Blizzard of '77

Where were you and how did it affect you?

Night before, wife said there's blizzard warnings on the radio, do you think you should go to town and get milk for the kids? Nah, I'll just stop off on the way home from work................

Three days later, National Guard half-tracks busted through so the one(1 of 2) county truck could plow. First, I had to shovel through eight foot drift in front of the garage door. Marion, Indiana

I was in town at the bar when it started. I took the bar maid home with my 4 wheel drive pickup. Barely busted through the drifts on the road where she lived. Milked cows the next morning. Had quite a time even getting to the barn. It was cold as a well diggers behind,wasn't just the snow. I had a loader on an Oliver Super 77 at the time. It sat outside,burried in the snow. Battery was just about on it's last leg and it was probably rolling over for the last time when it started. Worked most of the day digging out the driveway and getting a path dug out to a field close to the barn to back out and get rid of the manure from the stanchion barn. The milkman was snowed in over by Coopersville at a patrons farm for 3 days. Sure had some fun busting drifts on the snowmobile that week though.

Mid Michigan

I was at Purdue, we got out of classes Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. We heard that that was the first time in Purdue's history that they had shut down for three days. The cafeterias didn't run out of food, but they didn't follow the posted menus to the letter, and some options disappeared before the roads reopened.

Of course, they didn't shut down because of concern for the students, it was just that the professors couldn't make it to campus.

I was a senior in high school. In KY the snow came in on the last day or so of '76 and it got really cold (-20) and stayed there for several days. The only way my dad could get out was on the tractor. Fortunately, he had a heat houser on it. We missed the entire month of January from school. Had to go to school on Saturdays to make it up. We didn't graduate till the middle of June. I remember having to cut ice on the pond so the cows could get a drink. Everything else was frozen solid. Brrr!
Good Luck and God Bless.

I was 8 years old.

Mother was in a very bad accident in this blizzard. Almost died. Still is dealing with the after effects. Too young to really understand the serverity then. Grandma came to stay with us for a while. Seemed like an endless winter of snowmobiling.

Road commission use to run Vee-plows on the front of the graders back then. They got two stuck. Lots of open fields, so the drifts pile at the roads.

Rick

Where was i , Well two days before the BIG one hit we got hammered with a big snow storm that darn near shut everything down as i was hauling Coke from Youngstown Republic Steel coke works to the Warren plant 7 loads a day 7 days a week plus snow plowen . When that stom hit i was on my forth load for the day and had just pulled into the coke plant to load #5 and i had to pull into the waiting yard as there were three trucks down in the hole . Just set the parking brake when i see one of Tauro's trucks comming out and it is Tom he tells me that ya can hardly see with the snow and all the steam and to be careful going back in as it was real tight back in there It was snowing so hard that ya could not see more then 20-30 feet in front of ya . By the time i go loaded and pulled out there was a good 10 inches on the ground it was really coming down . Had to lock the power divider in and never dropped the air axle on the trailer to add more weight to the drive . Was having enought trouble getting out on to Poland ave. As i came up on the get on ramp for I 680 i heard on the CB that 680 was turning into a junk yard so i just kept going to Market st. and went dwon town and on out old 422 even on a bad day going this way it only took 20-25 min. to get to Niles Well after two and a half hours i was on 169 and coming up to the lite by the bosses house where we parked the trucks . And i had had enough and pulled up and blindsided her into her parking spot . Here comes the boss yelling and screaming as to why i am coming in loaded . That is when he found out that i had a true saxon temper Flat told him that my life or someone else's life was not worth a 115 dollar load of coke and i was going home . Then Bob pulls in with his truck empty and can not get backed in off the road . Endede up pulling him in with my pickup and he gets out and John starts on him as to why he did not go after another load . Then Bob comes unglued . I livede 37 miles from where we parked the trucks and it was just about all i could do with a 3/4 Ford 4X4 to get home with no weight in the bed and no chains on . And that was just the start of things to come . Walked into the house and th wife had a legal pad with people callen for snow plowing . Worked thru the night and into the morning when i took the ft rear end out .Caled all over the place to find parts and found then in Cleveland at Valley truck . Called a buddy and he and i made a wild ride up to Cleveland paid the 28 dollars and change for a spider gear repair pkg. and back home. Should have worked tru the nigh fixen it but i went home and ate supper and to bed figured that i could have it up and running in three or four hours in the morning and still meet the up and coming Blizzard . Next morningthe wife gets a call from Poland local schools to come in and sub . Ok i run her up the 28 miles and drop her off with the car and head back to Salem . and was going out to my buddys where the truck was . I was not fast enough i meet the Blizzard at State st. and South Ellsworth head on and tried to make it out Rt.9 . Made it as far as my buddys mom place and the Cougar would not go any feather . He came and got me and he and i went to work on the repairs and from the time we were done and the truck was up and running he and i spent the next 96 hours running rescue missions as believe it or not our two 3/4 Fords were the only ones that could get around as i had two sets of 12x16.5 chains and he had one set on his and a ton of weight with no plow and i had the other set and a ton plus the plow . That old Ford opened a lot of roads where the big plows could not get thru and even opened up Rt.9 we hauled food fuel coal one young girl to the hospital . Mike and i got into places that the national guard could not even had to go and retrieve the crew out of the tank retriever as they got hung up out on a back road. Yes i still remember the Blizzard or both 77 and 78 .

