(AP) -- BEAUMONT, Texas (AP) - Below-freezing temperatures and gusty winds sent Southeast Texans into a flurry of activity these last few days. But even with this recent chill, this winter is nothing compared to those of centuries past.
In mid-February 1895, more than 20 inches of snow fell on the town of Anahuac. Nearby at Double Bayou, more than three feet of snow covered the prairies, according to an account by Kevin Ladd in "Legends of Chambers County: The Worst Winters Ever."
Ladd's tale was based on that of Ralph Semmes Jackson, who spoke of this blizzard in his book, "Home on the Double Bayou."
As the story goes, about 6,000 head of cattle were pastured on the Jackson Ranch. In an apparent effort to ride out the storm, the cattle turned their rears to the driving snow and started to walk. They headed south, drifting with the wind, and ended up about five miles away on the shore of the East Bay, Ladd wrote.
For whatever reason, whether numbed by the cold, the herd mentality or thinking they could be comforted, the cattle walked into the warmer waters of the Bay. Thousands drowned and only a fraction survived, the story shows.
When the men of the Jackson family surveyed the damage, they saw dead cattle extending into the bay for hundreds of yards. There were so many carcasses that a man could walk out into the bay on bodies, according to the account.
The piece of land where the cattle made their last stand became known as Frozen Point from that time on.
Not all winter storms ended in such loss, though. Four years later almost to the day, Southeast Texas experienced a cold snap with record-breaking temperatures.
But this time it appeared that a bit of fun was to be had.
Lows around 4 degrees were reported, with highs of 15 degrees, according to The Beaumont Enterprise's Feb. 18, 1899, edition.
According to one account, "Beaumonters have read the funny stories about the mercury and the plumbers and usually hugged themselves that no such experience could befall them. Some of them think differently now, and when it begins to thaw there will be many a (burst) water pipe to mend."
In Sabine Pass, the 8-degree temperature was the lowest ever recorded, according to the Sabine Pass News' Feb. 16, 1899, edition.
The pass froze over, with a solid sheet of ice connecting Texas and Louisiana. Two schooners sank in Sabine Lake when ice floes punctured their sides, according to an account by the late local historian W.T. Block.
People ice-skated and hunters shot ducks and geese by the hundreds, according to the paper.
Fishermen enjoyed quite a catch as well. Hundreds of speckled trout, weighing from 3 to 9 pounds each, and mullet washed ashore after becoming helplessly numb in the cold waters, a story showed.
(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
(Copyright ©2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
