Abstract
Primary sources such as personal diaries can provide insight into weather and climate conditions in times and places where quantitative instrumental observations are unavailable. The diary of Gideon Nichols provides an especially compelling case study of how such sources can be used to determine spatiotemporal patterns in meteorological conditions. Nichols, a farmer in Long Island, New York, elected to venture across the United States in 1849 to partake in the California Gold Rush, remaining there for 2 years before returning home via both oceanic and overland routes. Using content analysis, this chapter undertakes an investigation of his detailed records of weather conditions throughout his travels, as well as his firsthand account of major events such as the Sacramento flood of 1850. His daily recordings are supplemented by regular letters to relatives back home on Long Island, which contain ample details and emotional descriptions of his surroundings and how he experienced them. The result is a unique snapshot of the mid nineteenth century climate of numerous physical geographic regions across North America, along with a novel record of weather conditions during the early stages of the California Gold Rush. Moreover, Gideon’s meticulous attention to detail, especially geographic location, permits the spatial analysis of these patterns, using both a physical geographical approach (e.g., his comparisons of different climate regions) and chronological approach (e.g., tracking extreme weather events over the course of a year). Thus, this ongoing research complements past work by introducing a spatiotemporal component into the human interpretation of weather conditions, and can be replicated using the diaries of other pioneers who regularly observed environmental conditions.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Adamson G (2015) Private diaries as information sources in climate research. Wiley Interdiscip Rev Clim Chang 6:599–611
Bernhardt J (2015) Determining regional weather patterns from a historical diary. Weather Clim Soc 7:295–308
Bevan L, Cline G (2005) Climate of Sacramento, California. NOAA Technical Memorandum NWS WR-272, 87 pp
Businger S, Nogelmeier M, Chinn P, Schroeder T (2018) Hurricane with a history: Hawaiian newspapers illuminate an 1871 storm. Bull Am Meteor Soc 99:137–147
Butzer K, Endfield G (2012) Critical perspectives on historical collapse. Proc Natl Acad Sci 109:3628–3631
Cayan D, Dettinger M, Diaz H et al (1 add. co-author) (1998) Decadal variability of precipitation over western North America. J Clim 11:3148–3166
Chan S (1989) This bittersweet soil: The Chinese in California agriculture, 1860–1910. University of California Press, Berkley
Chenoweth M, Mock C (2013) Hurricane “Amanda”: rediscovery of a forgotten US Civil War Florida Hurricane. Bull Am Meteor Soc 94:1735–1742
Dettinger M, Ralph F, Das T et al (2 add. co-authors) (2011) Atmospheric rivers, floods and the water resources of California. Water 3:445–478
Fyfe D, Holdsworth D, Weaver C (2009) Historical GIS and visualization: insights from three hotel guest registers in Central Pennsylvania, 1888–1897. Soc Sci Comput Rev 27:348–362
Gergis J, Fowler A (2009) A history of ENSO events since AD 1525: implications for future climate change. Clim Chang 92:343–387
Gregory I, Healey R (2007) Historical GIS: structuring, mapping and analysing geographies of the past. Prog Hum Geogr 31:638–653
Kern-Ulmer B (1995) Consistency and change in rabbinic literature as reflected in the terms Rain and Dew. J Study Jud Persian Hell Rom Period 26:55–75
Milson A (2017) Mapping travelers’ cultural and environmental perceptions: Thomas Nuttall and Henry Rowe Schoolcraft in Arkansas, 1818–1819. Hist Geogr 45:172–187
Moodie D, Catchpole A (1976) Valid climatological data from historical sources by content analysis. Science 193:51–53
National Weather Service (2018) 1981–2010 Normals for Wyoming Station. https://www.weather.gov/riw/cms_wyclimatenormals. Accessed 1 Dec 2018
Natural Resources Conservation Service (2018) Automated snow monitoring. https://www.wcc.nrcs.usda.gov/about/mon_automate.html. Accessed 1 Dec 2018
Pfister C (2006) Climatic extremes, recurrent crises and witch hunts: strategies of European societies in coping with exogenous shocks in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. Mediev Hist J 10:33–73
Powell J (1878) Report on the lands of the Arid Region of the United States: with a more detailed account of the lands of Utah. Gov Print Off, Washington DC, U.S
Rangwala I, Miller J (2012) Climate change in mountains: a review of elevation-dependent warming and its possible causes. Clim Change 114:527–547
Raymond A (2011) Denny regrade, 1893–2008: A Case Study in Historical GIS. Soc Sci Hist 35:571–597
Redfield W (1857) On the cyclones or typhoons of the North Pacific ocean, with a chart showing their courses of progression. Am J Sci Arts 1820–1879(24):21–40
Seager R, Lis N, Feldman J et al (5 add. co-authors) (2018) Whither the 100th meridian? The once and future physical and human geography of America’s Arid–Humid Divide. Part I: the story so far. Earth Interact 22:1–22
Seewarte D (1897) Segelhandbuch für den Stillen Ozean: Mit einem Atlas von 31 Karten. L. Friederichsen and Co., Hamburg
Tarr J (ed) (2003) Introduction: some thoughts about the Pittsburgh environment. Devastation and renewal, an environmental history of Pittsburgh and its region. University of Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh
Visher S (1922) Tropical cyclones in the Northeast Pacific, between Hawaii and Mexico. Mon Weather Rev 50:295–297
White S, Pfister C, Mauelshagen F (eds) (2018) The Palgrave handbook of climate history. Palgrave MacMillan, London
Acknowledgements
I am indebted to several individuals for making the work described in this chapter possible. Thank you to Geri Solomon, Hofstra University archivist, for first bringing the transcribed diary to my attention and providing access. I am also grateful to Kristen Aloysius and Jethel Bayawa for their initial analysis of the diary as part of the 2018 Hofstra University Summer Science Research Program. Last, thank you to Deryck Holdsworth for his review of preliminary drafts and valuable feedback, and the editors of this volume for providing useful guidance on the final draft.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Appendix
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2020 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Bernhardt, J. (2020). Mining Weather and Climate Data from the Diary of a Forty-Niner. In: Travis, C., Ludlow, F., Gyuris, F. (eds) Historical Geography, GIScience and Textual Analysis. Historical Geography and Geosciences. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-37569-0_9
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-37569-0_9
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-37568-3
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-37569-0
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceEarth and Environmental Science (R0)