History Repeats Itself

Dear Editor,

My father, Art Walby, homesteaded in 1917 and the following letters home recorded the weather. History repeats itself and now the East is getting what farmers experienced 100 years ago.

Dec. 22, 1922. Believe me, we have had real winter here after it started. We had dandy weather out until Nov. 29 – then it started in. We haven't had much snow, but believe me, it has been cold and stormy all the time. I hope I will never have to put in another spring like last year-horses poorly and no life to them at all.

Feb. 20, 1923. Believe me, we have had some bad weather this month. Three storms in one week and the last one lasted for three nights and two days. It started Feb. 11, and it was from the northeast. It was nice and warm on Sunday. I had my chicken door open and went up for dinner at Chris Ellertson. It started to storm, so I couldn't get home that night, and morning was worse. When I got home, only two chickens were dead. Horses in barn stood without water, so shoveled snow through windows into feed boxes to drink. There was 6 feet of snow in front of the big door. The thermometer went down in the bulb and bust at -50 below. The wind blew 60-70 miles an hour. Cold and lots of snow. Frost bit my ears in bed wearing my sheep skin coat and hat. (The homestead shacks didn't have insulation.)

July, 1923. We had such wind and heat from 10-18th. If we get two or three days more, I didn't think there would be any grain left. On July 18, it started to rain between 8-10 inches in two weeks – soaked to China. It has been dry since last fall.