Culled by Judy Garrison From February 1914 issues of

The Andes Recorder  – 100 Years Ago

 Week In and About ANDES

Events of a Week as Chronicled by the Man on the Street

With commentary by Jim Andrews

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Sixteen ladies gathered at the home of Wm. D. Scott on Tuesday evening and there was a “rag” bee. The ladies allege that each one sewed a pound. Those who made up the company evidently are not believers in the saying that “silence is golden.”

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Andes Odd Fellows will hold their fourth annual ball Friday evening, February 20. [Jim Andrews: The Odd Fellows lodge was on the second floor of the Dowie Store Building (the same “Big Store” that had the front door shake in the earthquake article below).]

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OLD EARTH GIVE A QUAKE

An earthquake, which was the heaviest in many years, took place about 1:30 Tuesday afternoon [February 10th], disturbing particularly what are geologically known as the devonian and silurian sections of the northeast parts of the United States. Virtually all of New York state felt the shock, and New England, lower eastern Canada, parts of New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

At Albany pictures were shaken from the wall of the capital, while at Binghamton a laborer was killed by the caving in of a trench in which he was working.…In Andes many felt the shock and the front door of the “Big Store” was shaken as if by a heavy wind. The last earthquake of any force that was felt in this section was the one in the territory of Charlestown, S.C. in 1886.

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IN THE GRIP OF A BLIZZARD

A snow storm that commenced soon after 8 o’clock last Friday evening [February 13th] marked the beginning of the worst blizzard that has visited this section since the blizzard of March, 1888. ….When the storm ceased at about 4 o’clock that afternoon there was a depth of two feet on the level, blocking traffic of all kinds, and putting a check on business. Fortunately there was less wind than usual on such occasions and consequently the drifts were fewer.

The D. & N. came in for its full share of trouble and the train due in Andes at 6 p.m. Saturday did not arrive until 1 o’clock Sabbath morning…The Andes-Delhi stage made the trip to Delhi on Saturday but on the return trip the horses tired out three miles from Andes and Archie Coulter, the driver, and George Polley, a passenger, passed the night at J. L Strageway’s, and arrived in Andes about noon on Sabbath….The present storm is insignificant when compared with that of 1888, when between 4 and 5 feet of snow fell and rushing winds piled it up to the depth of from 10 to 20 feet. Nor was that of 1888 so remarkable when compared to the one that commenced April 13, 1857. [JA: There is mention of this 1857 storm written in the flyleaf of one of the Ballantine Store ledgers—the snow didn’t melt until sometime in June.]

Sufragette Convention

The ladies of the Village Improvement Society will give a play entitled “The Suffragette Convention” at Union Hall [JA: Upstairs over The Tin Horn], Andes, Friday evening, February 27. Those who attended the play given by the ladies a year ago, which was pronounced one of the best ever held here, will want to attend this one, and those who did not see the other will be again disappointed if they do not attend the “Convention.” Come prepared to laugh—you cannot help it.

Thos. S Miller of this place, who has just been drawn on the jury for the March term of County Court, has never before been drawn as a petit juror [Ed.: Do any of our readers know the definition of “petit juror”? Is the term currently in use? Buffy Calvert: Petit (or petty) Jury of 12 people as opposed to the Grand Jury of 23 people.] although he has passed the allotted three score and ten years.

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Movies Cause Hold-Up on D. & N.

The moving picture men hired a special train on the D. & N. Saturday and there was a hold-up on the Muir trestle and a dummy express messenger thrown over-board while a picture machine “took it all in.” Another movie will show the engine plowing into the huge drifts on the switch leading to the Muir pond. The movie man expressed himself as well satisfied with results. [JA: I didn’t know that there was a second movie made on the Andes spur of the D & N. Earlier news notes printed in a back issue of the Gazette mentions the film “Single Track” which was a “Perils of Pauline” spinoff and was filmed at the More Trestle at Pleasant Valley. The Muir Trestle was located on the Geiger property and in 1918 was filled in when it was condemned. The ice pond is still there.]~