Where was i , Well two days before the BIG one hit we got hammered with a big snow storm that darn near shut everything down as i was hauling Coke from Youngstown Republic Steel coke works to the Warren plant 7 loads a day 7 days a week plus snow plowen . When that stom hit i was on my forth load for the day and had just pulled into the coke plant to load #5 and i had to pull into the waiting yard as there were three trucks down in the hole . Just set the parking brake when i see one of Tauro's trucks comming out and it is Tom he tells me that ya can hardly see with the snow and all the steam and to be careful going back in as it was real tight back in there It was snowing so hard that ya could not see more then 20-30 feet in front of ya . By the time i go loaded and pulled out there was a good 10 inches on the ground it was really coming down . Had to lock the power divider in and never dropped the air axle on the trailer to add more weight to the drive . Was having enought trouble getting out on to Poland ave. As i came up on the get on ramp for I 680 i heard on the CB that 680 was turning into a junk yard so i just kept going to Market st. and went dwon town and on out old 422 even on a bad day going this way it only took 20-25 min. to get to Niles Well after two and a half hours i was on 169 and coming up to the lite by the bosses house where we parked the trucks . And i had had enough and pulled up and blindsided her into her parking spot . Here comes the boss yelling and screaming as to why i am coming in loaded . That is when he found out that i had a true saxon temper Flat told him that my life or someone else's life was not worth a 115 dollar load of coke and i was going home . Then Bob pulls in with his truck empty and can not get backed in off the road . Endede up pulling him in with my pickup and he gets out and John starts on him as to why he did not go after another load . Then Bob comes unglued . I livede 37 miles from where we parked the trucks and it was just about all i could do with a 3/4 Ford 4X4 to get home with no weight in the bed and no chains on . And that was just the start of things to come . Walked into the house and th wife had a legal pad with people callen for snow plowing . Worked thru the night and into the morning when i took the ft rear end out .Caled all over the place to find parts and found then in Cleveland at Valley truck . Called a buddy and he and i made a wild ride up to Cleveland paid the 28 dollars and change for a spider gear repair pkg. and back home. Should have worked tru the nigh fixen it but i went home and ate supper and to bed figured that i could have it up and running in three or four hours in the morning and still meet the up and coming Blizzard . Next morningthe wife gets a call from Poland local schools to come in and sub . Ok i run her up the 28 miles and drop her off with the car and head back to Salem . and was going out to my buddys where the truck was . I was not fast enough i meet the Blizzard at State st. and South Ellsworth head on and tried to make it out Rt.9 . Made it as far as my buddys mom place and the Cougar would not go any feather . He came and got me and he and i went to work on the repairs and from the time we were done and the truck was up and running he and i spent the next 96 hours running rescue missions as believe it or not our two 3/4 Fords were the only ones that could get around as i had two sets of 12x16.5 chains and he had one set on his and a ton of weight with no plow and i had the other set and a ton plus the plow . That old Ford opened a lot of roads where the big plows could not get thru and even opened up Rt.9 we hauled food fuel coal one young girl to the hospital . Mike and i got into places that the national guard could not even had to go and retrieve the crew out of the tank retriever as they got hung up out on a back road. Yes i still remember the Blizzard or both 77 and 78 .

Here in NW Iowa we didn't have a bad winter in 77 that I can remember. Our biggie started on Jan 10th of 75. We had 16-18 inches of snow and a howling wind for three days and the temp was somewhere below zero. Drifts were hard as concrete. A lot of cattle were lost. They walked over the fences and went with the wind until they ended up in a creek or ditch. Snow plow didn't go by for a full week. My wife and I had been married a year and a half but we didn't have kids yet.

The winter had been really nice until then but after the blizzard we had little 4" snows with wind for the rest of the winter so the roads were shut most of the time. The floods were pretty bad when we thawed out and the spring turned out wet. Started planting beans on around June 10th which is a month late. The old timers said it was worse than the winter of '35.

