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Post by HighCotton on Jan 23, 2018 13:33:50 GMT -5
As we embark on the 40th anniversary of one of the craziest snows in midwestern history, I had a good chat with my Dad recounting the memories. The week after the blizzard remains the longest work week (126 hours) of my life. All of those hours were spent on our Bobcat, Hough payloaders and other tractors, moving snow! I asked my Dad if he had any old photos and he laughed as he replied, "Son, back then we just worked our tails off! We didn't EVEN have time to think about taking a bunch of lousy pictures!" I searched around and found a few good photos. This one does a pretty good job of showing what most of the county roads looked like after the National Guard came through and made one lane. It was actually easier to navigate these one lane roads at night because you could flash another oncoming driver to give them the go ahead: One story my Dad reminded me was that a week later we had to go over to his cousin, Samuel's farm in Kouts to milk his cows as he had recently had an operation. So, we headed out in the ole '67 Chevy Biscayne which I had fitted with studded snowtires. Sam had told my Dad that he had one ornery ole gal that only could be milked from the right side. He had marked her with a big red 'X'! Sure as I was bunkin' the feeders, I heard a scream and a thud and some other incomprehensible words. My Dad was laying in the trough like a wounded animal. Turned out Sam had put the big red 'X' on the side the cow she should be milked from. Not so smart! I finished the milking, grabbed the three on a tree, and drove us home! Ole Sam got a good reaming from ole Pops on that one! I did find this article online which gave a good account of those wild 3-4 days: www.weather.gov/iwx/1978_blizzardI'm curious if anybody has any photos of that blizzard?! Sure would love to see some!
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Post by esshup on Jan 23, 2018 14:17:38 GMT -5
No pictures that I can lay my hands on but I remember that a buddy and I went in to South Bend and couldn't get back home. We spent the night in the Welco Truck Stop in Walkerton. To go the 5 or 6 miles South to Koontz Lake, I had to drive East to 17, South to US 30, and come in from the South. SR 23 was blocked for a few days IIRC. A car and maybe a truck got stuck, then covered with snow in a drift so the plow couldn't get through.
I remember leaving the car idling and there was an icicle hanging from the tailpipe in the morning.
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Post by Pinoc on Jan 23, 2018 15:37:55 GMT -5
I remember the power went out for several days and we started picking which furniture we were going to burn first if the wood ran out. Thankfully power came back on before we got to that point. We were good on food because we canned a lot from the garden and the freezer was full of venison.
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Post by dbd870 on Jan 23, 2018 15:38:29 GMT -5
I was at Purdue then - we um...celebrated
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Post by Deleted on Jan 23, 2018 15:51:15 GMT -5
I drove down to the Ohio river and walked about half way and turned around. I could have crossed, but decided half was good enough.
The thunder winter storm that afternoon was one of the best I ever seen. It was neat seeing lightning in the heavy snow.
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Post by scrub-buster on Jan 23, 2018 16:04:55 GMT -5
That was before my time. My Dad has told me some stories about it. In 76 he special ordered a 4x4 F-150 with a big motor, lift kit, and whatever else he could get on it. His father in law scolded him for wasting all that money on a big 4 wheel drive truck. After the blizzard he never said another word about it being a bad decision. He said he gathered up some neighbors to make a run for groceries. He would ram into a big snow drift as far as he could and then they would get out and start shoveling. He would get another run at it and ram into it again. They would keep doing that until he busted through. He still has that F-150. It's in pieces in his garage. If I ever find a pile of money I'd like to get it restored for him.
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Post by featherduster on Jan 23, 2018 16:45:45 GMT -5
I spent two days transporting people to and from downtown Laporte to the Indiana tollroad exit on SR39 in the cab of a Steiger Tiger 4x4 with duals all around.
Even that tractor was useless where there wasn't at least some bare ground.
The tollroad was snow free however it was closed to all traffic because all roads leading to and from were snowed shut.
Got home after 50 some hours only to have a private contractor come down our road with a huge loader clearing the road and knocking our electric out for about 9 hours.
