In February of 1899, New Hanover residents endured a howling blizzard of such bitter cold and driven snow that even the staid Fagleysville businessman Nathaniel Seasholtz recorded the storm in his daybook; the only weather event he ever noted:
[spelling unchanged]”Feb. 9 – Zero weather
Feb. 10 – From 8 to 12 below zero
Feb. 11 – Very cold dayFeb. 12 – Sunday Cold and snowing all day
Feb. 13 – Big Blizzard snowing all day and drifting very badly drifts 5 to 6 feet high Blankeading all High ways Stoping all business and trafic Themomiter around Zero all day
Feb. 14- At 9 o’clock a.m. the weather is clear and cold The thermomoter at Zero or below. The snow is drifting badly the roads full of snow drifts from 5 to 8 feet deep and all travil is stopped No trains running and no mail for the last three days.”
In those days, drifted roads were opened by residents who shoveled for a wage of 12 and one-half cents an hour. The shovel crews left about a foot of snow on the road for the sleighs. To open deep road cuts three (or more) worked as a team. The bottom man threw the snow half way up to a man who threw it up to the top where a man shoveled it away. Time was kept by one of the township road masters.
New Hanover Township was divided into four road master districts: Swamp, Fagleysville, New Hanover Square and Pleasant Run. Property owners were taxed by the township at the rate of five mills on the dollar of assessed valuation to pay for road improvements and maintenance. This was practically the only township service provided, or needed.
The first road master’s record book we have is for the year 1907. At the February meeting in the public house of Ger. G. Rhoads (this was the Swamp Hotel, and Rhoads would be dead in less than a year, a victim of the Opera House fire) 37 people were paid anywhere from 12 cents (Ben Bartman) to $2.50 (George Slemmer) for shoveling snow that month.
That indefatigable diarist of Sumneytown, Daniel Royer, also made much of this storm. His diary entries always include three numbers: the temperature at 6 a.m., 12 noon and 6 p.m.
[spelling unchanged]”Feb. 9, Thursday – Clear. A high and piercing cold north west wind. [temperature 6 a.m.] 3 below zero. [noon] 10. [6 p.m.] 2. We have a Siberian cold. The coldest day of the season. O my but this will be a cold night. Wind still howling. I made tracks 4 times since last snow it drifts shut every time.
Feb. 10 – Clear as crystal. A brisk and piercing cold north west wind. 5 below zero. 10. 2. Other glasses [thermometers] showed as high as ten below zero. If only the wind would stop. It had stopped last night but started up again. I worked with my overcoat on until noon. Our [cigar] packing room is like a barn the wind goes right through.
Feb. 11 – Clear with rapidly increasing cloudiness toward evening. Westerly winds. 6 below zero. 16. 12. Still intense cold. It looks like snow again.
Feb. 12, Sunday – Cloudy. No sunshine. Wind north. Becoming brisk in the evening. 8. 18. 14. It began to snow last night, and snowed more or less finely all day. If a high wind should happen to rise it will close up all roads. It is as light as feathers. A goodly amount of snow fell so far. We had a great many boarders at the feeding place [bird feeder]. Two little snow birds had a red string about their necks. They must have been caught before. A little partridge came to our feeding place today.
Feb. 13 – Cloudy. No sunshine. A high & cold north wind 10. 14. 10. It began to snow again last night and snowed very heavily all day. The wind is blowing a gale. My O my the snow is drifting fearfully. It is as high as the fence. It is almost impossible to be out. I could hardly get to the chicken house. Not a train went. Our shop was closed today. When will it end. I think I know of no such blizzard. We do not like to go to bed.
Feb. 14 – Clear. A high northwest wind. 10.26.14. It cleared off sometime last night. The wind blew a gale up to noon and drifted the snow mountain high. Calm this evening. All roads are shut up. From the Sorrel Horse [tavern] they worked nearly all day to reach town. Passed through Mrs. Sowers land. There must be great suffering all over. No work in the shop yet. 3 dead in town.
Feb. 15, Wed. – Clear. A pale cloudiness this evening. West to southwest wind. 10 below zero. 40. 22. In town they had as low as 17 degrees below. A fine day. No mail yet. We are still cut off from the outside world. John Sowers began to open the roads today. I made a path from the garden to the stable. Above, the snow is as high as the garden fence. We all judge that about 24 inches of snow fell, some think even more. Some of the packers went to work today. The cigar makers will begin tomorrow.”
It took a lot of snow to strand country residents in those days, since sleighs provided winter travel, and snow covered roads were a necessity for sleighs. However, my mother told the story of a snow storm on the Sunday morning of her April 1918 Confirmation Day. It seems they left for church in a heavy late spring snowstorm. They hitched up a sleigh and went that way, but when they came out after church, a warm wind and bright sunshine had melted all the snow! I had asked her how they got the sleighs home without snow. She said, “Oh, they rutched home through the gutters.”
The Historian is produced by the New Hanover Historical Society. Call Robert Wood at 610-326-4165 with comments.
