Hi, I’m Mike, the weather shapes our history, no matter where you live, hurricanes, tornadoes
floods or even wildfires.
For us in northeast Wyoming the one weather event that shapes our history, unless Yellowstone
blows its top, and if then I’m history, has been blizzards.
Over the past hundred years or so, we have seen blizzards change the way we live, the
way we ranch and the way we think, on our Wyoming life.
Welcome back to our Wyoming life, and thanks for joining us in another look into the past.
Over the past few months we have been setting aside one video a month to do just that, we’ve
looked at our history here, and we have looked at the history of those who came long before
us, as well as the history of the area but now we take a bit of a turn as we not only
look at the history but what caused it to change and mostly in ways that many didn’t
anticipate.
Some called it the death of the wild west, others called it the great die-up, and historians
still debate what one had to do with the other, but both certainly had a role in completing
an era in the old west.
In the late 1800’s, the land that is now Wyoming was part of a huge expanse of miles
and miles of open terrain.
Through much of the late 1870’s the lack of trees on the great prairies, and open fields
of grassland, along with cooler temperatures and mild winters made raising cattle here
easy, grass and feed was plentiful but what wasn’t was a knowledge of the area and its
weather history.
Back then, cattle ranchers didn’t store hay for their cattle, the fenceless open range
meant that grazing land was easy to come by and cattle ranchers of the time had huge herds
and would often move them across the plains chasing the grass.
Into the 1880 they made it look easy, railroads moved into the area, towns sprung up and thousands
of settlers moved here to brave isolation in the hopes of finding adventure and a decent
living.
In the summer of 1886, the sun scorched the land and prairies, and lack of rain that summer
was unlike anything settlers had seen up until that point.
Drought burned through the area and many ranchers by fall were in search of land to graze their
cattle on.
When snow started to fall in November, the cattle, who were already starving and ill,
found themselves beginning on what may be come a cold and hard winter.
Starvation began to claim many cattle but the hard winter turned to tragedy, when on
January 9, 1887, a blizzard hit, bringing with it 16 inches of snow, howling winds and
temperatures below – 50 degrees Fahrenheit.
Cattleman and farmers had no way to feed their cattle, and those that weren’t killed by
the cold, soon died from continued starvation.
Ranchers are recorded as saying they had no idea how their herds were, let alone where
they were.
When spring came, and the snow melted away, millions of cattle were counted as dead, official
count called 90% of the areas cattle that were on open range as lost.
That spring, people said they could see dead cattle as far as the eye could see.
The carcasses clogged up waterways and contaminated drinking water.
Bankruptcy was for many the only way out, others packed up and moved back east, where,
they said they knew what to expect from mother nature.
That winter was known as the great die up, there was no round up that year, or at least
nothing like what the cowboys of the area were used to.
Those that stayed, adapted to what they learned were unpredictable weather patterns in the
area and made changes to make sure they wouldn’t be caught unprepared again.
Ranchers stopped keeping enormous herds of cattle and even began farming operations to
grow and harvest food for those they had.
The open range was mostly abandoned, the days of livestock roaming far and wide were over
as ranchers began stringing barbed wire and creating smaller grazing territories.
The winter of 1886-1887 began the end of the wild frontier, but not the end of learning
from weather.
In 1890 Wyoming became a state, and another blizzard hit in 1912, then again in 1922 and
27.
Forced by weather, ranchers learned to adapt to the cold temperatures, raised more forage
during the summers and put up hay for cattle to eat over the winter.
Herds became even smaller as more and more land was needed to produce the winter hay,
until ranchers also took on the roll of farmer and began seeding grassland with more and
heartier varieties.
Then fenced off hay fields to keep cows out of them, allowing harvest of some of the best
grasses on the ranch for winter forage.
A wet and heavy snow hit in May of 1942, but it did little to prepare ranchers for what
was coming for them in 49.
The blizzard of 49 turned out to me one of the biggest blizzards ever recorded here,
although up in the northeast corner of the state, we only saw a fraction of the weather
the southern part of the state received.
Still, even on the outskirts, 15-foot drifts were created, completely isolating ranches,
cattle, and people.
The blizzard began on January 2nd and was followed by two months of bitter cold and
snow.
Within hours of the first signs of snow, roads were impassable, many ranchers setting out
on the usual routine to feed and water their cattle had no idea what was coming.
In driving snow, cattle became disoriented, walking with the storm to keep it at their
backs.
Many perished from suffocation, as dense snow and ice built up around their mouths and noses.
They walked without the ability to see in front of them, off the sides of ravines, and
into fences where cattle were crushed by the weight of the herd behind them.
Within a few days the sun was shining again but storms continued to bring more and more
snow.
Crews dealing with drifting along roads where unable to keep up.
Locally, a pilot began flying over ranches in the area, dropping handbills, with notes
telling ranchers that if they needed help to create a black x in their yard and the
next day they would return with supplies, and if you needed a lift to town with the
pilot, they would take you town.
Pilots looked for lost herds of cattle and sheep and directed teams to be able to get
them the feed they so desperately needed.
The US Airforce began operation Hay lift on January 28th, flying over 500 tons of hay
from Kansas into Wyoming, sometimes dropping off bales along the way to stranded cattle.
Over 20,000 cattle were counted as dead after the storm along with over 100,000 sheep.
In addition, the spring breeding was affected because of sterility of bulls caused by such
cold temperatures and deep snow.
Blizzards continued over the next 70 years, almost like clockwork, 1967, 1984, 1997.
Since 1997 we haven’t seen anything near a major blizzard, but it seems we may be due.
Preparing for the worse is a lesson that ranchers in this area learned well in 1886 and 1887
and it’s a lesson that none are soon to forget.
We keep our herd close, we utilize fences and pastures, along with hay ground to make
sure that we have the feed on hand to keep them all well fed all winter long.
As we get ready to head into calving here on the ranch, the threat of blizzard hangs
over us every day.
In those situations, we end up with calves in the house, in the bathtub and wrapped up
on the floor, we keep them in the barn and our main goal becomes to protect every mom
and her calf from the weather.
Maybe the wild west isn’t gone, but it has adapted.
Oscar Wilde said, to expect the unexpected shows a thoroughly modern intellect, but I
think I prefer a quote from Thomas Edison, “Opportunity is missed by most people because
it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.”
If you can look back at the things that have slowed you down, weather, health issues, co-workers,
whatever it may be, but didn’t stop you, they just caused you to adapt and overcome,
those are opportunities to be a better rancher, farmer, an insurance salesman, or just person.
Thanks for coming along today, the weather caused change here the created better ranchers,
better stewards of the land, and we are still evolving, all on our own, no blizzard needed
to get your point across.
Please subscribe, much more on the way from the ranch as we invite you to explore the
ranch life and escape the ordinary.
Until next time have a great week, and thanks for joining us in our Wyoming life.