"The winter of 1783-4 was uncommonly cold, insomuch that the mercury in Fahrenheit's thermometer stood several times at 5 degrees below 0. The snows were frequent, and, in many places, from two to three feet deep, during the greatest part of the winter. All the rivers in Pennsylvania were frozen, so as to bear waggons and sleds with immense weights. In the month of January a thaw came on suddenly, which opened our rivers so as to set the ice a-driving, to use the phrase of the country. In the course of one night, during the thaw, the wind shifted suddenly to the north-west, and the weather became intensely cold. The ice, which had floated the day before, was suddenly obstructed; and in the river Susquehannah, the obstructions were formed in those places where the water was most shallow, or where it had been accustomed to fall. This river is several hundred miles in length, and from half a mile to a mile and a half in breadth, and winds through a hilly, and in many places a fertile and highly cultivated country. It has as yet a most difficult communication with our bays and the sea, occasioned by the number and height of the falls which occur near the mouth of the river. The ice in many places, especially where there were falls, formed a kind of dam, of a most stupendous height. About the middle of March our weather moderated, and a thaw became general. The effects of it were remarkable in all our rivers; but in none so much as in the river I have mentioned. I shall therefore endeavour in a few words to describe them. Unfortunately the dams of ice did not give way all at once, nor those which lay nearest to the mouth of the river, first. While the upper dams were set afloat by the warm weather, the lower ones, which were the largest, and in which, of course, the ice was most impacted, remained fixed. In consequence of this, the river rose in a few hours, in many places, above 30 feet, rolling upon its surface large lumps of ice, from 10 to 40 cubic feet in size. The effects of this sudden inundation were terrible. Whole farms were laid under water. Barns, stables, horses, cattle, fences, mills of every kind, and, in one instance, a large stone house, 40 by 30 feet, were carried down the stream. Large trees were torn up by the roots; several small islands, covered with woods, were swept away, and not a vestige of them was left behind. On the barns which preserved their shape, in some instances, for many miles were to be seen living fowls; and, in one dwelling, a candle was seen to burn for some time, after it was swept from its foundation. Where the shore was level, the lumps of ice, and the ruins of houses and