44 DEGREES BELOW

Reprint of this story from the February 17, 1905 issue of The Grand Encampment Herald brought to you courtesy of Grandma’s Cabin, Encampment, Wyoming. Preserving History - Serving the Community.

Cold Wave Visited the North Platte Valley over Sunday

The coldest cold snap that has struck Encampment and the North Platte valley for many a year paid a short visit Saturday, Sunday and Monday. The thermometer had a sinking spell Saturday afternoon, when it fell down about ten or twelve flights of registers and all efforts to revive it were in vain. By Sunday morning, the pulse of the temperature was so low that a majority of thermometers had gone the limit and had given up the chase.

“My thermometer quit at 45 degrees below,” declared Jake Wagoner, “it having done the best it could to indicate the condition of the weather. So I judge that it was at least 46 below, allowing one degree for the bulb.”

The thermometer at Parkinson’s store registered 44 below shortly after daylight Sunday morning. Lordier’s thermometer said the same. The small thermometers were put out of business.

At Saratoga, thermometers registered as low as 55 and 56 below. At Wombaker’s ranch in the south fork canyon the thermometer said 34 below.

The degrees below zero doubled from six o’clock Saturday night until six o’clock Sunday morning, the number being 22 and 44 respectively.

All day Sunday the weather lingered around the zero mark and much lower at times, being 17 below at noon. Monday morning dawned equally as cold as Sunday. The weather gradually moderated however and since Tuesday the weather has been normal for February.Water pipes suffered during the cold snap in residences where pipes were not protected, the whole water system was put out of business, while pipes burst here and there about town, causing great inconvenience and much expense.

If Encampment has one or two more of these attacks the Herald is going to quit talking so much about the ideal winter weather.

Thermometer Joke That Came True

A broken thermometer and a copper wire served to scare some people to desperate things about five o’clock Saturday afternoon. Such a contrivance, registering 31 below, was hung in front of Wernli’s store, and it had the desired effect. Those who were “next” stood silently inside and laughed in their sleeves. More than one passerby, who began to feel that it was getting cold, stopped abruptly and gazed at the indication. Having lived so long on indications, they believed, and immediately began to button up their coats, turn up their collars, shrug their shoulders, and mutter something about how infernally cold it was getting.

One man came back twice to. Gaze and then concluded that it was time turn up his collar, which he did. The indication, however, proved a prophecy, for it was more than 31 below six hours later.

Minor Notes:

Ranchmen in the valley are finding use for their surplus hay this winter. Some of them were worrying some weeks ago about what they would do with the crop, but since the deep snow has come covering the range, the ranchmen have been obliged to feed the hay to their stock, and some of them who sold the bulk of their hay are now buying. The price is about six dollars per ton in the stack.

The work of repairing the Riverside bridge has been delayed a few days owing to the extremely cold weather. Mr. Tillou says that the work will be finished within two of three days after it is resumed. The work has been substantially done, and there is no reason to expect another washout this year. Some fill in on the road between the two bridges will add another good feature to the job.