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THE YEAR WITHOUT A SUMMER 1816 IN MAINE
http://www.milbridgehistoricalsociety.org/ ^ | Tuesday, March 17, 2015 | Lee-Lee Schlegel

Posted on 03/18/2015 2:42:50 PM PDT by daniel1212

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"Many scientists predict that such wintry summers could occur again. Nature’s volcanism and human industrial activity have caused a steady build-up of dust in the atmosphere over the last few decades. If this trend continues for 75 years or so, it could produce an effect opposite to that of the greenhouse. World temperatures would be lowered significantly and an age of ice would return."

A man could lose his job today for writing that!

1 posted on 03/18/2015 2:42:50 PM PDT by daniel1212
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To: daniel1212

Came across this and thought it was worth sharing. Never know what a year can bring, and these folks did not know the cause or solution.

Note that hardy character of the people then, which also prayed much:

In 1816 there were no railroads. There were freight-carrying wagons but limited roads. Bulk cargo could be transported economically only by water. This meant that inland towns & farms were very much on their own as nothing could be imported.

Isolated as they were, accustomed to the privation caused by subsistence farming, 90% of the population of New England was essentially self-sufficient. Without public utilities or access to markets, most people were probably quite capable of surviving for a season on shortened rations. They knew how to improvise. Each family was an economic unit, though neighbors depended on one another for many things and trading goods & services was common.

One of the farmer’s biggest problems came in the spring of 1817, when there was no seed for new crops and no money with which to buy it. The May 18 th 1817 edition of Portland’s “Eastern Argus”, records a town meeting authorizing “…the Overseers of the Poor to furnish seed of various descriptions to those individuals who are unable to procure the same from his own resources – the advances to be paid for either in labor on the highway, or in kind at the harvesting of crops. We sincerely hope that this example may be generally followed in other towns.”

Tight-fisted, ornery & independent, the Yankees gained a reputation as jack-of-all-trades. Their independence was largely a matter of necessity & it would stand them in good stead when they were faced with the scanty harvest of 1816.


2 posted on 03/18/2015 2:47:20 PM PDT by daniel1212 (Come to the Lord Jesus as a contrite damned+destitute sinner, trust Him to save you, then live 4 Him)
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To: daniel1212

I learned of this from one of the Frank Edwards books. I think it was ‘Stranger than Science’.


3 posted on 03/18/2015 2:48:20 PM PDT by Ken H (DILLIGAF)
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To: daniel1212

Coming soon to a planet near you?


4 posted on 03/18/2015 2:54:24 PM PDT by crusty old prospector
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To: daniel1212

It’s been a long winter in Maine. It’s March 18, and there is still two feet of frozen snow on the ground. I hope we don’t have a summer like this.


5 posted on 03/18/2015 3:03:21 PM PDT by Fido969
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To: daniel1212

A 40 dollar bounty on wolves in 1816 would be 549.00 today.They sure wanted those wolves dead.


6 posted on 03/18/2015 3:07:09 PM PDT by Farmer Dean (stop worrying about what they want to do to you,start thinking about what you want to do to them)
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To: Fido969
It’s been a long winter in Maine. It’s March 18, and there is still two feet of frozen snow on the ground. I hope we don’t have a summer like this.

For the next week the night temps are not sppsd to be above freezing, being as low as 13, and we still have lots of snow in yards and on sidewalks. But that is mainly due to a persistent stationary high off the West Coast, given them abnormal high temps.

7 posted on 03/18/2015 3:16:09 PM PDT by daniel1212 (Come to the Lord Jesus as a contrite damned+destitute sinner, trust Him to save you, then live 4 Him)
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To: Farmer Dean
A 40 dollar bounty on wolves in 1816 would be 549.00 today.They sure wanted those wolves dead.

With the starvation. i am surprised they even needed a bounty.

8 posted on 03/18/2015 3:17:18 PM PDT by daniel1212 (Come to the Lord Jesus as a contrite damned+destitute sinner, trust Him to save you, then live 4 Him)
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To: daniel1212

There’s a very real possibility that this could happen any time. But nobody is self sufficient anymore. Millions would die.


9 posted on 03/18/2015 3:17:59 PM PDT by DouglasKC
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To: Farmer Dean

“A 40 dollar bounty on wolves in 1816 would be 549.00 today.They sure wanted those wolves dead.”
****************************************************************************************************
Probably even substantially more than that. I went to the following on-line inflation calculator and found out what $40 in 1914 would be equivalent to in today’s money and found it would be over $900. There likely are similar on-line calculators that go back further (to 1816?), but I didn’t find one in a limited search.

http://www.dollartimes.com/calculators/inflation.htm

FINDING: “$40.00 in 1914 had the same buying power as $939.25 in 2015.
Annual inflation over this period was 3.17%.”


