August 1884 opened with a promising outlook for Warren County farmers, but as the month continued the weather would be an up-and-down roller coaster ride.
“The recent rain made vegetation revive so that it looks quite promising,” the Horicon correspondent reported in The Morning Star of Glens Falls on August 1st.
Sunshine that followed the rain was good for tourism.
“A continuation of yesterday’s weather will bring joy to the heart of the summer hotel keeper,” The Morning Star reported on August 4th. The day brought “another installment of rain,” which was “duly” welcomed.
“The pastures begin to look green again; oats now look well; corn a good stand, but a little late; potatoes promise well; fruit a small crop,” The North Creek correspondent reported on August 8th.
“Huckleberries are now very plentiful on the mountains,” the Thurman correspondent reported.
On August 7th, about 100 people picked an estimated 40 bushels of blueberries on Crane Mountain in Johnsburg.
A heatwave had set in by mid-August.
“The man who predicted that August would be a hot month evidently knew what he was talking about,” The Morning Star reported on August 14th. “He probably bargained that, because July resembled October, the thermometrical equilibrium of the summer could only be maintained by holding August down to her record.”
The temperature rose to the nineties.
“The hot, sultry weather yesterday left the average human without ambition, and shady quarters were diligently sought. Those who are so situated as to be out of the sun’s rays and enjoy a rest rarely bestow a thought on the poor quarryman or other laborers who are less fortunate,” The Morning Star reported on August 13th.
“The heat has been intense here for the past few days. Crops and pasturage are suffering very much from the need of rain,” the French Mountain correspondent reported on August 21st.
“We had the warmest days the past week (that) it has been in six years,” The Pottersville correspondent reported on August 22nd.
“We are now having the warmest weather of the season. The thermometer has been a way up among the nineties for the past few days,” one day reaching 95, the Thurman correspondent reported.
Tourism remained strong.
“The latest reports from Lake George are to the effect that the hotels are now well filled with guests and business at the famous summer resort is now at its height,” The Morning Star reported on August 22nd.
At Blue Mountain Lake it was 98 “in the shade” on August 21st, The Morning Star reported two days later.
“For the past few days, it has been very oppressive, and, although the perspiration flowed freely, it didn’t prevent excursion parties from rambling through the several lakes to the beautiful Raquette.”
A cold wave set in near the end of August, prompting Bony Mosher to build a wood fire in the stove at his Sandy Hill barbershop.
“Early risers, yesterday morning, found evidence of a frost in some localities,” The Morning Star reported on August 26th. “At Whitehall, Fort Edward, Horicon and North Creek, Jack Frost succeeded in injuring crops. In the latter place, according to a correspondent, corn and buckwheat were damaged.”
There was a “slight frost” at Adirondack, a hamlet in the town of Horicon, on August 26th, and a heavier frost two nights in a row at Luzerne.
“Jack Frost visited this section on Tuesday and Wednesday nights, and left his footprints in some localities.”
Tourism dropped off, as a result.
“City people are leaving Schroon Lake very fast the past week on account of the cold wave,” the Pottersville correspondent reported on August 29th.
Photo of a party of guests of the Worden Hotel, Lake George.
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