'78 and '82 were snowy but we haven't had what we could call a "good old fashioned blizzard" since then. Jim

I was with my girlfriend..

I happened to be at the home of the (future) wife, and got stuck in the drive. The car (Rambler Ambassador) was sitting on a pocket of ice covered snow 9" deep, and couldn't rock its way out. This was on the east side of Youngstown, and a lot of snow and ice were dumped in a short time. My dad didn't believe that was so, since he got out the W-6 with a 9' blade and did the driveway at home. "You're not even trying" he said. (Well...... maybe.......I was staying with someone more pleasant than him. Even if her mom was there too!)After 3 days, the city had a road grader unblock the road, and I dug myself out to get home. Snow was still coming down at a good pace, so I jumped on the 2N with blade and snow suit, and ran around Hubbard township for the next week plowing and re-plowing drives. Good thing I was in my early 20's, cause the cold didn't bother me like it does now.

I was home and the neighbor 300 yards to my west called that his furnace stopped working. Strapped on my tool belt and headed out the door. Snow was three feet high most of the way with the wind blowing mostly out of the west into my face. Longest 300 yards I have ever traveled. Got the furnace going and the trip with the wind to my back didn't make it that much easier to wade thru the drifts.

Driving up from NY City to Potsdam, about 375 miles. Met the blizzard in Albany, lucky enough to get the last room there at the HoJo's. Next day, while it was still going on, made it home. Spent the next day or so cleaning out work with a shovel and with a Case 310 crawler loader, sharing off with another guy on the loader.

I remember the Blizzard of 77. School was closed for a week I think. I was in the 3rd. grade then. Does anyone know how many people died as a result of the storm?

My memories of the blizzard were of 78 here in southern Ohio. Things were okay as we had food and fuel but, the furnace motor had to act up and it would get hot and stall out. I would take it off and disassemble it and oil the bronze/carbon bushings and it would work again for several hours. I stayed up all night as the furnace watch.

During the days after the blizzard, people started calling to get their water pipes thawed out with the portable welder. One place I was thawing pipes down in the basement of a local bar....and I looked up in the overhead and spotted a rat who had been biting through a romex electric line and it was hot and there was nothing left but his skeleton there with his teeth imbedded in the wire.
The half brothers were worried about their Dad as he lived by himself so, I took them out to his place when the roads were plowed good enough. I remember his words exactly as he met us on his front porch..." Aw Bub...there won't be no dog pe*ker gnats out here today!" But that was old RL, he didn't worry about too much....and always had something smart to say. ohfred

Storm stayed at school. Had to board with a family which had a daughter I somewhat knew. Went well enough............................

I remember the blizzard of 78. we had a big lake across the road (to the west)from my parents house that was frozen so all the snow that landed on that lake blew up onto the lake lots, burried houses on the lake and left 12 ft snow drifts out the road. Two Indianapolis city snow plows were stuck after hitting burried stranded cars and they had to bring in a huge front loader from a gravel pit to get everything dug out. What a mess! I remember going out the night when it started up and saw a couple guys going down the road about 3 am (feeling no pain I am sure) they came walking back soon after hitting the big drift and had to leave thier car in the middle of the road. It was thier car one of the snow plows creamed. we were out of school for about a week and had to use skis to get to the store once it was able to open. We walked up one snow drift and lo and behold looked down and saw shingles. we were on a neighbors roof! Most of the houses on that side of the lake were completly burried. My buddy and me made a lot of money with our old steel grain scoops that week but got really wore out also! Indy was pretty bad all over, but that lake really made it 10 times worse where we were. It was so bad that we couldn't get Dads Walk behind Gravley with the snow blade out to do driveways. Some of the people we shoveled for still couldn't get out for a week or so because the streets were so bad and hadn't been touched but they had a clean driveway! I used the money I made to buy my first car well truck anyway , a 49 chevy 3/4 ton and still have it.

We were out of school 56 days. It was our first year living at the farm and my dad had just retired as superintendent of schools. Needless to say, he was sure glad he had.

Our electricity was out a little over a week, no wood stove, just a fireplace. We all slept in the front room in front of it. Water line was frozen up for about two weeks. All in all it was pretty rough.

30 BELOW actual temperature walked to work for 3 months straight snow to the roof tops never got more than 1/2 the drive cleared with a SHOVEL no snow blower...That is on reason i left Chicago for Tennessee 5 years ago and haven't missed it yet!! Charles

I bet Clarke Hill(I think that was the name) was crowded.... at least you were there after the Dean of Women changed the policy of making the girls wear skirts regardless of the weather.

