The Artic Winter of 1917-18

This is part of my article I had in The Crittenden Press, Jan. 23, 2020. 

From the archives of The Press we can learn of years past and some of the harsh weather the people and animals in our area suffered. This spell of harsh winter weather was in the winter of December 1917 and into February 1918. The cold started in December of 1917. 

One of the press reporters writes about the weather, he states that the recent blizzard was certainly an unusually severe spell of weather and it caused a considerable amount of suffering among the stock and poultry of Crittenden County.

It came in a rather sudden and unexpected manner and without a doubt it was the worst snow we have had for a number of years. It is extremely doubtful whether anyone can remember a worse blizzard, which has ever before occurred during the early part of December. 

A number of people were unprepared to met the terrible rigors of the recent weather conditions and more than one person was put out considerable inconvenience in order to procure supplies of food and fuel, which they were exceedingly difficult to obtain during the worst part of the blizzard.

The cold and blizzard-like conditions held on into February. The Ohio River was freezing and causing many problems. 

 The headline in the Feb. 14, 1918 Press reads "The Greatest Ice Gorge Even Known On The Ohio River. Barnett Estate And Charles Donakey Heavy Losers."

The river at Rosiclare rose 25 feet Friday night as a result of a great gorge, which formed there in the afternoon. The people at Rosiclare and Fairview were greatly alarmed and fled to the high places, and every one was quickly hoisted from the mines. The gorge broke however without overflowing the Illinois towns and mines, but not until it had created great havoc on the Kentucky side.

Barnett's lower farm occupied by Charles Donakey suffered the loss of 65 or more head of cattle and many acres of corn and much valuable timber. The water was twenty-five feet deep Saturday morning, where the cattle were feeding the evening before.

The ice cakes that washed out into the fields were acres in extent and as big as houses. Giant trees were cut off as by a mowing machine. 

 On account of the wet weather conditions during harvesting time, the corn had not been gathered, and in order to save it, the cattle and hogs had been turned into it. No one ever thought or heard of such a gorge or so unexpectedly a flood.

The Owensboro, Ky. wharf boat that was tied up at Rosiclare broke loose and floated over into Barnett's cornfield and is still lodged there.

The papers tell of the frozen Ohio River during this time and say that the “ice gorge” of 1918 was the most spectacular river disaster that had ever happened. 

Steamboats were imprisoned in the ice at their moorings. When it started thawing the boats were torn from their docks and caught in the clutches of the swift grinding ice and carried down the river. The ice splintered the boats hull beneath the water. The river was full of ice gorges from Dec. 11, 1917 until Feb. 23, 1918. Navigation on the river was suspended during this time. 

Two of the steamers that people from the Crittenden County were familiar seeing along their docks were the Cotton Blossom and the Jewel. Both steamers were torn from their home moorings when the ice started moving and were carried downstream striking the reef and sinking.

After this destructive time, the steamboat became more of a memory than a mode of transportation.