Cass County, Illinois - Chapter 23: Climatographical and Meteorological Phenomena, 1915

Chapter 23: Climatographical and Meteorological Phenomena

CLIMATIC CONDITIONS - DRY SEASON IN EARLY DAYS - LATER CONDITIONS - WIND STORMS - CYCLONES - DEEP SNOW oF 1830-31 - SHOOTING STARS OF 1833 - EXTREME AND SUDDEN COLD oF 1836 - SNOW STORMS - CYCLONES oF 1845, 1855 AND 1856 - WARM WINTER OF 1877 - SLEET STORM, LATE FROST AND CYCLONE IN 1883 - HEAVY FLOODS AND HIGH WATER - COLD DAYS - CYCLONE oF 1911 - WoORST STORM EVER ENCOUNTERED HERE - OTHER METEOROLOGICAL EVENTS.

Climatic Conditions

The climate of Cass County is practically the same as that in all central [llinois. Local conditions vary somewhat in the prairie and timber upland from the Sangamon and Illinois river bottoms. The prevailing winds are from the south during most of the months of the year; the trade winds from the Gulf of Mexico no doubt largely affect the temperature during the summer and autumn. The mean temperature of the county is about 50.75 degrees and although we have had some extreme weather, both hot and cold. the mean temperature does not vary much. The annual rainfall is from 35 to 42 inches. The parts of the county other than the bottom lands have been subject to many violent storms, which have done a vast amount of damage to property and livestock, also causing the loss of a number of human lives.

The whole year was without much rainfall from April, 1820, to April of the next year, but the soil, being new and thus very productive, those settlers who had planted and sowed, reaped a fairly good crop. In 1845 a severe wind storm swept the county from the southwest over Little Indian Creek neighborhood in Morgan County to the northeast into Cass County. It was' extremely violent, destroying barns and fences in Morgan County, and several houses in Cass County, one of them being the Walnut Grove schoolhouse near old Princeton, but no person was injured, although much damage was done to the timber, leaving a path through the heavjest tracts of woodland. These paths could be seen for years afterwards.

An anecdote of the hurricane was told in the neighborhood long after time and weather had effaced the material effects of the storm. With some basis of truth, it was probably exaggerated by the irreverent story teller of the time. In the path of the storm stood a cabin in which lived a family whose name, given as Taylor, is probably fictitious. The head of the household, however, was named Bill, and the other members of the family consisted of Bill's wife and several little Bills. The family had retired for the night when the storm arose, and the crashing of falling timber and flying clapboards aroused the wife, who hustled Bill out, and about that time the door blew open and Bill braced himself against it and placed his arms in the loops made to bold the heavy bar. The storm increased; part of the roof blew away, and the wife thought it time to call for help from a source which in fair weather was usually ignored, so she told Bill to pray. Bill was not an expert in prayerful expression, but his instinct for self-preservation and for the safety of his family enabled him to ask the higher power to intercede and save them from utter destruction. But the storm continued with unabated fury and the family protector exerted more energy in trying to keep the door shut than he did in prayer. Suddenly a limb from a close by tree fell with a crash across the road, shattering some of the clapboards down upon the bed, and the wife besought Bill to pray louder. The storm, however, and Bill's courage and piety gave out about the same time, and except for a drenching rain which followed the wind storm no damage to the family by that time was done,

In 1857 a tornado swept over the southwestern corner of Cass County, blowing houses ani fences away, passing over the place where the Wagner's Bridge schoolhouse now stands, in Indian Creek Precinct, and took the log cabin schoolhouse off the puncheon floor, dashing the logs into the creek some distance away.

In October, 1858, a tornado or cyclone passed west of the town of Virginia, felling the trees in its path, but it did not encounter any houses until near the Needham schoolhouse, which had been built the year previously. The teacher, Archie Campbell, noticing the dangerous looking cloud approaching. seut the children to their homes, and he remained in the schoolhouse to watch the storm, feeling secure himself, as the building was very substantial. The storm, however, took but little heed of its style of arehitecture. its qualities for resistance, or its dignity as a seat of learning, but lifted it up from the floor above the head of the astonished teacher, and tore it into shreds. The floor was left intact with the desks and teacher sitting in his chair, but the remainder of the building was never found, although the school children made diligent search. Other houses northeast of the schoolhouse were also badly injured, but no lives were lost.

