Lewis and Clark had just started out for points unknown.
Jefferson was President and was incumbent during the soon-coming election. Clinton was his running mate. George Clinton, that is.
The Electoral College had new rules to try out.
No one alive had ever seen anything like it.
With no means of early warning, and few places out west for evacuation, many died.
People venturing outdoors the next day were shocked at being able to see nearby villages, a view normally obstructed by dense woods.
In some locales, the snow was 3 feet deep. And in some places it stayed on all winter.
Fruit trees laden with fruit snapped off at ground level; potatoes froze beneath the earth.
Ships in eastern harbors dragged anchor or broke the chains to their anchors and crashed together or floated to sea, killing many sailors.
Steeples, chimneys, and even entire roofs blew away.
Most trees were flattened, ruining the ship-building industry for years.
Estimated as a category 2-3, it landed near Atlantic City, which was 50 years in the future at that time.
It was the Atlantic snowing hurricane of October 9-10, 1804.
And though these were more primitive times — no snow-plows, for instance — the election was carried out in a timely manner.
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