Sepia Saturday
Snow
Snow
Blizzard of 1888
Led blindly by their teachers, schoolchildren gripped makeshift
lifelines -- sheets, towels, rugs, a school bell rope -- as they plunged
desperately into the blizzard of 1888.
"It came from the northwest with the force of a hurricane. The wind bitterly cold. The snow fine, sharp and penetrating," survivor Ernest Nyrop of Neligh wrote years later. "It was like the finest flour and smothering in its action making breathing very difficult."
The blizzard struck on what began as an unusually mild day. The temperature in Valentine on Jan. 12, 1888, fell from 30 degrees in early morning to 6 degrees below zero by mid-afternoon, and the cold hit a bone-chilling 35 below the next two nights.
Farmers tunneled into haystacks to stay alive. Teachers tied young students to ropes so they wouldn't wander while stumbling through driving snow. Men and women groped houses in search of doors.
Raging winds banged shutters, battered walls and shook buildings. Some believed it was an earthquake. The noise caused young children to scream and brought older students to tears. It lasted 12 to 18 hours.
No one knows the exact death toll. Historians estimate at least 235 perished.
Outside our front door
2009.
Thank goodness for gas logs no electricity for 3 days.
Roughing it.
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"It came from the northwest with the force of a hurricane. The wind bitterly cold. The snow fine, sharp and penetrating," survivor Ernest Nyrop of Neligh wrote years later. "It was like the finest flour and smothering in its action making breathing very difficult."
The blizzard struck on what began as an unusually mild day. The temperature in Valentine on Jan. 12, 1888, fell from 30 degrees in early morning to 6 degrees below zero by mid-afternoon, and the cold hit a bone-chilling 35 below the next two nights.
Farmers tunneled into haystacks to stay alive. Teachers tied young students to ropes so they wouldn't wander while stumbling through driving snow. Men and women groped houses in search of doors.
Raging winds banged shutters, battered walls and shook buildings. Some believed it was an earthquake. The noise caused young children to scream and brought older students to tears. It lasted 12 to 18 hours.
No one knows the exact death toll. Historians estimate at least 235 perished.
***
And we think we have it rough.
2009.
Thank goodness for gas logs no electricity for 3 days.
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18 comments:
Wow - that's some powerful account of the blizzard - I really get a sense of how frightening it must have been..
That sounds pretty rough. I can't even imagine. That's a incredible photo. Our event has reached blizzard status in Boston with 75 mph gusts of wind. Here, it's just starting to crank up.
How terribly frightening for the children! And now New York goes through it again.
Seems they are having a repeat of this event in the Northeast today. I do hope safety will prevail for all those involved.
The image of students being guided by ropes seems so alien today. Schools shut in the UK at the first sign of bad weather - we are a soft lot.
In this first amazing picture, can you imagine what the people in the basement must have thought when they looked out-of the window? That must have been quite a blizzard!
Hope the tree outside your front door survived.
I can't imagine! I wonder if they wouldn't have been better off staying inside the school. Great story!
Love your cookstove.
Kathy M.
That 1888 blizzard sounds scary.
Your pictures made me think I should buy some candles--just in case. And I hope the heat in my building works when the power is out.
Wow what an interesting blizzard report- those are some seriously huge snow banks!
I agree with Postcardy, very scary. I don't fancy digging myself through snow drifts that deep, but "like the finest flour and smothering in its action making breathing very difficult" sounds pretty awful.
Reminds me of the film 'The Day After Tomorrow!'
Great picture > I look out of my window at the half inch of soft snow and feel ashamed about my bleating complaints.
Wonderful pictures Peggy - all of them, but that account of the blizzard is so graphic and powerful it made me shiver!
Wonderful pictures Peggy - all of them, but that account of the blizzard is so graphic and powerful it made me shiver!
This weekend's weather in the northeast sounds comparable. Over 200 deaths.... Wow. Glad to live where and when I do.
What a terrible event. So many lost. Thanks for an interesting and informative post.
What a contrast between roughing it in 1888 and 2009. I'm a whimp -- I'll take the 2009 version any day!
True, we are better equipped to be facing such storms now, but when you're stuck outside, no matter the technology, it still feels like crap.
:D~
HUGZ
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