Deep Snow

The deep snow of 1830-31 is, perhaps, the most noted meteorological event in the history of Illinois. It began snowing in the latter part of November, 1830, and continued, with brief intermissions, until January, 18381. Then a cold rain set in which froze as it fell and formed a heavy crust on the snow. More snow followed with a severe cold blast lasting for two weeks or more. The average depth of snow was 3 or 4+ feet on a level, but in many places it drifted from 7 to S feet deep, covering the fences and filling the lanes and roads until they were impassable. Much of the corn was yet in the field, and the snow covered it so deep that it was next to impossible to extricate it. Had the people expected anything like such continuous show and stormy weather, they would hare gathered their grain and fodder as soon as the first snow began to fall, but the oldest inhabitant had experienced nothing of the kind; in fact, the winter weather prior to that year from the earliest settlement, had been extremely mild, so much so that many people were induced to come to Illinois by stories of the excellent mild climate and short winters. Wild game suffered during the deep snow, for want of food, and many animals died of starvation. From that year on, for several years, game animals were very scarce. The deer never were as plentiful thereafter. Game birds from the lack of food and continuous cold weather, died in great numbers. Domestic animals suffered greatly for lack of sufficient food, and many of them also died. Altogether it was a disastrous winter for the settlers, and the narration of the conditions reaching back to the older states, retarded elmigration to a great extent for some time.

Shooting Stars

Two years later, in the fall of 1833, came another strange phenomenon, called the shooting or falling stars. Those who happened to be abroad at two o'clock in the morning of November 13. of 1833, saw an awe-inspiring sight, as myriads of meteors or stars or star dust, shot across the heavens, criss-crossing in wavering line and dancing like whirling snowflakes in an early autumn storm, brilliantly illuminating the sky with repeated showers in this great pyrotechnic display until dispelled by the light of the rising sun. Many persons were terror stricken and thought the world had reached its end. Although nothing like it had occurred on the western continent so far as recorded, in magnitude and brilliancy, it was not a new hor wonderful thing to students of astronomy. One of the earliest accounts of shooting stars relates that in 472 A. D.. the sky at Constantinople appeared to be alive with flying stars and meteors. In some eastern annals we are told that in October, 1202. "the stars appeared like waves upon the sky. They flew about like grasshoppers, and were dispersed from right to left." Ifuimboldt describes a shower oceurring in 1799. saying: "the sky was covered with innumerable fiery trails which incessently traversed the sky from north to south. From the beginning of the phenomena there was not a space in the heavens three times the diameter of the moon which was not filled every instant with celestial fireworks - large meteors blending constantly their dazzling brilliancy with long phosphorescent paths of shooting stars." The explanation of the phenomena is, as given by astronomers, that

CASS COUNTY a1 aerolites, meteors and falling stars have a common origin; they are produced by small bodies which, like our earth, are revolving around the sun. These small bodies in great numbers form almost a complete circle about the sun. Their orbit intersects the orbit of the earth, and when they reach the point of crossing at the same time, there is a collision, and the small, luminous bodies appear to be falling to the earth. They may be seen annually; in some years in greater numbers than in others. The phenomena occurs most generally about the middle of November, but shooting stars may be seen almost any clear night in the summer and fall months, in more or less numbers.

On December 28, 1876, at eight o'clock P. M., the people of Cass County were startled by a loud report in the heavens. Those who were out of doors, and those who could get out in time, saw a singularly beautiful meteoric display. <A large luminous ball, with a fiery trail of twenty degrees or more in length, passed over from the southwest in a northeasterly direction. The sky was brilliantly illuminated as the meteor passed rapidly over, and a whitish green light remained for some time after the fiery ball had disappeared from sight. From the reports in the daily papers of the next day, the occurrence was not local, but was visible at about the same moment of time all over central United States from the Rocky mountains to the Alleghanies. No account was ever given as to what became of it for the reason, no doubt, that no one could learn its origin or destination. It came with a noise and a light. It was but momentary in its passage over the earth, and by the time the last echoes of its noise were heard, its weird light had too disappeared. Awe inspiring in its grandeur of appearance, it will be vividly recalled by those fortunate enough to witness its dazzling race through the sky.

