Macon County, Missouri - Chapter 5, 1910

Chapter 5

Orrreran WEATHER Bureau ar Macon - Horrest Day ix Ten Ygans - 'Tue Great Dnovamr or 1854 - January 1, 1864, CoLpest Day on Recorp - Group Warmen To Dis Graves - GrassHoPPER PLAGUE AND Governor Hanpix's PROCLAMATION ror Pravers - HiGH Water IN THE Cuarrron VALLEY - ÜycLonE ar Macon - Tur Dnovanmr or 1901 - Waren SoLo ar 10 Cents a Bucker - Reservorn EMPTY AND Crry Suppuien Prom Brees Acapemy Lares - Tre Froopb or 1909.

It is only within recent years that anything like a systematie attempt has been made in Macon county to keep track of the weather. In consequence there is more or less good-natured disputing among the older eitizens as to the coldest and hottest days, and when it rained the hardest. It is only when something far out of the normal oceurs that recolleetion agrees. At the ouset the compiler wishes to state that where some of the information here gleaned from an ''oldest inhabitant'' runs counter in any particular to the memory of some other **oldest inhabitant"! the latter is entirely at liberty to blue-pencil his copy of the history in accordance with his own recollection.

In order to secure a landmark for comparisons it is necessary to set out first with the absolute official data of the Macon weather bureau, which was established by the government August 24, 1899. John Cook was placed in charge, and since that period has recorded his daily observations of heat, cold, rainfall, wind and clouds. He has approved instruments for seeuring all this data aceurately. The hottest days in the ten years were July 12 and 24, 1901, when the thermometer registered 111. Instruments around town read as high as 116, but they were in places exposed to the reflection from the sun, That was known as "the dry year," which will be treated later. The coldest day was February 13, 1905, the reading being 27 below. The dry month in this section is August. August, 1909, was the driest month ever officially recorded here, though the summer of 1901 was mueh drier, generally, than the summer of 1909. Following is a table indieating the temperature and rainfall for August during the last ten years: lt may be that the weather gods, learning some one is keeping tab on them, are less inclined to indulge in freaks than they were in the old days. Certain it is that they introduced some marvelous performances, else our good friend, "the oldest inhabitant," is sadly mistaken.

The year 1854 is said to have been the hottest and driest ever experienced in Macon county. There was not only an almost total failure of erops, but all the streams became dry and it was a serious question in some localities whether life could be sustained. Many of the settlers became discouraged and sought to return to their native states. Fora deseription of this dry year we are indebted to Joel H. Wright, president of the bank of Callao. In that year Mr. Wright was a young man of nineteen.

**Remarkable stories had been coming to Missouri concerning the extent and fertility of Texas," said Mr. Wright. "These incited a large party of us to journey there for the purpose of taking up claims. We left Macon eounty in April. On June 16 or 17, while in camp on Red river, near Preston, there was a heavy rainfall. This rainfall was general throughout the country, extending through Missouri, as well as other states to the north. I remember distinctly, because it was the last rain that fell that year. Up to that time the weather had been very favorable, and prospects for crops in Macon county were excellent.

"' But as the summer went on without rain the exiles from Missouri began to get disheartened with the new land. We remembered old Macon county as being in bloom, and it never occurred to us that the blight extended there. So we started on the homeward track. There were seven families, each with a wagon to itself. As we plodded along day after day through the drought-strieken country the problem of the water supply became serious. We traveled one day through the Indian

Territory with only five gallons, which was less than a gallon to the family, to say nothing of the horses. The heat and dust became fearful, and as the afternoon wore on our thirst was intolerable. Instead of camping at nightfall, as had been our eustom, we pressed on to a place where a splendid spring was said to exist. Some of the teamsters were in a very ugly mood; others were becoming delirious. My heart failed me as I thought what the eonsequences might be in the event that spring had played out. We reached it at ten at night, and there was a mighty yell from the thirsty pilgrims as they rushed towards the water. Strong men, women and children fought and struggled for places near the little stream, and it was necessary to form a guard of the cooler headed captains to keep the people from drinking themselves to death. I never knew until that time how sweet a thing a dipper of cool water was.

