The Klickitat County Agriculturist, Goldendale, WA., February 22, 1929, page 1
CROSSING COLUMBIA RIVER ON THE ICE
The first time since 1910, according to the weather man,
the Columbia river is frozen over from shore to shore, and people and teams
are able to cross over on the ice.
Roosevelt residents have been crossing over to Arlington
frequently. The ice is said to be of considerable thickness.
All of the ferries plying across the Columbia have been
tied up for some time and at present no certain date can be given as to when
they will resume operations.
Over at Arlington, according to the Bulletin, everything
is frozen as tight as a brick. In an editorial on the continuing cold spell,
the editor goes on as follows:
"It is safe to say that there are faces in Arlington
that has not been washed since the beginning of the cold spell, and it also
a safe bet that there are wash pans full of water that has washed a score
of faces. It is used over and over again until it assumes the same appearance
as molasses. It has been around the house so long that it becomes a pet,
like a cat, and there are tears in the children's eyes and a lump in the
throat of the man and woman of the house when it is at last disposed of!
Old timers will tell you it is the longest cold spell since '93."
From Bingen we are informed where a complete record is
kept, it is said to be the longest and coldest winter now in the northwest.
This is disclosed by a weather chart recorded by E.S. Joslyn, one of the
earliest pioneers of Klickitat. Mr. Joslyn goes back to 1862 in his record.
That year the mercury ranged as low as 25 below zero most of the time for
60 days.
The log was kept from the middle of December to the first
of March. On January 17 the Columbia river was frozen solid from shore to
shore, and traffic crossed at almost any point.
Joslyn and his wife came to western Klickitat in 1852.
They were the first to settle in this part of the country, but some 25 years
later moved over to Oregon.
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© Jeffrey L. Elmer