welcome back to the ancestral findings podcast
today we're talking about when the west froze during the winter of 1886.
the great blizzard of 1886 to 1887 is one of the harshest blizzards on record for the plain states
though at the time most of them were still territories not yet admitted as states to the
union the blizzard is immortalized and made famous for school children everywhere in laura ingalls
wilder's novel the long winter which is part of her little house on the prairie series of books
wilder weathered this blizzard as a teenager in south dakota with her family and describes
the hardships her family and the town went through during this infamous weather event
it is a wonderful first-hand account of someone who went through the harsh winter and survived
during times before houses had things like electricity indoor heating and hot water plumbing
signs of a harsh winter began in the summer of 1886 when it was unusually hot and dry
when fall approached the birds began flying south for the winter sooner in the season than
usual sensing that the weather that was coming was not something they wanted to stick around and see
other animals were noticed preparing for winter earlier in the season
and making more extensive preparations than was the norm the humans of the great plains
noticed these things and knew that they were in for a harsh winter they just didn't know
how harsh the snow started falling earlier in the season than usual beginning in early november
when it started falling it was heavy snowfall from the start when the snow started falling
it didn't stop for long periods at a time and there were only short breaks between snowfalls
the snow quickly began to pile up in amounts equal to the heights of some of the houses on the plains
temperatures dropped to well below zero and stayed that way throughout most of the winter the loss of
livestock for the plains farmers was staggering as wilder described in her book her father had
to make frequent trips outside to chip ice off the noses of the cattle where their condensed breath
quickly froze on them this was a constant activity they had to do to keep the cows alive most other
farmers weren't so lucky keeping houses warm was also an issue when the firewood ran out there
was no more since whatever trees there were on the plains were covered with snow many people wilder's
family included began to twist straw from their barns into sticks and use it to keep the fires
burning in their homes whiteout conditions were common with so much snow on so much flat ground
it was easy to lose one's way just going to the barn people were sometimes found frozen to death
near their own front doors having lost their way wilder's father used a rope tied to the front door
to get him to the barn and back without getting lost in the snow the snow was piled so high
trains couldn't get through to bring supplies to the people most affected by the blizzard
they basically had to fend for themselves until the snow finally started to melt which
wasn't until may of 1887. it was then that the true extent of the damage was discovered
with dead livestock being discovered as the snow melted some people were discovered this way too
the blizzard was a legend for decades and is remembered today
thanks to wilder's book and the many photographs that exist showing the true extent of the snowfall
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