"All along our homeward route we read desolating stories of the unusual drought. There were fields of stubble. Trees without leaves and dust-white roads.. There were no birds singing, and scarcely a sign of animal life in sky, tree or earth. "This continued for 700 miles. We erossed the line into Missouri about the middle of August. As we advanced up the state we kept hoping that things would be different here, but they were not. It was the same distressing spectacle we had seen all along our journey. The corn which had looked so promising in the early summer was eut for fodder, and this is all that saved some of the stock. Truth is, that a great many horses and eattle died for want of water and food. "There were no railroads in North Missouri then. It was impossible to get anything in the way of vegetables, flour or eereals. Corn meal eost $1.50 a bushel when brought from Glasgow or Hannibal into Macon eounty. We lived on bacon and corn bread. Coffee and molasses were purchased at the towns mentioned. A great many farmers moved their stock over to the Chariton river, which ran until late in the fall.

"There was nothing to be done on the farm, and people just sat around and looked at the blazing sky. Many of the settlers who had taken up elaims in Macon eounty abandoned them under the impression that the drought was a regular summer event in Missouri.

"Towards the latter part of August mass meetings were held, one at Antioch church, and three ministers, who had eome a long ways for the purpose, prayed to the Almighty to send us rain. It was on this oeeasion that Uncle Jimps Dysart made use of an expression which has since become famous. He said: 'Brethren, I tell you there ain't a bit of use praying for rain, because the wind is in the wrong direction.' set in and it was hoped early snows would furnish water. One right good storm did come up, but the snow was so dry that it blew away with the dust, hardly dampening the earth.

"The dust on the highways was frightful on a windy day. You could hardly see a vehicle just ahead of you. The old Glasgow stage coach would roll through on its way to Bloomington with everything about it - horses, driver, passengers - nearly as white as snow. Sometimes travelers? throats would become so badly choked that they could not talk until they took a drink of water. It was the gloomiest year I ever experienced in Missouri.

"The spring of 1855, however, was very seasonable and crops sprang from the ground with fierce energy, as if to atone for the failure of the preceding year. What I remember most distinctly of that year was the way we enjoyed our first meal with home-grown vegetables. I don't think I ever tasted anything since that has seemed quite so good. That season was one of the most productive that has occurred from that day to this, and then we all knew that old Missouri was a good land to live in."

The coldest day in these parts, within the memory of those who were here before the Civil war, was January 1, 1864. It is stated that the mereury dropped to 28 degrees below zero. 'lhe blizzard eame at the end of a mild December, and it was so sudden that suffering was very great. A military gentleman, who was with the Union forces in Macon at that time, says the soldiers were quartered in the Methodist, Presbyterian and Catholic churches, and that they were compelled to tear up the flooring and to burn the pews to keep from freezing.

"There was but little fuel in town, the people being entirely unprepared. Old barns and outhouses were chopped into fire wood and fed to the hearths and stoves. The commander of the forces succeeded in getting in from Bevier a ear of coal, for which the government had to pay 25 cents a bushel.

"You could not see an object ten feet away while the storm lasted. The snow, which really was small particles of ice, was carried by a gale from the northwest, running fifty miles an hour. Tt was like fine sand. At certain plaees in the county the snow was piled up over stake-andrider fences, across which sleds were driven with ease, so tightly was the snow packed.

Hogs about Macon died by the hundreds. One man says that he saw 900 dead hogs waiting shipment to St. Louis, where they were used for some purpose, he did not know just what. Vast numbers of stock en transit on the railroads were frozen to death.

While the weather was at its severest a Mrs. Threlkeld died at Macon. The regular sexton said the ground was too hard to dig a grave, and two devoted citizens volunteered to do it. They began by building a huge fire over the spot and thawing the earth a little ways. Then they worked with pick and spade, getting down a few inches, after whieh they built another fire, and so proceeded until the grave was deep enough. It took them four days of continuous work to complete the grave. The weather was so severe that nobody attended the interment at the cemetery except those immediately connected with the work.

There was very little moving about. People just sat around their hearthstones and tried to keep warm. "There was an immense amount of suffering throughout the county, and the sum total of the loss of stock was very large.

