The Blizzard of 1888: A Reminiscence by Weldon Weston in 1920

Weldon Weston, along with his brother Wilbur, ran a stage line in Fishkill Landing-Matteawan (now Beacon) from the 1870s until the electric streetcars came to the twin villages in 1892. The brothers, originally from New Hampshire, later became the prime movers and investors in what was to be Beacon's greatest enterprise--the Mount Beacon Incline Railway. In February of 1920, after a particularly bad snowstorm in which Beacon streets were nearly impassable, Weston wrote the following recollection for the Beacon Daily Herald newspaper about the avatar of all bad storms, the blizzard of March 11, 1888:

"At that time we were running the stage line from the ferry to Fountain Square [today's East Main Street], meeting each ferry from early morning to late at night. On the day previous to the blizzard we kept our stages until well toward night. The next morning, with the snow piled high in every direction and the thermometer below zero, I, in some way, made my way to the stage stables, then located near the ferry. About nine o'clock I put all the men I could on horseback and started them up the road, I following with four horses on a truck sleigh. Although it was nearly 10 o'clock by the time I reached uptown, yet not a vehicle appeared on the street.

We made our way laboriously to Matteawan and went up past Beacon Engine Company house to the Presbyterian Church. On reaching this point I looked about and saw that the late Willard H. Mase [owner of the Mase Hat Factory] had hooked up two of his carriage horses to his cutter and passed me saying: 'Mr. Weston, you are the only G-damn live man in the town. Every one else is paralyzed.' I said: 'Mr. Mase, you will remember I came from New Hampshire and you from Greene County where they are more accustomed to snow.' Just as Mr. Mase made his remarks he struck a drift and over he went into the snow. After getting his bearings he picked up his reins and went on..."