The blizzard of 1949

It is 75 years ago since the winter of ‘49 and the epic blizzard on the days after Sunday, January 1st, 1949 is one I will always remember.

I was born in 1935 in South Dakota and lived on a farm/ranch. We did not have a tractor, so for all of our farm and ranch work we used horses. We would not have survived without our horses.

I have five sisters and one brother, but only my sister Elsie and I were at home in ‘48-49. I was in the 8th grade and attended a country school 4 miles from home.

We had had some snow storms in November and December 1948, but the weather had turned warm — ­some of the snow melted and everyone was enjoying Sunday, January 1st, 1949.

On Monday morning, we awoke early to a blinding (white out) blizzard. Tuesday was the same and on Wednesday still the same white out conditions (zero visibility). On Thursday afternoon, the wind had gone down some. We lived in a sod house and always had shovels in the house before winter was upon us.

On Thursday afternoon, we tried to open the one and only door of the house. It was totally blocked and the house nearly covered over. There was one window that opened to the inside and the snow was level there so my Dad, my sister and I crawled through the window and shoveled the door clear of snow.

We then went to the barn. After lots of scooping snow, we got the horses out of the barn. At the other end of the long barn where the cattle were, so much snow had drifted in on the inside of that end, that the backs of the cattle touched the roof of the barn.

There were always continuous blizzards -18 in 27 days. We did not have a thermometer. The degrees of cold for us was measured in this way: cold or damn cold!

It never mattered how cold it was, my dad, mother, sister and I were always watering and feeding livestock and shoveling snow. School was never mentioned. Survival was of the utmost importance.

There were a number of airplane pilots who did a great job of rescuing people, bringing food, fuel, mail and supplies to stranded farmers and ranchers. The 5th Army and National Guard was called in to help with bulldozers and weasels.

There was federal help with “Operation Snowbound” endorsed by President Harry Truman.

There were thousands of livestock losses and wildlife also perished. The beautiful pheasants sought refuge behind fence posts.

Over all the areas hit by the blizzards, the worst sadness was that 76 people died from weather conditions, accidents, and freezing to death.

In mid March, two bulldozer operators came to our place at 2 o’clock in the morning and pushed quite a lot of snow away. Then in April, there was a Chinook wind and the snow started to melt.

After being absent for January, February, March and half of April, I went back to school. I took the Standard South Dakota achievement tests and in mid-May I graduated from the 8th grade.

This terrible winter had a profound impact on so many people. There is so much more that could be written of the hardships, heartaches, and the endless endurance to not give up in the face of adversity.

A few years ago, the winter of ‘49 was televised on Independent Lens.

I have lived through quite a few winters since 1935, but never a winter like 1949.

Sincerely,

Esther Junge Wildish, Baker