The eold spell seemed to be widespread, as it was reported here that soldiers had perished in their tents as far south as the Georgia line. Some claim that in February, 1905, the cold was just as severe, but the older inhabitants who went through the blizzard of 1864 will not admit that it has ever been approached in this latitude.

Up to the year 1909 the greatest flood on the Chariton valley occurred during the summer of 1875. A mile and a quarter of the Hannibal and St. Joseph railway's track was washed away. Until the traek was rebuilt trains were run to the water's edge. Passengers and baggage were ferried across on rafts and small boats. The greatest loss from this flood was by the sweeping away of bridges. It was estimated by a paper of that period that it would eost $5,000 to repair and rebuild the bridges of the county. An extra levy of 5 cents on the hundred dollars was ordered by the County Court for bridge purposes. The damage to grain and stock along the flooded distriets was not great, as the farmers did not use the bottoms extensively then for agricultural purposes.

The year 1875 was known in several states of the west as the grasshopper year." Many states suffered a total loss of erops because of the visitation. Governor C. N. Hardin of Missouri proclaimed June 3 as a day of fasting and prayer that the Almighty might remove the plague. The proclamation was generally observed. Several largely attended meetings were held in Macon county in conformity with the executive proclamation. Perry Rayder's History of Missouri chronicles this result of the governor's faith and of the people of the state: "About this time, in fact, on the very next day, heavy rains set in. Up to that time the long-continued drought had not been abated, though slight rains had fallen in the spring months. Following the proclamation they became heavy and frequent. It was the deliverance from the terrible pests. 'The grasshoppers began to move about June 11. A strong southwest wind drove them further into the interior of the state, but in a day or two the wind shifted to the east, and by the 15th the grasshoppers were entirely gone. The next year there was a bountiful harvest.''

** Whereas, owing to failure and losses of erops, much suffering has been endured by many of our people during the past few months, and similar calamities are pending upon larger communities, and possibly may extend to the whole state, and if not abated will eventuate in sore distress and famine:

**Wherefore, Be it known that the 3d day of June, proximo, is hereby appointed and set apart as a day of fasting and prayer that Almighty God may be invoked to remove from our midst these impending ealamities and to grant instead the blessings of abundance and plenty; and the people and all the officers of the state are hereby requested to desist during that day from their usual employments and to assemble at their plaees of worship for humble and devout prayer, and to otherwise observe the day as one for fasting and prayer.

A disastrous eyclone and hurricane went through the southern part of Macon on July 13, 1883. Nearly every house in its path was more or less damaged, and many buildings were totally wrecked. Four persons were instantly killed, Mrs. John Clarkson, Mrs. Elizabeth Banta, Charles Ross and Alonzo Harp. Quite a number were seriously injured.

It was Sunday afternoon, the storm beginning a little after three and continuing with ever-increasing violence for an hour. While at its height the sky was covered with a dense eloud, making it so dark that one could scarcely see to go about in a room. The rain fell in blinding sheets. The heaviest loss in the eity was to St. James Academy, which was some distance north of the center of the storm. A large and imposing three-story wing was nearing completion. This was completely leveled by the storm. Dr. Ethelbert Talbot, now Bishop of Pennsylvania, was the rector of the St. James church here at the time and the president of the academy.

'The Macon Times got out an extensive extra the morning following the storm. Many columns were devoted to the losses and personal injuries. Among the curious incidents the Times cites the following:

"Henry Bragg, a colored boy, was struck by a flying tree, picked up and carried a distance of seventy-five yards and landed in a yard, sustaining no injury but a few slight bruises on the face and about the ribs.

"A large barrel, half-filled with mortar, was blown up into the air a distance of 100 feet, striking edgewise on the roof of a house, cutting a hole in the house and knocking out the end of the barrel.

"The bedstead on which a Mr. James was lying was carried away, and he left on the tieking on the floor where the bedstead had been. Mr. James had been ill, but was not injured by the removal of the bed-stead from under him.

"A colored woman named Irving was hung up in a large oak sapling, where she remained for an hour, so badly frightened that she was unable to come down or help herself.

"An infant of five months belonging to a negro woman named MeKenny was lifted by the wind, carried over 300 yards and dropped into Charlie Lawrenee's field, where it was found next morning entirely uninjured, but thoroughly drenched.

