Diary of H H Walters - 1883 Donated by and transcibed by Lori Craynor ************************************************************************ USGENWEB NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by any other organization or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. ************************************************************************ Jan 18 1883 Thursday Last day of my fifteenth term of school. My attendance during the term was good. Several visitors were present. Made out my reports and returned the books to the district clerk F. S. Adams. Jan 26 1883 Friday Left my family at Mr. Fishers, and went down on horseback to see my mother and brothers in DeKalb Co. Took dinner at King City and fed my horse at Clarence Brays. Arrived about 7 P. M. The day was cold and misty. Found all well. Feb 1, 1883 Thursday Left DeKalb for my home in Gentry. A cold raw day with an east wind driving the snow against me all the way home. Had to walk about half the distance to keep my hands warm. Took dinner at Brays and got to Stanberry at dark. May 22 1883 Tuesday Another heavy frost doing much damage. Last year there was one on the same day. This caused me to give up my plan of following market gardening, as our land lies too low. For two years my early plants have been destroyed by frost. There is not much inducement to raise early vegetables on land where ice will form as thick as windows glass at this time of the year. The freeze was general over the Mississippi valley. Only on the highest ridges did plants escape being cut down. In some places, potatoes were so far advanced as to be entirely killed. In most cases they sent out new tops however. June 17, 1883 Sunday Owing to the excessive rainfall, the streams were out of their banks and flowing over the adjoining bottoms. Minnie and the children were over at Stanberry and I went over to see the flood. The whole bottom as far as the railroad track was covered with water. Those living in houses on the bottom were compelled to leave them as the water in some cases reached the windows. No lives were lost however. July 13, 1883 Friday Shortly after dinner time a heavy cloud appeared in the northwest and soon the wind began to blow very hard. I had started to town but stopped at Willie Stockton's until the storm was over. He was living at the time on the old Stockton farm. Four of us went to the cave for safety. For an hour the wind went by at a rate never known to any of us before. Minnie and the children were at home in the house, as it was not safe to go out to the cave. The storm was a straight blower and was the heaviest ever known in this vicinity. It commenced in the northwest part of the state and took a southeasterly course, having a track about 25 miles wide and 150 miles long. We were on the south edge of its path. Hundreds of houses were either moved from their foundations or blown to pieces. But one life was known to have been lost. Four of the churches in Stanberry were moved from their foundations. Burlington Junction and Maryville suffered severely. The courthouse in Albany was destroyed. The effects of the storm in the timbered country north of Albany will be seen for many years. Standing crops were leveled to the ground and many farmers had all their buildings, fences and crops ruined. We suffered no loss. Aug 25, 1883 Saturday My brother-in-law, E. F. Lilly, and I took a trip in a spring wagon to Denver, Worth Co. We were prospecting with a view of looking up a location suitable for the hardware business. We spent the night with my old friends, Marion and Nall Brown, and returned the next day. Sept. 10 1883 Monday Commenced my sixteenth term of school, being my fifth term in the Stockton district. During the month previous, the house had been removed from the old site near my house to the southwest corner of Section 1. Oct 20, 1883 Saturday My brother Edward and I took a trip to Denver for the same purpose that E. F. Lilly and I had gone. We staid at Brown's and left for home the next day by way of Albany. Before I had gone by way of Hugginsville. Nov 9, 1883 Friday Edward came up again with a view of buying out a hardware firm in Stanberry but concluded to wait until spring before making a venture in that direction. The La Crosse railroad was to be located in the spring through or near Stanberry, which would _________(?) or miss(?) the town. 1883 The years of 1882 and 1883 were alike in many respects. The spring seasons were very backward, being cold and very wet, causing late frosts. During February the Ohio River reached the highest point ever known. Immense damage was done by the flood. The summers of both years were very wet and cool. Both seasons the river bottoms of Northwest Missouri were overflowed, the floods of the second season being the highest. The Platte River in particular was very high in June. For two years the crops on the bottoms were failures which following the great drouth of 1881 made the grain supply very light in many localities. West of the Missouri River the crops for two seasons were excellent as the land is light and requires much rain to produce crops. The previous winter was severe, following the usual rule of mild and severe winters in succession. Floods, hurricanes and other disasters seemed uncommonly frequent. Another year like any of the last three would cause much distress in this and adjoining counties. We enjoyed good health, suffered no serious lossess, and felt ourselves favored. I neglected to mention that we spent the 4th of July in Stanberry. During the summer there was much sickness in Stanberry. We raised a good crop of potatoes while many did not raise any. Owing to frosts I concluded to abandon market gardening. and engage in something else.