People in Vermont were thankful to have gotten some rain on this day in 1880, helping to relieve a long autumn drought. The situation was not dire, but it was prolonged and significant enough to receive attention from both the public and the press.

No rain had fallen from the sky in nearly six weeks. For Vermont, that was unusual. Some Vermont newspapers reprinted a story from the Times of Whitehall, New York.

The Times article reported, “the fish in Lake Champlain have been so long without water that when it began to rain, for the first time in six weeks, they were seen running about with umbrellas over their heads.”

Novelty image is a concoction of The Vermont Book Of Days