History of Door County, Wisconsin. Together with biographies of nearly seven hundred families, and mention of 4,000 persons.

              WINTER OF iSSo-i. 100^^
THE WINTER OF 1880-1. Inasmuch as the winter of 1880-1 has been such a remarka¬ ble one, we deem it but just to make some record of it for future reference. November 17th, 1880, the steam ferry Ark,. that plies between Sturgeon Bay and Bay View, made its last trip for the season. On the morning of the 18th foot passen¬ gers could cross the bay. By many, a "break-up" was looked for, but the weather continued "snug," and in a couple of days teams crossed with perfect safety. On Sunday, November 21st, Scofield & Co.'s tug Leatham, from Chicago, plowed down the bay, turning up from 4 to 6 inches of new blue ice. Five days later, or on Friday, 26th, the Messrs. Spears tugs Gregory, from Chicago, and H, N, Martin, worked their way to Sturgeon Bay village by way of the canal. The i^regory took the lead in breaking the ice, and opposite Lawrence & Co.'s grist mill she broke new ice lOJ^ inches thick. Thus it will be seen that nine days after the bay was froze over it wore a crystal covering averaging from 9 to 11 inches. A mo^Jfate amount of snow fell from date to date, and thougji the total was but from 3 to 4 inches, sleighing was exceilent. December and January were nice winter months—the snow fall light, but the weather cold and steady. In February the weather was very changeable—mercury ranging from high to low. Snow, rain, and sunshine often being the make-up of a single d;ay. Sun¬ day* February 27th was the severest storm ever experienced in this county—not because particularly of the heavy fall of snow, but the immense drifts. For eleven days (from Saturday February 27th, to Wednesday, March 9th,) no Green Bay mails were received—so extensively were the roads blocked. March 20th another blizzard swept the country, and if possible fur¬ ther blocked the roads. The Green Bay mail was again behind time four days. Fair weather again smiled on this section, and the lumbermen that had broke camp, went back to the woods. Once more the winter broke out in fresh spots, and the clouds that had scattered and disappeared, came back loaded with the "beautiful" and dumped a coating of snow several inches deep all over the northwest. In length, breadth and thickness the winter of 1880-1 is without parallel for forty years. Navigators will remember it for the snow storms and drift ice off our coasts. The interior will recall the heavy snows with which it so long blocked their streets and roads. Railroad men will speak of the like impediments it threw in their way, and the poorer classes will shiver at the mention of the acute sufferinsg it caused them. But most memorable will it be to meteorologists, as marked by the most