I was just a kid then. It's funny how things change. I remember having a ball. No school and lots of snow to play in.

In the last ten years we have lived through a number of different types of severe winter weather and I enjoy(?) them less and less each year.

Christopher

Just 7 years old then living 12 miles east of good old Buffalo NY can still remember the giant snow mountain at the end of our dead end street.Every one helping each other out.It was nice.Can't wait for the next one haha.

Vito you recall what you were into...

freshman year of high school.Lived in Norfolk,CT.Wasn't thinking to much about anything than.The good old days.No beavers to trap close by!

Vito

56 days? That is two months! Even in MN, the worst was in "65, and some roads were plugged for 3 weeks, but schools were not closed for that long. Major highways were open in 3-4 days. Jan 10, 1975, Superbowl weekend, we lost power for less than a day during the "storm of the century", but within two days everything was going again. Milked cows by hand one night- got through 17 of 28 and then the fingers gave out! Good incentive to buy the alternator two years later after the dairy got bigger. Had just a primitive loader tractor then. Now, most MN farmers have more snow moving capacity than southern state towns do. I"m surprised that the "mid" states get tied up so long in major storms.

I was in 7th grade. Lived about 40 miles east of Buffalo, NY. I think school was closed for a week. The roads were completely blocked for 3 days. My dad had to dump milk out of the bulk tank twice because the milk truck couldn't get through. A neighbor's house was completely buried. Kids were riding their snowmobiles over the top of it. I remember The owner had his Farmall A with a front blade in the driveway that he normally used to plow his driveway out. He was laughing about how worthless it was. You couldn't even see it because it was completely buried too.

Man, do I remember the blizzards of 77,78,79 in Illinois. Dad and I were still feeding cattle then-chores became and endless nightmare. What would normally take a couple of hours (be done before breakfast) often took us until night or we gave up for the day, but nothing ever went without being fed somehow. Could not move without pushing snow-water constantly freezing-so cold nothing wanted to start, cattle needing way more feed than usual. Lost a machine shed and loafing barn to snow loads. Did not loose any animals to the loafing shed collapse-Dad had just started the silo unloader and feed auger about 10 minutes before it went down, and the steers had just left the building to eat. We had a 1975 F250 two wheel drive the first winter and were stuck 90% of the time. About 1/3 of the way through the second winter we added a new F250 4wd, and were only stuck about 30% of the time. We quickly learned the ins and outs of 4wd. I remember chaining the 4wd to a JD 3020 running a chuckwagon so we could get to the fenceline bunks. Snowplowing became a routine-4320 with rear blade till that couldn't go, then push snow with a 3010 loader tractor till that wouldn't go, then get out the T340 crawler loader till things got better. Pickup trucks often idled all day when doing chores so we could warm up every so often. To feed, we needed at least one, preferably two, tractors and pickups to start so Dad and I could split up. Also needed power to run unloaders and feeding equipment. Many days lacked one or several of those items. I remember climbing out of the cab one morning to feed my load of hay and the guy on the radio said the wind chill was 75 below zero. The cows were really ready for their breakfast on those days. Too many stories of those winters to tell. I wouldn't trade those memories of working with Dad for a million dollars, but wouldn't give a nickel to repeat them!

