this was added from the storm which began on Feb- ruary 11 20.5 inches of snow, making in all on the ground when the storm was over, 35.2 inches. / The writer recalls this storm particularly be- cause he had to purchase just three pairs of rubber boots—two for his children and one pair for himself. Naturally this enormous blanket of snow was bad enough, but the trenches dug through the snow added considerably to the misery of everyone, for here the water settled to about the depth of six or eight inches. Rub- ber overshoes were consequently of no use. Boots were the only things that would keep the feet dry while this horrible condition lasted, and fo make matters even worse, a shortage of food was threatened. Many just had to get out to stock up for eventualities, for no one, for a time, knew just whether matters would take a turn for the better or worse. Indeed, the writer was one of those who took no chances and waded out into the snow to lay in a supply. Fortunately, the snow then on the ground disappeared before any considerabie amount was added to it. In some places, the snow had drifted and parts of small buildings were entirely obscured. After this storm the oldest imhabitants re- mained silent for a long time before referring to the big snows they used to have, and even they, for the time being at least, agreed that this beat them all. PEBHAPS many will recall President Taft's inauguraticn day, March 4, 1909. The day preceding this event was about as nasty a day as one would want to see. It was threatening all day, and about 3 o’clock in the afternoon occurred a heavy downpour of rain, accom- panied by lightening and thunder. It con- tinued to rain very hard until dark, when it tumed inte a snow storm accompanied by high winds, resulting in a blizzard which continued throughout the night and into the next day, resulting in the worst day of the Winter. The Commissioners made heroic efforts to clean the snow from the line of march, and with an army of laborers succeeded fairly well. Toward noon, the storm having spent itself, the sun came out, which, however, made matters even worse, by melting the snow into a heavy slush that made walking just fright- ful. Indeed, no one will ever ferget Taft's inauguration. This storm, like all the other bad weather we get in Washington, originated somewhere up North, and conditions in its wake were bad for a week or more. Many of the railroad trains bound for Washington and the inaug- uration never got here, and some came in after the ceremonies were all over. Telegraph lines were down and altogether it was one of the most uncomfortable inauguration days in the country’s history. The next great storm—officially recorded as being “exceptional’—is still fresh in the minds of everyone, for it occurred just 10 years ago this month. It started at 4:20 p.m., January 27, 1922, and it continued to snow until Jan- uary 29, at 12:30 am. During that time 28 inches of snow fell, constituting a record here for a single storm. Upon this occasion the temperature did not go below 31 degrees, and the winds were comperatively moderate. This storm did considerable damage and eaused an appelling loss of life when, on Jane uary 28, the roof the Knickerbocker Theater, at Eighteenth street and Columbia road, gave way, causing the death of 96 persons, reported up to January 31. For awhile all the car lines in the city were tied up and evensome of the fire engines were stalled on their way to render aid to the injured. It was & night of horrors and one long to be remembered. However, by checking up on the official re- ports, one will find that our severe Winter weather, like our intensely warm Summer days, is not 2 frequent occurence, and though we can with perfect truthfulness refer to the severe Winters of years ago, yet no daubt it is more the impression made on our youthful minds that adds to their severity than the facts in the case that linger with us still. Farm Incomes Shown HE farms of the United States seem to have reached pre-war conditions so far as income is concerned, if the past year’s figures are con- sidered. It is estimated by the Department of Agriculture that the total gross income of the farms, which includes the food consumed on the farms, was just under $7,000,000,000, a drop of 26 per cent under the figure of 1930. This total is just about the average of the 1909-1913 pre-war period. At the highest point during the war, when prices hit their peak, the total farm income was set at $16,000,000,000, the present income therefore being between 40 and 45 per cent ef the peak. s 5 : .