"Nobody and Nothin' Doesn't Meet, Snow's Too Deep!"

An exhibit at the Dacotah Prairie Museum highlighted an avalanche of snowy facts about the winter of 1896-97, the second highest snow-fall year in Aberdeen history. Entitled: "Nobody and Nothin' Doesn't Meet, Snow's Too Deep!"

The exhibit followed that fateful year month by month with pictures, explanations, and a copy of the official weather report for each month. The monthly installment also included a paper strip indicating how much snow fell that four week period. Large format photographs of Main Street {where the expanding snow piles were all shoveled to the west side of the street}, the 8th Ave. snow tunnel {with a little girl & dog perched on top}, and the city {up to its porches in flood waters} were also included.

The snow, which was featured in a Plexiglas case, that fell that winter topped 94". The year presented a fascinating topic for a display for a variety of reasons. It was the first really big snow-fall since the town was founded 5 years earlier in 1881, and the city population was surprised and challenged in a new way. Photographers, who were only becoming a common sight in Aberdeen, had a "hay day" competing for pictures of snow mountains, snow tunnels, and trains stuck in the snow. Wonderful pictures of Aberdeen at the height of the blizzard season abound. The railroads had the only "snow plows" but because of the intimidating cost of using them, they were for last resorts. Even then, they had their limits as to how deep and how long the snow drift could be to navigate. A photograph of a stranded train with all the passengers lined up on the roof, some holding shovels, brings the reality into perspective.

For information on past exhibits in the Dacotah Gallery, please click here.