The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1916-02-10
WORSE STORMS
HAVE PREVAILED
WINTERS OF PAST ARE RECALLED
Last Weeks Blockade of 0.-W. R. & N.
Co. Somewhat of a Parallel to
1885 Heavy SnOwStOrm

Naturally one of the first thoughts of
newer residents of Hood River last
week was, ''Is this the worst snow
storm we have ever had?" The records
of hard winters at intervals during the
past 30 years will show that Hood Riv-
er has had several snowstorms as bad,
il not worse than that of last week.
4: The first severe winter on record,
that of 1928, is reported by Mrs.
Elizabeth Laughlin Lord in her "Rem-
iniscences of Eastern Oregon" Dur
ing the early part of that winter her
with his family from The Dalles. The
snow lasted for months and the family
was shut off from The Dalles, ,he near
es settlement, without food. All of the
cattle died. and MIR. Laughlin was so
discouraged that he removed his family
to The Dalles as soon as it was possible
in the spring.
Readers of the Glacier will recall the
severe winter of lS6l.62, as reported In
an article written recently about the
early life of D. A. Turner. The Colum-
bia was frozen over from January till
March. During the winter more than l3
feet of snow fell. The few families
making the valley their home at that
time suffered for lack Of food. All the
cattle of the valley perished. Mr.. Tur-
ner and others walked to The Dalles on
the rivers ice to secure provisions.
Record severe winter weather pre-
vailed again on February 10, 1879. At
this time it is probable that the record
snowfall for period of "a hours fell.
Evnn1 z nfnlnak EnhrnaHu IN npfI
the same hour the next day four feet of
snow prevailed. F. G. Sherrieb in tell
ing of this storm says:
81 was down at E. L. Smiths Frank
ton store when it began. 1t started
with a rain. returned from the store
with John A. Wilson to his home. The
rain suddenly stopped and huge white
flakes began to come down. | spent the
night at the Wilson home. Along in
the evening Mrs. Wilson told her hus-
band to 90 out and run that drove of
horses away from under those trees.
"An oak grove surrounded the house.
and Mrs. Wilson thought she had heard
the tramping of horses. MIR. Wilson,
however discovered that the noise had
been made by heavy Jumps of wet snow
falling from the oaks. MIR. Hodges,
DR.. Barrett's father. by measurement
determined that the snowfall made
eight inches of waer."
MIR. Sherrieb says that the renowned
snowfall of 1885, which blockaded an
.. r. q N. passenger train near Viento
for period of ia days, differed from
that of last week in that most of the
precipitation was composed of dry sleet.
and for time, he says, it fell so fast
that man might lift out shovelful
from his walks and another instantly
took its place. While the cold weather
prevailed then for longer time, it is
probable that the snow would have
caused the railroad company no more
trouble than that of last week. Rail
ways 80 years ago did not have the eff
cient equipment used at the present
time in clearing away the debris of
storms.
While the o. r. 4 N. straln was
stalled it was necessary to pack pro-
visions TO them by hand sled. Jour
neys with food to the blocaded passen-
gers were made by the following men:
Jack Luckey, Chas. Hayner, Van john
son, o. L. Stranahan, C. H. Stranahan
and Will Rand.
Most of the people at present in
Hood River remember the heavy snow
and silver thaw of January 1912.
Among the local passengers held on an
o. R. & N. train at that time foI over
SO hours was C. K. Marshall. The
snow, followed by warm rain, reached
depth of Sc inches. number of
barns were demolished, and the Tip Top
garage of Capt. c. P. McCan was
broken down by the heavy snow on the
fiat roof.