Growing up in West Michigan 4 miles from the big puddle, the big storm came in Jan of 78. We were in our first week back in school from Christmas break. At that time all my aunts and uncles lived within 2 miles of the farm. As the school bus was coming to drop us all off, the snow was already so bad that the driver just dropped all the cousins off at the farm so he could head back to town and have a chance of getting there. We ended up being stuck at the farm with grandpa and grandma for 5 days, 13 kids with sleeping bags and aphgans spread over the living room floor. My dad and uncles all had snowmobiles so they stayed home to keep the woodfires going so the pipes didn't freeze. Seemed like we had the JD B set out on the generator for 4 days keeping things running. The snow was so bad that grandpa didn't even try spreading manure, the gutter cleaner chute was in a lean too on the barn and for the week he just let it build a pile on the floor. The milk truck was stranded about 2 miles from us, the driver had made it to the first farm from his house and it set there for 3 days. Grandpa pulled the plug on the tank for 3 days and let it go down the drain.
The biggest thing I remember was grandpa getting up to go do chores Thursday morning and looking out the living room window to the farm 1/2 mile north seeing it in full blaze. Grandpa called dad and one uncle, he had a one ton dodge wrecker with a snowplow. After calling the neighbors to let them know the barn was burning, grandpa got the 3020 with the snowblower fired up and headed up the road blowing. My dad is a deputy for the county so when the fire trucks in town 4 miles away couldn't make it out of the town limits, the fire cheif called dad and told him the circumstances. While grandpa stayed and helped to try to salvage any of the cattle, my dad with the 3020 and uncle with the one ton plow headed for Rothbury to bring in the fire trucks. They made it the 4 miles to town and turned around to head back to the farm, to find thier path blown back shut. They had to bust drifts the whole way back to the Allen farm. By the time they got there the barn was down, they just used the fire trucks to hose down the house and other odd farm buildings so they didn't ignite. The farm owner and grandpa had been able to get three cows out of the stanchion barn, 26 cows didn't get out. Come to find out, the fire was a result of an electric heater the guy had left in front of the water pipe where it came into the barn. The barn was a total loss, and everything but the three cows. The owner gave grandpa the three cows for his help in trying to save him. I remember we kids weren't allowed to leave the house but we all were glued to that big dining room window watching the events a half mile away. We finally got to leave the house when grandpa got back and went to start morning milking at 1 in the afternoon. I don't know how he did it because all his stanchions were full but he made room for the 3 new cows somewhere.
The neighbors ended up rebuilding the barn, I can remember the day we came home on the school bus and saw a brand new bulk tank setting on a semi out front. But they never put a cow in the barn, they went so far as to get the tank put in, a new pipeline instead of buckets and a new silo, then the young couple got a divorce and the barn never had a cow in it.
At that time there were 19 dairys, that I can remember, with in 4 miles of grandpas place, today there are 4 still milking.

That nite Blizzard hit was Bowling Nite in Louisville , I had just turned 20 yrs old. at 6 p.m Temp was 35 ,and dropping fast with rain .As some 50 Guys left Lanesville IN. to bowl in Louisvile about 18 miles away ,. After 2nd Game Some of the Guys were saying "We got 4inches of Snow out there" ! , Ahhh !That can't be right. We had heard bad weather was comin In,But it was BOWLING League NITE !.. LOL ,Sure enuf by the time we left for Lanesville at 9;30 there was nearly a ft.The 1971 Caprice just marched 5 of us some 18 miles back to Lanesville ,bustin drifts all the way , pitiful visibility , And it was way after 10 when we got back .I Left My Mercury Convertible, after grabbing gloves and an old overcoat out of the bay at K&H tavern . B-I-L and I set out for his House . After 3 attempts up the hill slid the 72 Ford truck into the ditch, Walked home the last 1/8 mile, in slippery street shoes , Yuck!!.. temp was 10+ Wind Chill gusts of 30 mph ,THATS HOW YA FREEZE TO DEATH , Folks !!! Stayed at My sisters that nite, No electric that day and the next nite , Telephones worked . and so did the fireplace that we had just finished building that preceding summer . The 200 Hogs at Dad's were starting to have water and feed issues , Somehow , I had to get home to help Dad and Brother,.. Next Day woke to -15, Back home at the farm ,Since no electric working for Block Heaters or Battery chargers ... My Brother hand crank started the Magneto fired DC Case then pull started the 430 Case Diesel that had a Windgard , He then drove some 4 miles across fields to get to me . Temp was around zero with a wicked wind that had not let up in 3 days . We put some gas in Diesel to keep it from Gelling at B-I-L suggestion, Until then I had never heard of Such a practice <> .. Coming Home we observed Roads were clogged with snow 12 ft deep for 500 ft in serveral areas,..D-6 dozer plowed tru that nearly a week later,. Got home, ,And in Spite of feet Being nearly froze, went straight away to carrying water from pond in 5 gallon buckets up to finishing floor 330ft to those 200 hogs , Best way to warm ft slowly without severe pain is to let those hogs chew on your boots and Massage the pain Out. LOL!. Hogs satisfied, We all Came in, Ate a Very GOOD supper ,then Fell asleep exhausted in front of basement fireplace, ,.. , Next morning , Still no electric ! Hand cranked DC in -10 hooked up feed grinder mixer and shoveled shell corn from a flat wagon that never was binned ,,Dad fussin at me occassionally saying , "I knew ya should a ground feed before Ya went off Bowling ", And me answering Him with "I sure am glad We didn't put this load in the bin "LOL , finished grinding feed and went down to lower Hog Barn and instictly flipped on the lights ,,,Wow ! WE GOT ELECTRIC AGAIN EVERYBODY !!! ,, We just shoveled nearly a 100 bu of corn that we could had augered ,LOL,,,. Oh ,Another tidbit ,LOL,, MY Wonderful Nephew Richard was born Exactly 9 MONTHES LATER !! Gods Blessing to ALL , Jim