¥ 



DIVISION TWO — COLONIAL. l6l 



several years. It began raining on December 24, 1861, and continued for 

 thirty days, with but two slight interruptions." 



1865. 

 Of a severe storm this year Judge Eaton writes : , 



"About once a year — generally in the month of February, but certainly 

 during the winter months — we are visited with an electric storm that comes 

 directly over the mountains, but loses its force rapidly as it leaves the base 

 and spreads over the plains. The first of these I ever saw came the day I 

 arrived at Fair Oaks, February 3, 1865. It commenced at sundown, at the 

 close of one of the most perfect daj^s I ever saw. There had been heavy 

 rains and the earth was thoroughly soaked with water. The result was, 

 many of the stalwart old oaks scattered about the ranch were prostrated. 

 This storm lasted about 48 hours and was the worst one I have ever seen 

 in this section. Once since then the storm has repeated itself on the same 

 day and date, but was not so violent. Since the settlement of Pasadena, 

 twenty years ago, there have been but one or two storms that did enough 

 damage to be worthy of notice. 



1880-81-82. 



For the Farnsworth pamphlet, published in 1883, Dr. I. S. P. Lord 

 furnished a valuable article on "Disease and Climate," based on his own 

 weather records and notes as a practicing physician ; and from this I quote, 

 p. 105: 



"January 27, 1888, we had a snow storm, and snow lay on the ground 

 several hours before melting, and was seen on the foothills south in patches 

 the next day. Again, January 12, 1882, it snowed till the ground was 

 white. On the 8th of December, 1881, it blew a gale all night and injured 

 some buildings, etc. There were three hot, sultry nights in 1879, such as 

 they have at the East. * * Ice in the winter of 1882 and '83 attained 

 the thickness of three-fourths of an inch under very favorable circumstances, 

 as direct exposure and shallow water." 



Of the wind storm above noted on December 8,' 188 1, P. G. Wooster 

 writes : " Although our cottage was well braced and built in the form of a 

 T, my wife did not dare remain indoors, but went out and sat down in the 

 barley patch and held on to the stubble." 



1882 and 1883 were "dry years," but 1884 gave destructive floods. 

 The Pasadena Valley Union of February 23 [Saturday], 1884, says : 



" Never in the history of lyos Angeles county has been recorded so 

 great a storm nor so destructive a one as that just passed, and for many 

 years to come the " rain of '84 " will figure as an epoch from which to date 

 important events in our meteorological history. As we went to press last 

 Saturday, our record for the three weeks past shows 19.51 inches for that 

 period, and all Saturday it continued. After dark the fall increased in force 

 and came down in torrents which continued without intermission until the 

 afternoon of Sunday, when a little rest was had ; but only for a short 

 period, for it was collecting renewed energy for another downpour, continu- 