Temperature Variation

Although the temperature of Cass County, like other portions of central Illinois, is about an average of 51 degrees. yet it has been subject to many very sudden changes. The temperature often runs as high as 100 degrees in the shade during the summer months, thus continuing for several days. In the winter it often drops suddenly without previous warning to a very low degree. This peculiarity of climatic conditions is very distasteful to some people who regard these changes as undesirable for a residence district. The conditions, however, are usually so generally favorable, and the climate so delightful for such a large portion of the year, that few people having settled here and become accustomed to the environments ever leave on account of occasional discomfort. The most remarkable fall in temperature recorded or remembered in this part of Illinois, occurred December 20, 1826. Several inches of snow had fallen in the early part of the day, but the temperature was so mild that the snow soon melted, and in the afternoon a light, warm rain began to fall. About 2 P. M. it began to grow suddenly dark, from a heavy cloud rising in the northwest. A strong wind swept over the land with a bellowing noise and almost instantly the temperature fell to the freezing point. Those who were away from home hastened to get to shelter from the cold; but no one anticipated the change would be of such marked character. Those who were at some distance from the house in the fields or away from home on the road, suffered greatly. Dr. Charles Chandler, founder of Chandlerville, was out on one of his professional calls, up the Sangamon bottom, several miles east of his home. Although used to hardships and all kinds of weather, he found it necessary to stop at the first place where he might warm himself. This was at the general store kept by Henry T. and Abner Foster, about six miles east of the present site of Chandlerville. After warming up, the doctor again started for home, but soon found himself freezing again. He stopped at the next house, and at the next, until, before he reached his own home, he had been compelled to make four stops; and then when he did arrive to within a short distance of his own door, his horse, exhausted by the cold and the rapid gait at which he had been urged on, fell and threw the physician to the ground. Fortunately members of his family saw him coming and ran out immediately and dragged him into the house, he then being almost frozen to death.

Small, shallow pools of water, caused by the rain and melting snow, froze in waves as the water was blown about by the wind. Chickens and small pigs running through the slush and mud were frozen fast to the ground. At Beardstown, where Thomas Beard was then running a ferry across the Illinois River, the ice formed so rapidly that the ferry-boat could not be propelled, as the long poles used to push the boat would freeze fast in the slushy river water, and the boat finally had to be abandoned and the ferrymen taken to a cabin on the bank of the river. Two young men were frozen to death near Rushville. One of them was found sitting with his back against a tree, his horse's bridle over his arm, and the horse frozen in front of him. The other was partly kneeling, a tinder box in one hand, and a flint in the other. Both eyes were open and peering at the tinder and flint as if intent on striking a light. Many other unusual casualties were reported. There appears to have been no thermometer record of the drop in temperature, but the ice froze in the streets to a thickness of 6 inches in one hour, and by the next morning ice was more than a foot thick. On January 28, 1873, the temperature fell to 40 degrees below zero. Snow covered the ground to a depth of 16 inches, and that day is said to have been the coldest ever known in Illinois. Other very sudden and remarkable changes have occurred in the temperature, but none so extreme as the two cases mentioned.

In 1855 a very severe snow storm prevailed over the entire central and northern portions of the United States. The snow was packed heavy and deep in Cass County, and its inhabitants were shut in from the rest of the world for several days. However, there was no railroad in Cass County at that time to be blockaded, but the stage coach travelers spent the time at the wayside inns. The winter of 1877 was extremely mild; really no winter at all. It rained at frequent intervals during the entire winter months, and the roads were almost impassable the entire winter through. Many country people went to their towns on foot, and others contrived to make a two-wheel cart out of the fore part of the heavy wagon, and even with that light vehicle it was all that two horses could do to pull through the mud with the necessary store goods the farmer tried to take home to his immured family. Those who lived near the railroads were better off, using them for making their market trips to town.

