The Great Freeze of 1872
When an arctic blast paralyzed Puget Sound, turning the Columbia River to ice and testing the grit of Seattle's early pioneers.
The weather for the last three weeks has been very cold, the thermometer ranging from 20 degrees below zero during the night and seldom getting much above zero during the day. Up to the present, no stock have suffered, and with care, it is supposed they will have hay enough to winter them. The Columbia River was closing yesterday, and the steamship Oriflamme, for San Francisco, and the California, for Victoria, left Portland in the afternoon ahead of advertised time, in order to avoid being blocked in for the season. With the Columbia blockaded, we can scarcely hope that the Fraser will remain open should the cold spell continue. The stage company is exerting every nerve to get the mails along, and stages are running night and day. Reports from down the Sound indicate the harbor is covered with ice, and telegraphic lines are suffering so that more men cannot repair them fast enough. It has been the coldest and most thoroughly disagreeable weather experienced here for three years past, with snow, sleet, and rain falling; the roads are in a condition never before known at this season of the year.
“This has been the coldest and most thoroughly disagreeable weather experienced here for three years past.”
In 1872, Seattle’s infrastructure was so fragile that a severe cold snap meant isolation and total reliance on manual labor to keep communication lines open. Today, while we have better heating, the region’s recurring struggle with 'snowmageddon' events shows that even with modern technology, the Pacific Northwest remains uniquely vulnerable to winter weather that catches us off guard.
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