10 posted on 03/18/2015 3:31:12 PM PDT by House Atreides (CRUZ or lose!)
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To: daniel1212
Americans got off relatively lightly. In parts of Europe the crops failed in 1816 because of the cold weather and tens of thousands of people died of starvation.

I believe that 3 of my own ancestors were among them.

11 posted on 03/18/2015 3:36:15 PM PDT by Verginius Rufus
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To: DouglasKC

Some have speculated that higher volcanic activity can occur during prolonged low solar activity periods. Not as far fetched an idea as it seems.


12 posted on 03/18/2015 3:37:12 PM PDT by justa-hairyape (The user name is sarcastic. Although at times it may not appear that way. Was)
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To: Farmer Dean
40 dollars would be considerably more than $549 today.

Imagine the money of the time, gold and silver coin.

Two $20 dollar gold pieces today ($1168.50 an ounce) would fetch at least $2261 (gold content of 0.9675 troy oz per coin)

That represents how worthless our dollar is right now. It takes $56.53 'dollars' of today to equal one real dollar. In 1934 it was a 1:1 trade.

13 posted on 03/18/2015 3:40:53 PM PDT by JOAT
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To: DouglasKC

As far as that goes, transportation to a great extent mitigates regional crop loss. Likewise, preservation of food is much, much better today.

Even at the height of the Dust Bowl in the US, that wiped out tens of thousands of small farms, because of deflation and currency shortage, much of the agricultural production was not worth shipping to market. There was still far too much food being produced.


14 posted on 03/18/2015 3:43:23 PM PDT by yefragetuwrabrumuy ("Don't compare me to the almighty, compare me to the alternative." -Obama, 09-24-11)
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To: daniel1212
That year in New Hampshire, hay was selling for $180.00 a ton, its general price being $30.00

Wow A good round bale will weigh the better part of 1000lbs and can be bought today for $30-35 for cow grade hay.

15 posted on 03/18/2015 3:51:04 PM PDT by Clay Moore (The future SHOULD belong to those who slander Muhammed.)
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To: DouglasKC
There’s a very real possibility that this could happen any time. But nobody is self sufficient anymore. Millions would die.

You are correct. What a run on grocery stores would be seen if a super volcano blew, or an asteroid hit, while Globaal Warming religionists would demand even more measures against CO2.

Rev. predicts great meteorological events, whatever they mean:

The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up. And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea: and the third part of the sea became blood; And the third part of the creatures which were in the sea, and had life, died; and the third part of the ships were destroyed. And the third angel sounded, and there fell a great star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp, and it fell upon the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters; And the name of the star is called Wormwood: and the third part of the waters became wormwood; and many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter. And the fourth angel sounded, and the third part of the sun was smitten, and the third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars; so as the third part of them was darkened, and the day shone not for a third part of it, and the night likewise. (Revelation 8:7-12)

16 posted on 03/18/2015 3:55:49 PM PDT by daniel1212 (Come to the Lord Jesus as a contrite damned+destitute sinner, trust Him to save you, then live 4 Him)
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To: daniel1212; 11B40; A Balrog of Morgoth; A message; ACelt; Aeronaut; AFPhys; AlexW; alrea; ...
So, you think Global Warming is bad. Try Global Cooling!

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You have been pinged because of your interest in environmentalism, alarmist wackos, mainstream media doomsday hype, and other issues pertaining to global warming.

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17 posted on 03/18/2015 4:05:19 PM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks ( _\\//)
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To: Clay Moore
Wow A good round bale will weigh the better part of 1000lbs and can be bought today for $30-35 for cow grade hay.

But the bales on the farms around here (MA) are the much smaller rectangular ones.

18 posted on 03/18/2015 4:10:35 PM PDT by daniel1212 (Come to the Lord Jesus as a contrite damned+destitute sinner, trust Him to save you, then live 4 Him)
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To: daniel1212

I’m guessing those near the coast probably ate a lot of fish, mussels and whatever else they could get from the ocean, ponds and lakes.


19 posted on 03/18/2015 5:39:12 PM PDT by This I Wonder32460
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To: This I Wonder32460
I’m guessing those near the coast probably ate a lot of fish, mussels and whatever else they could get from the ocean, ponds and lakes.

Yes, but inland it was more difficult. When living hand to mouth, and no refer, electricity, little medical care, etc. it was very hard even for such sturdy self reliant people.

Today such a crisis in the US could result in forced divestiture of goods to be distributed to those who demanded such as a right, and strict Venezuela-type purchase controls, and with fishing, hunting etc. being very restricted by those who worship nature, as the liberal elite use the crisis to reign in control over all, which they seek, since they serve in proxy for the devil.

But such are to be smitten with the sword of the Spirit.

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20 posted on 03/18/2015 7:51:10 PM PDT by daniel1212 (Come to the Lord Jesus as a contrite damned+destitute sinner, trust Him to save you, then live 4 Him)
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