"The remarkable fact was demonstrated by the cyclone of last Sunday, that wearing apparel, bed elothing and things of that character, with which the storm came in contact, were completely rotted, appearing to be nothing but a mass of ashes, but retaining their shape until handled. Although the articles looked sound to the eye, and did not have any marks of fire about them, yet they were as thoroughly destroyed by the terrifie wind as if they had been burned. Another remarkable feature of the eyclone is that through the forests where it passed the leaves on the trees turned completely black, as though a heavy frost had fallen upon them. These two features, taken in connec-

"John Blankenship, who was seriously injured by the cyclone, was looking directly at the storm as it approached. When the torrent was within 300 yards of his house, a large ball of fire shot down to the ground, and at almost the same instant the house was riddled. Where the ball of fire struck the ground the earth is packed very hard, as though it had been beaten down with a maul.

* Elijah Banta, whose buildings were swept away and whose wife was killed by the eyelone Sunday evening, says the shock sounded like the discharge of a single eannon at a distance, and that for a moment after the shock he knew nothing except that a great torrent of mud and trash poured upon him. He could not see a particle, and when he attempted to rise it seemed he was submerged in steam from a boiling kettle."

The Times makes acknowledgment to **the noble sons of Bevier" and people from other towns who came to Macon to render their assistance to those who had suffered by the storm.

"The scene of the wreck is a distressing one. Men with resolute faces are working faithfully, silently, to gather about them all that is left for them to gather, women and children, some weeping, others more courageous, are helping their husbands and friends to erect a place of shelter from the rain of another night. The work is a terrible work, but it is done."

The summer of 1901 was the driest since 1875. Scarcely any rain fell during the summer and fall. The supply of water at East Fork gave out, and the town of Macon was supplied by the lakes at Blees Military Academy, where a small upright engine was installed and pumped water into the mains. An immense construction work was going on at the time on the Burlington railroad, which was reducing its grade through the city. A large force of men was employed with steam shovels, scrapers and other apparatus, building retaining walls and making embankments. For all this work water was supplied by the Academy lakes.

Tn July it began to dawn upon the people that the situation was becoming serious and a communication was sent from Macon by the Rev. Geo. W. Sharp to Governor A. M. Dockery, requesting that he fix an early day for ''fasting, humiliation and prayer," requesting every-

The Rev. Sharp in his letter described the deplorable condition of erops, the scareity of water and the great losses that would likely ensue if deliverance did not come soon. The ministers of Macon churches generally endorsed the letter of Mr. Sharp to Governor Dockery.

Mr. Sharp, in diseussing the matter at the time, referred to the grasshopper plague of 1875, which has already been treated in this chapter. He said that the moving cause for Governor Hardin's proclamation for a day of fasting and prayer was a discourse delivered here by the Rev. Matthew Patton. A copy of this sermon was sent to Governor Hardin and also printed in the Missouri Republican of St. Louis. It is said that while the Reverend Patton was delivering this sermon the air was thiek with flying grasshoppers, and great erowds of people thronged about the windows of the church, unable to get inside, enduring patiently the discomforts of the burning sun for over an hour, listening to the invocation of the earnest man of God that "the plague might be withdrawn from this fair land."

At the time when Mr. Sharp sent the petition for a publie prayer to Governor Dockery the conditions in Missouri were very serious. All hope for a corn erop had been abandoned and stock-raisers were shipping their eattle to other states for food and water. Farmers kept their wells locked for fear that travelers stopping at night might stealthily help themselves to some of the precious fluid. At some of the normal schools in the state experiments were made in the hopes of bringing rain, but nothing of consequence followed. The thermometer averaged from 100 to 108, a height which it maintained almost continuously throughout the month.

A number of newspapers earnestly endorsed the suggestion to pray for rain and the Governor proclaimed Sunday, July 21, as a day for fasting and prayer. The proclamation was as follows:

* Wherefore, be it known, that Sunday, July 21, be, and the same is hereby set apart as, a day of fasting and prayer that the threatened disasters may be averted, and to this end the people are requested to assemble at their usual places of worship to invoke the blessings of Almighty God.

be affixed the great seal of the state of Missouri. Done at the city of Jefferson this 15th day of July, in the year of our Lord One Thousand: Nine Hundred and One. By the governor. **Sam B. Cook, "A. M. Dockery. 'Secretary of State."