Sleet Storm, Late Frost And Cyclone

In February, 1888, came a great sleet storm that covered the trees and everything else in sight with heavy ice. The disturbance was general throughout the central West, and the changing temperature from cold to warm melted the snow that covered the ground, another change converting melting snow to a sheet of ice, covering the earth and bending the trees almost to the ground with its weight, doing great damage to forest, fruit and ornamental trees, many of the limbs being broken. May 18, 1883, opened as a very mild day, with a strong southerly wind blowing, which, as the day wore on, increased in force, until about 4 o'clock P. M., when a light rain set in, but it ceased by nightfall. About S o'clock P. M., a heavy cyclone, which had seemingly been dipping down along the southern part of Morgan County and reaching over into Sangamon County, returned to the northern part of Morgan County, rising above the city of Jacksonville, and again swaying to the earth completely destroyed the village of Literberry. Then it passed on into Cass County, taking a northeasterly direction almost in the identical path of the cyclone of 1845, doing immeasurable daimage to fences, barns, houses and outbuildings and leveling and tearing up by the roots great stretches of timber through which it passed. No lives were lost in Cass County, although ten were killed and twenty-four injured at Literberry. One family in Cass County had a very narrow escape. George W. Leonard, who now lives at Virginia, resided with his wife and one small boy on the William Melone farm in township 17, range 9. He also had a hired man living at his house, and it is to him that the family owe their escape. All had retired and Mr. Leonard was asleep when the peculiar and dreaded sound of the approaching storm was heard by the farm hand, who had previously lived in Kansas, where he had passed through enough experience in cyclones to learn to heed at once the angry mutterings of that kind of storm. Jumping out of bed and getting himself into a few articles of clothing, he called loudly to the others of the household to run for the cellar. Mrs. Leonard, already aroused by the thunder, threw some bed clothes around her, and Mr. Leonard, more asleep than awake, caught up the infant boy, and wrapping the child and himself in a bed-quilt, hurried with the others into the cave outside, which had served for a cellar, just in time to sit in personal safety and hear the roaring, frightful, hideous storm catch up his house and tear it into a million parts. It was hurled for miles over the prairie, together with everything in it. The storm left them with not even a stitch of clothing, nothing to wear but the bed clothes Wrapped about them. Nothing was ever recovered. This was the most disastrous wind storm within the memory of the oldest inhabitant of that time. The spring had opened propitiously for the farmers, and they were well along with the usual spring work. Oats were growing splendidly, and corn was up from four to six inches. The next night after the cyclone, the temperature fell very low, with a heavy frost, which cut the corn to the ground, and killed all the garden vegetables that had been left unprotected.

