Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 22, Number 32, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 January 1901 — “The Cold New Year.” [ARTICLE]

“The Cold New Year.”

Thirty-seven years ago Monday night, December 31, January 1, 1864, was what has ever since been known as the “Cold New Year’s.” Weather hss been colder at times in this section of Indiana, but it was the biggest dropping of the mercury ever recorded, from a moderately warm rain the night of December 31 to 28 degrees below zero. As a consequence, there was, perhaps, more suffering from the weather than ever before known in Northern Indiana. In this county shelterless cattle and sheep froze to death by morning, Sheep lay down during the rain that proceeded the cold; their fleeces water soaked, and the wool freze to the ground, so that they could not move about, and thus they perished. The same thing was true of cattle, but not to the same extent. They could move about and get on the windward side of some shelter. It was a morning that all old settlers remember to this day.—Valparaiso Vidette.