“Saturday 16 August 1902
Alpine Glaciers Disappearing.
Hotelkeepers in the Swiss Alps have a new trouble, and are complaining at the loss of patrons. The attractive glaciers are said to be actually passing from the landscape, and as they recede the hotels along their borders find their visitors becoming fewer. These glaciers are not running away, by any means, but they are deteriorating slowly, with a persistency that means their final annihilation. Hotels that a few years ago stood very near to a great river of slowly-moving ice, now And themselves a considerable distance away. The famous glaciers of the Rhone have shrunk several thousand feet in the Inst 20 years; considerably more than 100ft a year. A number of the well-known glaciers are also shrinking at about the same rate, and the fact is established that these reminders of the great glacial period are certainly disappearing.”
16 Aug 1902 – Alpine Glaciers Disappearing. – Trove
NASA says earth was cooling in 1902 and it was one of the coldest years on record.
Data.GISS: GISS Surface Temperature Analysis (v4): Analysis Graphs and Plots