Heavy Floods And High Water

There have been a number of periods of extreme high water in Cass County, which have done great damage to persons and property. In 1826, the year in which Thomas Beard established the first ferry across the Illinois River, the Mississippi and Illinois rivers were higher than had been known for forty years. In 1828 the waters were very high and surrounded the Mound village, creeping close up to the foot of the great mound and flooding all the bottom lands. Four years later the whole Mississippi valley was submerged; the river at St. Louis being 54 feet above low water mark. The greatest flood in this part of the country that has ever been recorded, as one person said who witnessed it, since the days of Noah, occurred in 1844. Every river west of the Alleghany mountains, and north of the Gulf of Mexico, seemed to rise simultaneously. More than 400 people were drowned, and many horses, cattle and other animals lost their lives. In the city of Beardstown the water was one foot deep on Main street, and the place became an island with water 10 feet deep between it and the bluffs on the east. Many towns and villages in the Mississippi valley were inundated and washed away. It was the most disastrous flood that had occurred in Illinois from its remotest history up to that time. The high water of 1844 has been a term of comparison for high stages of water ever since. The frequent recurrence of the floods and high stages of water along the Sangamon, Illinois and Mississippi river bottoms has greatly retarded the development and improvement of the naturally fertile and valuable lands, but in recent years many levees have been constructed which have protected the lands from the dangers of an extraor- dinary freshet, and the lands, under-drained by tiling, and surface-drained by open ditches, together with pumping stations, have been reclaimed, a wide expanse of splendid alluvial soil unexcelled in productiveness anywhere upon the globe. It is somewhat surprising. to find upon investigation, how frequently since the settlement and platting of the city of Beardstown, that place, along with a great portion of the Illinois bottom, has been subject to high stages of water, and threatened with inundation. Yet the energetic people of Beardstown have always met the emergencies with a judgment and courage that has prevented any serious damage to person or property. In 1849 the flooded condition of the river again brought the waters up to a level with Main street. The years 1852, 1856 and 1858, saw the waters rise almost as high as in any previous year. Often, in such stages of water, large steamboats passed upon the east side of the city. There have been a number of other floods and periods of high water extending from above Chandlerville along the Sangamon valley to Beardstown and on down the Illinois valley. At such times drainage ditches would overflow and levees give way, entailing thousands of dollars of loss upon the unfortunates who inhabited the low lands. The last, and the highest since 1SH. occurred in April of 1913, when the waters rose to within a few inches of the high water mark of 1SH, and, as indicated by the Meredosia gauge. Of the twelve drainage districts in Cass County, there was not one but what suffered damage to its levees through their being washed away. In some places the lands were overflowed to a depth of 4 and 5 feet. There was not only great financial loss. by reason of the necessity for rebuilding the levees, and clearing out the ditches, but the farmers within these districts were unable to get in any crops until so late that year that they did not mature well, and were of little marketable value. Beardstown''s streets were again covered with water a foot. deep or more. This time, however, the water in the streets was caused by the backing of tha sewers. Hundreds of men were employved night and day by the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad company, to keep their tracks from washing out along the low Jands east of the town, where the river, in former years. would always endeavor to take a short cut for St. Louis. The method employed to hold the embankment was to fill sacks with sand and place them along the track.

Man may guard against the ill effects of freshets and overflowing streams by building embankments; he can even keep out the waters of the sea by those methods, as he has done effectively by dikes in Holland and Belgium; and he can protect himself and his household against the rainfall by covering his humble abin with clapboards or his hewn-stone mansion with a slate roof, unless he belongs to that type found by the traveler in Arkansas who did not shingle his house because when it was not raining he did not need a roof on it, and when it was raining it was too wet to work at it. No means, however, have yet been discoyered whereby the downpour of rain can be checked, or that man can protect his land and crops from the drenching precipitation when nature gathers her vapors in superabundance and "drops her garnered fullness down."

On August 25,1912) at about 6 o'clock PF ML, two large black clouds, one from the south and one from the northwest, came together over Cass County, and then began one of the heaviest rains ever seen in this part of the state. It Was a steady downpour without any accompaniment of wind, and by 10 o'clock at night all the creeks were out of their banks, and rapidly widening. It seemed to be general all over the county, as all the water courses, large and small. becaine raging torrents and washed away bridges and fences and anything else that was found in their paths. Thousands of dollars of damage was done to the bridges on the highways. Some of the most substantial iron bridges. with conerete abutments, were washed out, and travel was impeded for weeks on some of the roads. No such rain has been experienced in this part of the state within the memory of any living person. It was not a cloud-burst, as has often given heavy downpour, in certain localities for a short period, but was a steady rain in great volume, spread over the entire county: reports of the storm showing but little difterence in various sections of the county, and the territory adjoining. It did not raise the water level even in the lower lands to high water stage, as it ran off in a short time. the damage done being mainly confined to destruction of bridges and fences,

