1914-03-02

“ All hail the mountain; that overgrown hill which stretches across the south end of the city and furnishes Toronto humorists with material for their copy. For it is known that the ‘mountain’ saved Hamilton from the major portion of the storm king’s anger yesterday, while other cities nearby received the full fury of the mighty blasts which swept the province.”

Hamilton Spectator. March 1, 1914

          In 1914, as throughout Hamilton’s history, residents were thankful that the presence of the Niagara escarpment meant that severe winter storms had a lesser impact locally than in areas not far distant from the Ambitious City.

          Such was the case in 1914, when the month of March entered like a lamb, briefly, then the lion swept in to take over.

          The storm of March 1, 1914 had an impact but it could have been worse:

          “Though it caused great discomfort in Hamilton, little or no damage resulted. The question now arises: ‘Did the month of March enter like a lamb or a lion.?’ A suitable answer to the query is that the lamb put in an appearance and gamboled around for several hours, but that the little animal owned by Mary eventually became mutton to appease the hunger of a wild, wild lion.”¹

¹ “Great Gale Did Very Little Damage Here : Mountain Helped to Break Force of the Wind : Trains Running Late and Wire Service Affected”

Hamilton Spectator. March 2, 1914.

          Sunday March 1, 1914 began as a relatively calm late winter day, and worshippers had no trouble getting to church and home in the morning. But early in the afternoon, weather conditions would quickly change:

          “The storm first began to brew about 1 o’clock, when the sun hid behind the clouds and a biting wind swept in from the west. The velocity of the gale kept continually on the increase, until at the supper hour, it was blowing at an average of sixty miles an hour.

          Early in the afternoon, the bay had been swarmed with skaters and ice boaters, but as the winds increased the skaters headed home, and even the dare devil ice boaters had to admit defeat as their ice boats began to be tossed about like matches, making it impossible to handle them.

          “The gale switched from the west to the southwest, and this to a great extent saved the city from great damage, for the mountain materially broke the force of the icy blasts.”¹

               While the storm’s effect might have been lessened by the mountain, there were still effects :

          “In the extreme western portion of the city and in the far east end, a number of plate glass windows were shattered, while at the home of James McGee, Land street, a heavy chimney was blown into the yard.”¹

               Hamilton’s electric supply was fortunately not interfered with as the Dominion Power and Transmission put extra workers on duty at various sub-stations. White the exception of the electric radial line up the mountain to Ancaster, then on to Brantford, the power was kept available for the other radial lines and the Hamilton Street Railway streetcars. The Bell Telephone company reported that its service was not impeded by the storm, although extra workers were kept on duty until the storm subsided.

          The services that were affected by the storm were those provided by the local telegraph companies :

          “it was not through any damage to the lines in Hamilton, but as a result of being cut off from other cities. Manager Lahey, of the Canadian Pacific Telegraph company, stated this morning that the local office was completely cut off from Toronto and Buffalo last night, owing the wires being down in those cities.”¹

               Similarly, the railway companies suffered because of conditions outside of Hamilton’s city limits :

          “As a result of the storm, all railway service throughout the province was demoralized to a greater or lesser degree, and this was where Hamiltonreally did suffer. The railway companies struggled to keep up with schedules, but all trains from the east were hours late, and dispatching systems were paralysed.”¹

               The strong winds made it feel colder than it actually was :

          ‘Inquiries elicited the information that the mean temperature was 8 degrees above zero, although the ice-laden gales made it appear as if the bottom of the thermometer had been reached.”¹

               After a tantalizing beginning to the month of March 1914, the lion soon took over and indeed more winter weather was expected for the rest of month, making thoughts of spring only fond hopes.