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Post by duff on Jan 23, 2018 17:08:06 GMT -5
I was 3...no memory
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Post by firstwd on Jan 23, 2018 17:09:41 GMT -5
I was young, but still remember it well. I got to watch my dad fly over in a National Guard Huey taking people to the hospital. Apparently there was very few people back then that could take the old Rural Route addresses and give the pilot mag coordinates of the house. The local Sheriff made the first trip and the pilot kicked him off the bird for being dead weight.
Amazing the amount of cookies, roasts, cakes, and whatever else we had in the house you can bake when the power is out and the gas stove is the only heat source.
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Post by parson on Jan 23, 2018 18:43:03 GMT -5
It wasn't just a lot of snow- that was v-e-r-r-r-y cold winter also! I don't think that the quail population ever did come back after that.
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Post by Pinoc on Jan 23, 2018 18:58:48 GMT -5
It wasn't just a lot of snow- that was v-e-r-r-r-y cold winter also! I don't think that the quail population ever did come back after that. True. I remember finding whole coveys frozen in clutches on the ground. Never came back either.
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Post by lawrencecountyhunter on Jan 23, 2018 20:01:25 GMT -5
9 years before I was born.. I heard it was a doozy though.
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Post by buckert on Jan 23, 2018 21:05:34 GMT -5
It wasn't just a lot of snow- that was v-e-r-r-r-y cold winter also! I don't think that the quail population ever did come back after that. True. I remember finding whole coveys frozen in clutches on the ground. Never came back either.b Well before my time. Curious if there were known impacts to the deer herd?
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Post by firstwd on Jan 23, 2018 21:08:18 GMT -5
True. I remember finding whole coveys frozen in clutches on the ground. Never came back either.b Well before my time. Curious if there were known impacts to the deer herd? If there was, I doubt very many people noticed. The deer herd wasn't much to boast about back then.
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Post by bill9068 on Jan 23, 2018 21:11:50 GMT -5
I was home on leave from the Marine Corp, got a extra two weeks leave by talking the local recruiting office into keeping me as help. I showed up maybe two days there and the Major in charge told me to take a few days off and come back the day before I left to my duty station which was Okinawa Japan.
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Post by Woody Williams on Jan 23, 2018 21:39:23 GMT -5
Working at ALCOA then. I had a ‘77 K5 Blazer and spent a lot of time going to get key personnel to keep the potlines going..
I even got the Blazer hung up a time or two, but was able to dig it out..
Yes, the blizzard killed off a lot of critters but quail was really hit hard.
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Post by Russ Koon on Jan 23, 2018 22:50:19 GMT -5
I had just bought our house on the lake, where we still live, in August of the previous summer. Had a three year old Scout with Positrac rear and some slightly oversize snow tires. Worked the night shift and stayed to help several people get started or get their vehicles going in the parking lot, which was mostly untouched by any equipment. Several people opted to stay in the plant overnight rather than risk the trips home.
I took a longer route home than necessary, just enjoying the Scout, and I still recall watching the unbroken snow that had drifted up to almost hood level, breaking up from the Scout's hood sliding in under it, then parting in sheets as it slid back towards the windshield. Had to back off a few times and hit a drift again, but not as much as I'd expected.
Made a few grocery runs for some neighbors over the next few days, and I was back at work as soon as they resumed regular hours at the plant, I think it was two days later.
That was a hard winter! Our first at the lake, and we were still ice fishing on our son's birthday March 9.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 24, 2018 7:30:50 GMT -5
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Post by jager on Jan 24, 2018 16:58:10 GMT -5
I was only 3 at the time. Thanks for posting, it’s neat to see what it looked like. Hope I never have to deal with that!
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Post by iceman10 on Jan 25, 2018 7:41:15 GMT -5
I remember everything about it . I had an old snowmobile & my dad had a brand new Trailduster 4x4 . The tv station WPTA 21 alive was close to my parents place & they didn’t have any food . My mom made up a huge pot of chili & cornbread & I was to take it on my snowmobile. This was a big deal to me as I had a huge crush on Susan Welday back then . I showed up with the food mom made & I was the Hero of the moment !! Everyone thanked me & Susan Welday gave me a kiss on my cheek !! Omg I was on cloud 9 !! The tv station thank my family on air which was cool . I have so many stories & memories, but I’m not sure how many pictures my parents have .
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