Main Street – March 4, 1948

By Morris Rote-Rosen

Interesting stories are expected to be told at the first annual gathering of the "88" club, next Friday evening at 6:30 o'clock at Dwyer's restaurant when a group of survivors of the blizzard of 1888 will swap reminiscences of a storm which after 60 years is still being talked about as outstanding as the champion of blizzards. The amount of snow fall of 1843, which in some places of this country, particularly in the eastern section and in the Granville vicinity, may have somewhat exceeded that of 1888, was not in blizzard proportions. Also, the modern snow removal machinery and equipment which was unknown 60 years ago, had considerable to do with minimizing the snow fall of January 1948.

The new "88" club is planning a dinner and a program which will be in charge of Truman R. Temple, who with Fred W. Allen of Middle Granville, and several other old timers, has invited those, who still recollect the great blizzard, to meet with them. Will Folger, now residing in Poultney, is expected to attend and the gathering will be an interesting one. Several letters have been received from ladies who are looking forward to this unusual event and their tales of the blizzard of blizzards will equal the stories expected to be told by the gentlemen in the group.

It would be interesting to the younger generation to know that the blizzard of 1888 began Sunday, March 11, increased in fury on Monday, continued full speed ahead on Tuesday, and gradually let up on Wednesday, March 14. The village streets and the railroad tracks were blocked. There was no mail delivery in the local post office for an entire week and the howling wind and drifting snows brought business to a stand-still in the village. School houses were closed and Granville was isolated for three continuous days from the rest of the world, the people being marooned in their homes, and held prisoners by the raging blizzard.

The village streets were deserted and the community gave the appearance of a place where no human being ever lived. Not one person was seen moving and great hills of drifting snow obscured the first floor of business buildings and residences. If one dared challenge the blizzard and be brave enough to attempt to shovel a path out of the house he was soon partly covered up and forced to hurry indoors. The howling wind was maddening to the ears. Signs of streets, or alleys and sidewalks, were entirely obliterated. The blizzard did not reach its peak until Monday, March 12.

The strong north wind continued with terrific force, without interruption, for 48 hours. The train tried to break into isolated Granville, Sunday, March 11, by using two engines to plow through the blocked railroad track, but it had to give up by Monday. From Monday until Wednesday not a mail pouch reached the Granville post office, it being the first time since the post office was established in Granville in 1788. And not since 1852, when the railroad was started going through Granville (except for the year 1854) that railroad operation was suspended for more than 36 hours.

The thermometer, during the blizzard, registered several degrees below zero and up to that time it was the coldest snow storm in the history of Granville. The blizzard came as a surprise to the many weather prophets who, before the blizzard reached here, predicted an early spring. Sap buckets were already hung when the blizzard changed everything. Families in the village found themselves without food as the delivery of milk and groceries was given up. Even the saloons, which in those days, did a thriving business in Granville, were closed because of the lack of customers. No one was able to enter from the rural area and Granville business came to a standstill.

The silence over the village, except for the whistling and the howling of the wind, became terrifying. Not a human sound was heard nor the bark of a dog. Not a church bell tolled and frightened children were huddled in blankets and quilts in their homes. Suddenly the storm stopped, skies cleared and heads were seen bobbing over the huge drifts of snow. Neighbors greeted each other like long lost friends. Stores opened doors and snow shovelers cleared paths to the saloons for parched throats to make up for lost time.

The Central House, was the rendezvous of a group of old timers, who poo-poohed the blizzard comparing it with record snow falls of former years in the history of Granville. But all agreed that the snow fall of 1888 was a record since the great storm of 1835. Some talked about the two foot snow fall, which came as a surprise on May 15, 1843. It caught the farmers with their plants down, many of them were hoeing corn on May 14. Apple trees were already in bloom and currants were one third grown when sudden the unexpected snow storm hit Granville and there was good sleighing on May 15.

Not to be outdone by the tales of 1835, and that of 1843, one mentioned the blizzard of March 25, 1847, when the highways between Granville and Whitehall were piled high with 14 feet of snow in three days; that travel was made easier by going around mountains than over the highways. Still another told of the blizzard of December 26, 1866, which "covered the village of Granville from cellar to attic." But all were in agreement that the one of 1888 gave a pretty good account of itself. One raised a glass of beer at the Central House bar and said: "There was so much snow this past week (1888) that it cost the town of Pawlet more money to remove the snow than it has in 70 years.

Eight years ago we interviewed Henry Morrison of North Granville, who has since died. He told how in 1888 he was mail carrier between Middle Granville and Comstock, driving a covered wagon. He related his experience in the blizzard of 1888 as follows: "During the blizzard of 1888, I left North Granville, Monday March 12 at 8:45 and I never returned with my team until Thursday afternoon at 5 o'clock, March 15. I did walk back with the mail Wednesday night, then returned and drive the horses back. I got my team part way up Sand Hill, in the deep snow, and that was as far as I could go."

Continuing, he said: "Frank Thomas said to me, 'You can never get that team home. Look at the snow ahead of you, 10 or 14 feet deep.' So I decided to walk with the mail. It took me two hours and a half to walk from Frank Thomas' to the North Granville post office with the mail bag on my back, and Frank Thomas lived only about two miles from the North Granville office. The next morning I got the farm man on Baker's farm to go with me and help me break through to where my team was. I returned with my team Thursday, March 15. In order to get the mail through to Middle Granville I rode horseback with the mail pouch."

The amount of snow, the intensity of the wind, and the temperature, all agreed, had no doubt established some kind of a record in Granville in 1888. But, the month of March which came in like a lion and went out like a lamb. March 22, 1888, the heavy snow which fell ten days before, was disappearing and wagons were replacing sleighs, both in and outside of the village. And it is this blizzard that the old timers, who will gather next Friday evening, will talk about and will recall the tales and experiences of 60 years ago. It should make a pleasant party for all. Dinner will be served for $1.25 per plate.