Historic Hood River
Blizzard of 1916
2-28-2013
Notes
February 1916 brought heavy snows to Hood River. It’s clear there was a concerted effort at snow removal, with both streets and sidewalks passable. You can barely see the team of horses pulling a carriage. We saw another image of this same storm, possibly by the same photographer, here.
charlott
It is hard to imagine how they got that snow off the streets. Lots of shoveling I imagine. That is a good image of the livery stable at the end of the street. I would think that team would have been a team that resided in town. I can’t fathom farmers in the valley being able to make the trek. They would have had their hands full just trying to get to their livestock in the barns and hopefully they didn’t have stock out in the pastures.
It appears to me that those horses have blankets on them, which would not have been a bad idea………
l.e.
I agree with Charlott. The farmers must have had all they could handle trying to take care of everything and stay ahead of the shoveling.
And how would you get from Parkdale down to HR for supplies? I hope everyone had plenty of winter wood cut.
Is this the year that so many orchards were damaged?
Any idea what the average temperature was for January and February of 1916?
db
Back then I would imagine that people were pretty much prepared to hunker down in the winter and become self-sufficient.
Arthur
I wonder if that team could be pulling a plow?
charlott
1919 was the year of the freeze that killed the apple trees.
Jill Stanford
Here is a story told by my grandfather regarding the freeze: There were quite a few "New Yorkers" or "yellow legs" in the Valley (my grandfather was one) as aspiring orchardists. This freeze spelled the end for a few, who did not have the resources to replant and begin again. My grandfather and his wife held a going-away dinner party for one couple who were forced to sell everything and go back East. They arrived at the party, driving their team of work horses and the farm wagon up the hill to the house. They had sold their car. But the lady was wearing all her pearls and a velvet dress. He was in a dinner jacket. They were taken to the train station the next day and were never heard from again. They were too ashamed, my grandfather said.
hrweather
l.e., here’s the link to the official MCAREC historical temperature database for Hood River: http://www.wrcc.dri.edu/cgi-bin/cliMONtavt.pl?or4003 January 1916 was really cold, but February (on average) wasn’t. But, usually the coldest weather isn’t necessarily the snowiest.