Rensselaer Union, Volume 6, Number 23, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 February 1874 — Two Remarkable Winters. [ARTICLE]

Two Remarkable Winters.

A writer in the Washington (Ill.) Herald gives the following account of the mild winter of 1828 and the hard winter of 1829: Forty years ago the appearance of the country in this vicinity was not at all as it is now. Washington did not exist, except the lower part of it; and only a few cabins stood where now is Peoria. In the fall of 1828 a few pioneers came and settled at the foot of the bluff between here and the river. They had heard of the delightful climate and mild winters in Illinois, and came here to escape the rigors of Ohio’s cold. The first winter was all they anticipated. The stock ran in the woods all the time, and kept in good condition. The grass continued green, an« snow was almost unknown, never falling in sufficient quantityto whiten the ground. Under these circumstances, no preparations were made for the following winter; the corn was ungathered: the stock unhoused ; the cabins open and barely comfortable in fine weather, about the last of November, 1829. At this time a light snow began to fall. The people were surprised, but thought it would soon be over. They were mistaken, however. The snow continued falling for several days, until it was so deep that the fences were no longer visible. Quite a number perished, and all suffered severely from cold and hunger. One young gentleman started at the first of the snow in a hastily constructed sleigh for Galena. No tidings came from him, and in the spring his hat and a few bones told the sad but not strange tale of overpowering cold and ravenous wolves. Another started to get some com ground,but perished on the way. These men my informant was personally acquainted with. Not long after the snow it grew mild and rained a little, then suddenly froze so hard that a crust strong enough to bear up team* and wagons was formed, and it remained this way until late in the spring. More like tales of some far-off land than events that happened right here, seem the stories of the howling wolves, and prowling Indians, and the fearful Cold of that winter. I don't see why they did not all perish. Their food was corn dug from the snow, and made into hominy, corn bread, etc., and meat. Very many wild animalsdied. The deerand other timid creatures grew so tame that.they could be knocked over without difficulty, but their flesh was not good. Late in the spring the snow melted, and when the country was all a duck-pond the weather grew cold again, and the ice was thick enough to bear horses and sleighs, An old lady told me of a sleigh-ride she took then, on the edge of the bluff. The horses were going rapidly, and when they came to a sudden turn the sleigh hung over the edge of the bluff, and it was with difficulty their horses drew them up: Ever since that winter the weather has been severe from December to March, Mid it was not before. Why this is so I wish I was wise enough to tell. At any rate, I am given to sighing because I did not live in the “good old times” of my ancestors.