| Current Poll |
Who do you think should manage Ferriday water?
View Results
|
|
Story Archives: Natchez 1797: Fevers, snow, cave-ins, farming, 'bleeding'
- 2013 - 340 articles
- 2012 - 856 articles
- 2011 - 635 articles
- 2010 - 1276 articles
- 2009 - 1591 articles
- 2008 - 1763 articles
|
Natchez 1797: Fevers, snow, cave-ins, farming, 'bleeding'
 On the first day of December in 1797, a Friday, Andrew Ellicott noted in his journal that the temperature along the bluffs in Natchez rose to a pleasant 78 degrees, adding that "the musquitoes (were) very troublesome at night."
In fact, December 1, 1797, would be the warmest day of the month although at that very time, frigid weather was racing down the Mississippi River valley.
Over the weekend, the temperature dropped to 50 degrees by sunrise on Saturday, December 2, and fell another three degrees during the day to 47. The wind picked up in the afternoon and a change in weather seemed imminent.
By Sunday, December 3, the temperature fell to 22 degrees by sunrise. Then the nasty weather set in. Snow and sleet fell throughout the day without let up until 6 p.m. "when it cleared away with a strong north wind."
Stephen Minor, an American by birth, was the governor of Natchez during the final months of Spanish rule and he threw another log in the fireplace then retired to his desk where wrote to the Louisiana governor-general about the record cold weather.
On the 4th the thermometer dropped to 18 at sunrise, rose to 33 during the day. A few miles south of Natchez, at William Dunbar's plantation, the temperature was recorded at 17 degrees at sunrise.
Back in town on the 6th, the temperature fell to 18 degrees at sunrise, rose to 39 during the day and dipped to 30 degrees on the 7th before rising to a high of 49.
Later in the month on Christmas Day the temperature stood at 55 at sunrise, and rose to 60 during the day. The weather was "cloudy with a little rain."
In all, the thermometer dipped below freezing on 15 days during the frigid month of December 1797. During that time the men in Ellicott's camp (along the high ridge where the House on Ellicott Hill sits today in Natchez) were shivering in tents and huddling around camp fires.For the full story, subscribe to the The Concordia Sentinel's NEW E-Edition! |
|
| Frank Morris Murder Series |
|
|
E-mail Story
Print Story
