I have my Great Great Grandmother’s diaries. She was Carrie Coleman and with
her son Myron R. Coleman owned and ran the Coleman Hotel at Kidders, N.Y. She
wrote that Cayuga Lake completely froze over in 1912. Then She wrote Feb. 4,
1912 – Cayuga Lake has not frozen over since 1885. She continued:
Feb. 12, 1912 – A great many people are skating and walking on the lake.
“ 14 – At least 200 people were here at Kidders on the ice. Charlie
White (Sheldrake) is out with his iceboat. Two other iceboats and many skaters
came over from the other side.
“ 16 - Hundreds crossing the lake – Skating and walking. Two students
were drowned a mile north of King Ferry.
In the first 10 days of March she wrote of many in iceboats,
skating and walking back and forth from both sides. Some came from Auburn or
Ithaca on the train to King Ferry, then skated or rode on iceboats over the
lake to Kidders. On St. Patrick’s Day, after five weeks of wonderful fun on
the lake the ice broke up and moved north. With much ice moving up and down the
lake as the wind changed, there were great fields of ice piling up on docks and
boat houses.
Going back to the year 1885, Carrie Coleman wrote in her diary :
Feb. 17 , 1885 – The lake is frozen over. Myron (son) skated over to King Ferry
after the mail. Many people skating on the lake.
Mar. 4, - Thawed and injured the skating. No wind for iceboats.
“ 5, - Ice is frozen over again. We all went out on the iceboat. Not
much wind.
“ 6 – The ice roared and groaned as it froze harder.
“ 7 – A party of young men came from Auburn then over on the iceboat.
“ 11 – Myron skated over after the mail. Then he and Fred (Wyer) skated
to Aurora and back.
“ 13 – Everyday people are on the lake. The iceboat sailed splendidly.
Everyone was riding. I went over to meet the train and had a glorious sail.
Mar. 22 - Men came from across the lake in a sleigh and horses and later went
back.
“ 27 – Teams crossing on the ice. Saw a horse and sleigh going to
Ithaca – about in the middle of the lake. The iceboats flew about and people
skating.
April 1 - Mild and the ice is getting unsafe.
Naomi Brewer (Sheldrake)
7214 Wyers Pt Rd.
Ovid, N.Y.
From: [email protected]
[mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Geo Kloppel
Sent: Monday, February 10, 2014 6:29 AM
To: CAYUGABIRDS-L
Subject: Re: [cayugabirds-l] Additional freezing info
Photos of the 1912 event show crowds of people out on the frozen lake; even
horses. But two Cornell students skating near King Ferry were drowned when the
ice gave way beneath them. Here's the Cornell Daily Sun article:
http://cdsun.library.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/cornell?a=d
<http://cdsun.library.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/cornell?a=d&d=CDS19120219.2.1>
&d=CDS19120219.2.1
-Geo Kloppel
On Feb 9, 2014, at 11:49 PM, Linda Post Van Buskirk <[email protected]> wrote:
I wonder for how long. The lake can skim over with a sharp dip in temp, and
then winds break up the ice.
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