by J.B. Steele
1900
I call this "The Year of Wonders". There were no frosts at all in May, which is very unusual. The rainfall all the season was very heavy, which, added to the snowfall of the preceding winter, partially filled the sloughs. The mosquitoes were the worst I have ever seen. Some cattle in the Beaver Hills were driven to death by them. One the east side they spent the greater part of their time around the smudges, and humane settlers kept these smudges going night and day. Not till well on in August did this damnable plague let up. The growth of the crops was amazing, and on the first day of August the prospects for "the best ever" of a crop were A1. On the afternoon of that day a huge black cloud gathered the west. It was a frightfully hot day, and everybody looked for a thunderstorm, but they got what they didn’t expect - a record-breaking hailstorm. It swept over Edmonton and Strathcona, doing all the damage it could, passed over the Beaver Hills, cutting the leaves and small branches from the trees, and driving some cattle into the lake to drown. Then it swept across the lake taking some of the northerly farms in its course. At Mr. Henry Deby’s farm, one hailstone was picked up. It was as large as a door-knob. Further north the stones were just as large and some damage was done. Where the centre of the storm struck, the stones were smaller but they were so numerous as to pound the crops into the ground. Some of the stones picked up at
J.B. Steele’s place measured 8 ½ inches in circumference. These stones were flattish, not round or egg-shaped. Those who had escaped the hailstorm were smiling with joy and thought they at least would have good crops; yes, better than good. They smiled too soon. One the 25th a ripsnorting snow-storm passed over the settlement, to be followed by a nice heavy frost. Most of the wheat was only fit for feed, though those right along the lake had some that would have graded No. 4. Hardly any of the oats were fit for seed. This didn’t wind up all the list of troubles, for the succeeding fall was miserable in the extreme, and some of the grain was not cut till November. Between the lake and Edmonton many fields were left uncut, for though the snowstorm didn’t strike everywhere in the Edmonton district, the frost did.
[next: The Frost]
