page_title: The Long Winter (novel)
section_title: History, geography, and current science
hierarchical_section_title: The Long Winter (novel) / History, geography, and current science
caption_attribution_description: Afrikaans: 'N Skielike blizzard kan grootskaalse skade berokken. Hierdie lokomotief in Minnesota is in 1881 in 'n hewige sneeuval vasgevang. Asturianu: Tren atrapáu pola neve (Minesota, 29 de marzu de 1881). Català: Una gran nevada a Minnesota (1881) provocà dificultats en els transports. Deutsch: Steckengebliebener Zug während der Rekordschneefälle im März 1881. English: A snow blockade in southern Minnesota, US in 1881. On March 29, 1881 snowdrifts in Minnesota were higher than locomotives. Español: Tren inmovilizado por la nieve, 29 de marzo de 1881. Français&#160;: Un train bloqué par la neige, 1881. Galego: Tren inmobilizado pola neve, 29 de marzo de 1881. Italiano: Minnesota, Marzo 1881, un treno bloccato nella neve. Una situazione del genere non era affatto rara due secoli fa, e poteva bloccare le linee anche per diversi giorni. Latina: Ferrovia in Minnesota, die 29 Martii 1881 nivibus teguntur. Nederlands: Trein in een sneeuwstorm. Norsk nynorsk: Brå snøstormar kan føre til store øydeleggingar. Norsk bokmål: Brå snøstormer kan føre til store ødeleggelser. Et tog som har kjørt seg fast i snø i Minnesota, 29. mars 1881. Polski: Pociąg uwięziony w zaspach śnieżnych w południowej Minnesocie w marcu 1881. pociąg w zaspach, marzec 1881, Minnesota. Português: Trem imobilizado por neve. Minessote (EUA) em março de 1881 St. Paul Railway. Română: Tren blocat în zăpadă în urma unui viscol. Tren înţepenit în zăpadă. Tren blocat în zăpadă în sudul statului Minnesota, 29 martie 1881 (!!). Русский: Снежные заносы в Южной Минесоте (1881 год). Simple English: Blizzards that appear quickly cause a lot of damage. They can bury cars, trucks, and even a locomotive under snow. Slovenčina: Vlak zastavený v závejoch počas blizardu v Južnej Minnesote, 29. marec 1881. ייִדיש: באן געשטראנדעט אין שניי.
context_page_description: The Long Winter is an autobiographical children's novel written by Laura Ingalls Wilder and published in 1940, the sixth of nine books in her Little House series. It is set in southeastern Dakota Territory during the severe winter of 1880–1881, when she turned 14 years old.
  The novel was one runner-up for the Newbery Medal in 1941, as were all the fourth to eighth Little House books from 1938 to 1943. In retrospect they are called Newbery Honor Books.
context_section_description: Wilder was a writer of historical fiction. Most of the people, places, and events she describes are from her own life, but she sometimes juxtaposed events and compressed characters in the interest of good storytelling. This novel, however, is far less fictionalized than her others; it is, for the most part, an accurate description of that winter in De Smet. It runs from fall 1880 to spring 1881, a season of such frequent blizzards that it went down in history as "The Snow Winter". Accurate details in the novel include the names of the townspeople (with only minor exceptions), the blizzards' frequency and the deep cold, the Chicago and North Western Railway stopping trains until the spring thaw after the snow made the tracks impassable, the near-starvation of the townspeople, and the courage of Almanzo Wilder and Cap Garland, who ventured out on the open prairie in search of a cache of wheat that no one was even sure existed.
  The fictionalized material includes the "Indian warning" in an early chapter and the duration and frequency of blizzards. While historical records indicate a larger than usual number of blizzards that winter, Wilder's description of storms lasting on average three days each, with only two to two-and-a-half days' separation, from late October until early April, would imply about 35 separate blizzards during that time frame, which may be dramatic license.  Local oral history and research by Wilder's biographers also indicate that Almanzo and Cap traveled about 12 miles south of De Smet to find the wheat, not 20 as she states in the novel. Almanzo is portrayed as being roughly six years older than Wilder, when he was in fact ten years older. Aside from these minor variations, however, it is an accurate portrayal of that legendary winter in Dakota Territory.
caption: A train stuck in snow in southern Minnesota, March 29, 1881
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