Democratic Sentinel, Volume 13, Number 11, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 April 1889 — Cold Winters of Long Ago. [ARTICLE]

Cold Winters of Long Ago.

In 401 the Black Sea was entirely frozen over. In 763 not only the Black Sea but the Straits of Dardanelle were frozen over, the snow in some places rising fifty feet high. In 822 the great rivers of Europe, the Danube, the Elbe, etc., were so hard frozen as to bear heavy wagons for a month. In 860 the Adriatic was frozen. In 991 everything was frozen, the crops totally failed, aud famine and pestilence closed the year. In 1607 most of the travelers in Germany were frozen to death on the roads. In 1134 the Po was frozen from Cremona to the sea, the wine sacks were burst and the trees split by the action of the frost, with immense noise. In 1236 the Danube was frozen to the bottom and remained long in that state. Dr 1316 the crops wholly failed in Germany. W heat, which some years before sold in England at 6s the quarter, rose to £2. In 1308 the crops failed in Scotland, and such famine ensued that the poor were reduced to feed on grass, and many perished miserably in the fields. In 1368 the wine distributed to the soldiers was cut with hatchets. The successive winters of 1432-3-4 w e ?e uncommonly sever®. In 1563 it was excessively cold. Mo ;t of the hollies were killed. Coaches drove along the Thames, the ice of which was eleven inches thick. In 1709 occurred the coldest weather; the frost penetrated the earth three yards into he ground. In 1716 booths were erected on the Thames. In 1744 and 1745 the strongest ale in England, exposed to the air, was covered in less than fifteen minutes with ice an eighth of an inch thick. In 1808'and in 1812 the winters were remarkably cold. In 1814 there was a fair on the frozen Thames.