Cass County, although it has had its share of storms, electrical displays, wind, rain and snow, had been extremely fortunate in the small amount of damage done to property, and to life, until the fearful cyclone of 1911. Even that calamity was confined largely to the central portion of the county, and fell most heavily upon the city of Virginia, and its immediate neighborhood. It will be remembered by those who were in its midst, and those who stood on the outer edge of its dreadful path and witnessed the fearful onslaught upon the peaceful little city, that late autumn day, as long as memory availeth them, or the roar of thunder and flash of lightning are heard and seen. The grass was an emerald green from the late rains and many leaves of the deciduous trees yet clung to the branches. All nature in its decadent beauty seemed to welcome the dreamy, hazy Indian summer. It was the eleventh day of the eleventh month of the eleventh year of the new century, November 11, 1911. A light, gentle breeze came up with the autumn sun that morning and ruffled the carpet of golden leaves upon the ground, and brought with it from the south the breath of spring. The few remaining migratory birds sang as blithely as though they had but just returned from their winter home. The sunlight was warm. and as the day wore on the warmth increased to heat. The gentle morning breeze grew into a strong wind. By mid-day the heat was intense, and the strong wind had become almost a hurricane. The air was filled with dust from the streets and highways, and with leaves from lawns and fields; whirling and dancing hither and thither, circling high, then dropping low, piling up upon the ground. lying quiet as if listening to the dismal moan of the wind in the bare tree tops; then a sudden depressing stillness. The rays of the sun beat more fiercely, the birds ceased their singing and stood with wings uplifted, panting for breath as in the scorching heat of summer. A light shadow overcast the sun. The barnyard fowls walked about uneasily, and turned their heads, casting their eyes towards the sun. The cattle and swine were restless ; the children who played joyously with the whirling leaves, lost their interest. Their shouts and merry laughter were silenced. The men and women came out of their houses, or stopped their toil where they were, and looked at the skies. They searched the horizon and the arch above, but there was nothing but the horizon and the distant blue sky to see; nothing to hear but. the occasional sigh of the wind that had become almost as gentle as the breeze of the early day. Yet in the very warmth there was a chill as of a seeming dread of approaching danger. The sun had passed the zenith and was hurrying towards the close of day, yet pouring down its heat with unabated force. The clocks on the mantels had struck the hour of four, and were ticking on unconcerned ; they had nothing to do but point to man the passing of time. Then there was a rumbling in the south and west, a slight shiver among the trees, then a louder rumble, and a flash of lightning, scarcely visible above the glare of the sunlight. This was followed by a fiendish roar as of a multitude of fierce wild animals clutching their prey, mingled with the frantic, despairing shrieks of the victims. Trees were torn into shreds, and huge pieces of their mighty branches were hurled through the walls of houses whose roofs were already whirling and crashing through the air. Children were screaming in wildest terror for father and mother; men and Women were crouching in fear beneath any object that offered protection against the infuriated, demoniacal elements. A darkness as of nidnight swooped down upon the earth. Vehicles were overturned in the streets, and the horses drawing them were dragged down among the crashing debris of electric wires and poles and falling timbers. Cattle broke from their enclosures and rushed about in sheer madness of fright. mingling their discordant bawling with the roaring and screeching of the storm. Soon it was gone, as suddenly as it came, leaving utter and awful destruction in its wake.

Worst Storm Ever Encountered Here

The storm struck the city of Virginia at its southwest corner, just grazing the west side of the high school building, and passed on to the northeast, demolishing everything in its path of nearly a quarter of a mile wide. It seemed to rise after it reached the northern edge of the town, and passed out over the Baltimore & Ohio Southwestern Railroad depot, then reached down and tore up the large ice house, on the edge of Henderson Lake. Its fury was not yet satiated, as it turned on the row of beautiful shade trees along the highway to Walnut Ridge cemetery, and ruined the most of them, and greatly damaged the houses and other buildings along the eastern side of the road. Then, lifting again slightly, but still running low enough to destroy many trees and buildings upon the farms for several miles along its path to the northeast, taking about the same direction as the cyclone of 1858, it went its way. The disastrous storm did not terminate with the passing of the cyclone, for a heavy downpour of rain set in that soon turned to a blizzard of snow, which made the work of rescue that had begun as soon as the cycione passed, extremely difficult and disagreeable. The temperature rapidly dropped, and the streets, covered with wreckage, became a glare of ice. Every man in the town, however, and many of the women, began the search for the missing, and in a short time it was ascertained that no one had been killed, and very few injured, the only one seriously disabled being Mr. Otis Middleton, who had suffered a broken arm and collar bone, and two fractured ribs. The escape of many seemed almost miraculous. The three small children of William Whitaker, who lived in a two-story frame house in that part of town where the storm first struck, were in the second story of the building, and when found after the subsidence of the cyclone, were in the basement under furniture and bedding that had fallen with them in such a way as to protect them from the falling walls and timbers of the house, which was utterly demolished. Like all cyclones, this one was freakish. When it reached as far north as the center of the city it seemed to stretch out a long right arm and clutch the Methodist church, four blocks east, and the Mann hotel and livery barn, across the street south. The church was torn to pieces, leaving only a part of the north wall and the foundation standing. The large pipe organ, back of the pulpit near the center of the west side of the building, was uninjured. The third story of the hotel was blown off and the livery barn stripped of its covering. Roofs of several of the business houses were blown off, and a number of the shade trees in tbe City and Court House parks destroyed. Very little damage was done to any other buildings in that part of the city. George Leonard, who had been in the Literberry cyclone in 1883, was now living at

