Rensselaer Union, Volume 7, Number 26, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 March 1875 — Cold Winters. [ARTICLE]

Cold Winters.

In 401 the Black Sea was entirely frozen over. In 763 not only the Black Sea, but the Straits of Dardanelles, were frozen over; the snow in some places rose fifty feet high. In 822 the great rivers ot Europe, the Danube, the Elbe, etc., were frozen so hard as to bear heavy wagons for a month. In 860 the Adriatic was frozen. In 991 everything was frozen, the crops totally failed, and famine and pestilence closed the year. In 1067 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. In 1316 the crops wholly failed in Germany; wheat, which some years before sold in England at six shillings the quarter, rose to two pounds. In 1303 the crops failed in Scotland, and such a famine ensued that the poor were reduced to feed on grass, and many perished miserably in the fields. The successive winters of 1432-3-4 were uncommonly severe. In 1868 the wine distributed to the soldiers was cut with hatchets. In 1683 it was excessively cold. Most of the hollies were killed. Coaches drove along the Thames, the ice of which was eleven inches thick. In 1700 occurred the cold winter; the frost penetrated the earth three yards into the 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 1809, and again in 1812, the winters were remarkably cold. In 1814, there was a fair on the frozen Thames.