The March 1966 Dakotas Blizzard

[Kathie in Thorp]

50 years ago today started probably the worst blizzard SD and ND ever saw. I was in my early teens then, in Selby, SD. It started on March 2nd and roared for 3 days. Our single story house in the 1,000 horse town was buried to the roof eves; friends in the country had to get out via 2nd story windows. Cattle frozen on their feet -- acres of cattle frozen on their feet. Tens of thousands of stock lost. 30 inches of snow on the ground, with drifts up to 30 feet tall as winds went up to near 70 mph. Rail lines blocked, freeways blocked. People died between the house and the barn. Thank the Lord many of those Dakota homes had (and have) basements -- was a lot warmer down there. Something you never forget.

 

[Bigfoot]

Dang, that sounds terrible. Something like that would cripple a town.

 

[Kathie in Thorp]

Dang, that sounds terrible. Something like that would cripple a town.

It crippled most of SD and ND. Beat the h*ll out of the livestock folks, as it was the start of calving season. I was a "town kid" then, but really, if you live in a 1,000 horse town in the middle of farm and ranch country, you're never really a town kid. Lots of friends had rural route addresses. It was very bad. I think it was about the 6th day (because it warmed up fairly quickly), we drove out to check on country friends, who'd come out through 2nd story windows after the 3rd day . . . but cattle still frozen on their feet, noses to the ground. The storm started with freezing rain.

We didn't venture outside, of course, during the storm. But reports later were that there were 40 hours in some places that visibility was -0- miles. My dad was working at the time in Aberdeen, SD, 60 miles away. He was behind the first plows that started out, and it took him 8 hrs. to go 60 miles. I remember my grandpa had been there a few days before . . . he was a salesman and travelled all through the Dakotas. He always brought us some sort of treat, and his visit had brought a big bag of salted peanuts in the shell. We ate lots of peanuts for a few days.

 

[Bigfoot]

We haven't anything like that here, in my lifetime. When I was pretty small, we had a "blizzard " by our standards. My Dad was a lineman. Fort Campbell sent a bulldozer to the house to get my dad. I thought that was such a big deal. I guess it was the most exciting thing I'd ever seen at that point in my life. It never occurred to me how bad it would suck to have to go out, and work in a blizzard.

 

[WalnutCrest]

When I was a kid, we moved from town to the country. The first winter we were out there, we had an awful blizzard (2' + in about 18hrs). The morning after the snow fell, my dad walked through all the snow, carrying a tool box over to the dairy farm to see if he needed any help. Well, he ended up staying over there all day and ended up helping the dairy farmer across the street save his entire herd (the drifts well over 10' tall (don't remember how tall, just remember they were over the top of our van by a very long way and the roads had to be cleared by a front end loader). My dad had no idea what he was doing as he'd never really been around cattle before, but he was alternating between busting hay bales from the back of a hay trailer, welding and who knows what. All it took was one day of exhausting work to get the dairy back going again... Dad said that for a week after that day, he couldn't make a fist; he always said it was the most tired he'd said he'd been since basic training. Man ... I miss my dad.

 

[John SD]

In the spring of 1966 I was not quite 4 yrs old and barely remember it. Dad and I were baching at home while Mom was in Faith SD during the school week teaching school.

The one thing I do remember is that I was in the house alone and decided I was gonna go out and help Dad. Dad had hooked the storm door from the outside with the hook and eye latch so I could not open it. He didn't think of me going downstairs to go out the basement door I went down the basement and opened the door. Looked outside, saw the blizzard raging, closed the door and decided I wasn't going out in that

I don't remember about livestock losses. Seems Dad had a bunch of pigs in a barn that blew full of snow, but he got most of them dug out and saved them. Another thing I remember after the storm was over was I could walk right up the snowbank onto the leanto part of the barn roof.

Somewhere I have storm pictures from the old motel in town where Mom stayed while teaching school. There was just a tunnel dug through the snow to her south facing room on the main drag (US 212) through town :shock:

 

[JW IN VA]

i barely remember the March 1966 snow here in Va.I do remember stories my Dad told me about the drifts and roads that were opened by 'dozers.