Virginia, and being in the pathway of the storm again suffered, having his roof torn from his house and blown so far away he was unable to find any part of it. The chimney top went along with the roof, but this time he lost none of his household goods or wearing apparel.

The cyclone district presented a desolate sight the next morning, with the temperature down near zero, and the streets and yards filled with a strange mixture of household goods, broken windows, pieces of wagons, harness and buggies pinned under limbs of trees, twisted, shattered and splintered. How any human being passed through it all without injury is beyond comprehension. It was a sad day for many. The most of the destruction was among the smaller homes belonging to those who had struggled with adverse circumstances and conditions in life, and had finally secured for their waning years a small home, only to have it snatched away and giound to splinters in a moment without warning. These people were hopeless and in despair, with scarcely enough courage left to make them thankful that their lives had been spared. Aid was at hand. Homes were thrown open to those who had lost all or who were without shelter; and every man and mechanic who could wield a trowel or drive a nail proffered his assistance, and large contributions of money were made by sympathetic citizens and fraternal organizations. In a short time the wreckage was cleared away, homes were rebuilt, and although but a few years have passed since then, scarcely a trace is left of the most dreadful and most destructive storm ever experienced in Cass County.

Other Meteorological Events

Until February, 1914, the great snowfall of 1830-31 was the most noted historical meteorological event in Illinois, but in the former year it was equalled if not surpassed. Washington's birthday, 1914, ended with the beginning of a fierce and prolonged snow storm. The winter had been unusually mild until the latter part of January, and even from then on, it was not regarded as being more than the ordinary winter weather of this latitude. The day did not give evidence of the approach of an extraordinary storm. The temperature from morning until 2 o'clock in the afternoon ranged at about 15 degrees Fahrenheit, but about that time the wind whirled from the west to the north, then to the northeast, and blew a perfect hurricane of snow. By sunset it was a most terrific blizzard, which continued the whole night long. When morning came there was no relief in sight, for there was no cessation of the storm. No sun appeared to warm the atmosphere. It seemingly kept out of sight and reach of the howling, screeching, crashing, shrieking, maniacal wind, filled with biting, freezing, tearing pellets of icy snow. All through the lengthened day it drove, with unabated fury, its icy pellets into every crevice of the houses and barns, sheds and sheltered nooks. On and on as if it never would and never intended to cease, it raged. On the morning of the third day, the sun rose bright and clear, looking down, however, upon a strange scene in Cass County, one the like of which it had not seen since the winter of 1830-31. The roads were full of snow from + to 6 feet deep. The road commissioners were obliged to employ a large force of men to literally cut the road open before there could be travel of any sort. For weeks the only roads were narrow driveways just wide enough for a team and wagon, with the snow banked high on either side. Railroad 'traffic was blocked. No mails came into the towns and villages of Cass County for many days. The railroad train on the Chicago, Peoria & St. Louis road was snowbound in the prairie about a mile south of Virginia, and there remained for several days. Other engines brought to pull the train out, only found themselves stuck fast in the snow. On the Baltimore & Ohio Southwestern road. three trains got into Virginia and were unable to go further until the road was cleared of the heayy fall of snow. and that was a herculean task that took several engines and many men working night and day for nearly a week. The Chicago, Burlington & Quincy road had similar trouble, but got through much sooner, as did likewise the Chicago & Alton, in the eastern part of the county. Had the conditions been similar to those of the "deep snow' and could a comparison have been made, it would have shown the snow of February, 1914. to have been of greater depth on a level, and a fiercer, more disagreeable storm than that of the early days about which early settlers delighted to talk, and historians loved