Down Memory Lane

 
 
Changes in the weather are always a good topic of conversation -especially when talking to an older generation.
In 1920, Uri Mulford-descendant of one of the first families in Lindley  wrote a book on Corning and Vicinity. The latter part of the book contains excerpts of news items in the local newspaper  the  CORNING JOURNAL from 1851 to 1920.
The following are a few notes taken from Uri's book
Pg.201
April 27,1851  2 feet of snow during the day and night.
April 30th , 1857  The melting of the snow has raised the river and many lumber rafts are passing down stream . (Remember this was during the height of the lumbering business locally and rafts of lumber were used to take the logs to the Chesapeake Bay area. ( Kitty) 
 
Pg. 231
Dec. 20th, 1868
Fifteen inches of snow fell on Friday and Saturday.
 
Pg. 263
Saturday March 28,1873
The river flats were flooded. The highway bridge at Erwin Centre (now Presho) was washed away . All train service was abandoned for 24 hours.
 
Pg 271
January 25,1877
Five feet, four inches of snow has fallen since winter set in, and the temperature has remained so low as to prevent a thaw. Country roads are snow bound on every hand. The roof of the Zion Church (in early days a school house) on the Public Square near the southeast corner of Second and Pine Street (Corning) gave way under a heavy weight of snow and the building wrecked beyond repair. It was the worship house of the colored people.
 
 
I have just started recording the dates that pertain mostly to the Lindley area -so there may be more snow storms to report.( Kitty)
 
Personal Note
 I remember when there were no such things as snow blowers, so many Pick-Up trucks with snow plows-not to mention the heavy duty trucks now used by the State, County and Town Highway Departments.  I don't remember the years-(probably in the 1940's), but some of my most vivid winter memories of growing up on Beartown Hill were the snow storms, being snowed in and missing school in Painted Post. ( Those days most students walked to school.) One year, the Town of Erwin snowplows couldn't open the road so Steuben County sent a Snow Blower type truck to open the road. I seem to recall that this type of truck was something NEW and quite a topic of conversation.( Funny part is, I can't recall if the new truck did the job! ) 
 
I give a lot of credit to all the Highway Employees who spend hours sanding and plowing roads so folks seldom need to worry about being snowed in.  I am glad that there are better ways to cope with the snowstorms -but back then that's the way it was..   --  Kitty    
 
  
 

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