19th century Ti — Cold with exclamation points

It was cold with exclamation points.

“Cold! Cold! Cold!!!” the Schroon Lake correspondent reported Jan.23, 1875 in the Ticonderoga Sentinel. “The wind howls dismally and the snow is piled up in the corners of the fences and in great banks along the streets.”

At Ticonderoga, prolonged below zero temperatures had frozen the La Chute River, shutting down the flow of water that powered local mills.

“‘Sounding water’ is very quiet these days, making less music than it has in former years, and not in sufficient body to run our work shops.”

Elsewhere in the region, labor was celebrated.

“Daylight was let through the Willsborough tunnel on the N.Y. & Canada Railroad on the morning of the 30th. The event was appropriately celebrated by the workmen.”

At Crown Point: “Gen. Hammond has disposed of all the iron the Company has on hand, besides a large quantity of ore, all of which is being shipped as fast as possible. The profit to the company is undoubtedly small, but the blessings it brings to those dependent upon their labor for daily bread are fraught with a richer reward.”

At Irondale: “The sleighing is good. Our lumbermen are busy hauling logs to the mill.”

In other Jan. 23, 1875 Ticonderoga Sentinel news:

• St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Church purchased a new Esty organ that cost $600 — the equivalent of $15,475 in 2022 dollars.

“It is the largest size, and capable of filling the church with music.”

• Crown Point Center correspondent Harry Clifton suspected the supernatural.

“Crossman’s wood pile tumbles every few nights. ‘Spiritual visitations’ probably.”

Meanwhile, an attempt was launched to dry up another kind of spirits.

“Good Templar’s Lodge (temperance organization) organized at Crown Point. Hope it will succeed, for it is needed.”

• A Crown Point school tax levy of about $500 (the equivalent of about $12,900 in 2022 dollars) was proposed.

There was grumbling among some tax payers.

“Our school is a topic on which ink might be used to a better advantage than exploring the folly of some in the district.”

• A dog race between Rover, Brook, Dash, and Jeff was “a most amusing feature” of a day of horse trotting races on ice at Schroon Lake.

“The dogs were driven by their owners and behaved very nicely with the exception of Jeff, who became a little unruly and upset his sled.”

The $5 in prize money for the two-heat race was divided as follows: Rover and Brook, $1.50 each; Dash and Jeff, $1 each.

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