It was an intensely hot day in Macon, but an immense crowd turned out to the Presbyterian ehurch, where the general prayer services were held, under the auspices of the Ministers' Alliance. Rev. R. T. Caldwell, J. D. Murphy, W. S. Lockhart, F. Marvin, H. E. Truex and S. D. Kendall spoke upon the subjeet of God's answer to prayer. Within a few days following the governor's proclamation there was a heavy downpour of rain in Macon county, and also rains were reported from other sections. The good people looked upon it as a direct answer to their prayers, but as the summer wore on and no further rains came it excited a suspieion in the minds of some that there was a serew loose somewhere in the governor's proclamation. Harry Turner, a Mexico newspaper man, explained it by stating that the governor had appointed the wrong day for fasting and prayer. Mr. Turner insisted that the Almighty did not answer prayers of that character unless accompanied by sacrifice. The people must be willing to lose a day's work in order to show proper humility of expression and faith. If the governor had selected any other day but Sunday, Mr. Turner said that he was con-. fident the Missouri people's prayers for rain would have been answered.

Beginning June 11, 1901, to the present (July 26), the temperature has been above 90 degrees with one exception, June 19, when it was 84 degrees. Twenty-four days of this time it has gone above one hundred degrees. July 12 and 24 it reached 111 degrees. Since June 11th 1.09 inches of rain has fallen. During the same period last year 7.38 fell and 9524 degrees was the highest temperature reached; 102 degrees was the hottest day in 1900 - Angust 12.

Rainfall

In July, 1909, the Chariton Valley was visited by a tremendous flood from the north, which did immense damage up and down its entire length. There are divergent opinions as to whether the flood of 1875 or the flood of 1909 rose to the greatest height, but there is no difference as to which flood did the greatest damage. In 1909 the valley was used extensively for farming. Thousands of acres were under cultivation and large herds of cattle roamed the bottoms. While a great deal had been done in the way of drainage ditches, yet the system had not been far enough advanced to carry off the great body of water that came

. rushing down between the foothills. In the flood of 1909 the Burlington tracks were not washed away, but that was because the roadbed had been built much higher and stronger than in 1875. In the latter flood the water reached clear up to the tracks, and thousands of visitors from the towns about viewed the wide ''sea'' from the railroad embankment.

The town of Kern, formerly called Chariton, was entirely submerged, and people had to go about from place to place in small boats. When farmers drove up to purchase supplies the merchant at Kern would send a skiff out to bring them to the store. Many Macon county farmers lost from $1,000 to $5,000 on wheat, which was swept down in the flood. It was estimated at the time that the farmers of Adair eounty had lost a total of $150,000 on their grain, and as farming operations were carried on much more extensively in the Macon county bottoms of the Chariton river the figures here, as to total losses, were placed at $200,000,

A eurious feature of the flood of 1909 was the large number of snakes, inseets and small animals of every description that were found along the Burlington embankment. The trees were alive with snakes coiling about and looking like branches in motion. Boys with target rifles went along the railroad shooting them. Workmen who were sent out to guard the tracks and to strengthen the embankment were greatly annoyed by the immense blaek spiders and other inseets crawling up their legs.

There was no loss of life, because as soon as the water became threatening reseue parties were sent out in all directions to warn and to assist the families on the bottoms. Some thirty families were picked up by small boats and rafts and transported to the railroad embankment at Kern, from which place they were furnished transportation to the towns until the water subsided.

Railroad, which runs along the Chariton valley from Iowa down to Elmer in Macon county. Nearly all of its bridges were washed out and for a week or ten days the line was entirely out of commission.

"When the floods went down the farmers began pushing their drainage ditehes with renewed vigor. These ditches are intended to be of such capacity as to carry off the water before it will have time to destroy growing erops. This enterprise has eaused Chariton bottom land to rise in value from almost nothing to $100 and $125 per acre. The floods which come down the valley deposit a sediment which acts as a fertilizer and makes this the most productive land in the county.