Snowstorms in the Wild West
While some of the snowiest places in the West were—and still are—in remote, relatively uninhabited places, there were incidents of travelers getting caught in winter storms, often with grim consequences. In October 1846, at the beginning of what is still considered to be a record snow season, George Donner, leading a group across the Truckee Pass, just north of Tahoe City, California, was surprised by an early winter blizzard. Within eight days, the snow had drifted 12 meters (40 feet) high, trapping the group in the mountains. They weren't rescued until April 1847, and by then only 47 of the initial 87 remained alive amid reports of cannibalism. In winter 1873, Alferd Packer and several fellow gold seekers trekked into the San Juan Mountains of southern Colorado. Trapped in severe winter weather, months later, only Packer returned. When the bodies of the remaining men were found, evidence indicated that they had been cannibalized by Packer, for which he was later tried and convicted.
Although the sparsely populated West was not as drastically affected as the eastern metropolises, the western states received a fair share of winter storms. In the western part of the country, railroads were a critical form of transportation, especially for the mountain mining industries. Subways and elevated rails were not practical for the vast plains and mountain passes, so steam trains battled drifts with giant rotary plows, which plowed snow and blew it off the tracks at the same time. Ranchers erected snow fences, which protected roads and prevented snow from drifting too high on their property. The burgeoning population centers of the West, such as Denver, Salt Lake City, and Seattle, soon acquired snow removal equipment to battle the winter storms. However, some of the sunnier cities were often able to rely on the sun or mild weather to melt heavy snowfalls, as they still do today.
Planes, trains, and automobiles
Motorization swept the country in the early 20th century, leading to motorized dump trucks and plows as early as 1913. Many cities rushed to motorize their snow removal fleets, abandoning their horse-drawn carts. In conjunction with the new trucks, cities began to use tractors equipped with plow blades. To haul the snow away, they used steam shovels, cranes, and railway flatcars to get the snow off the streets and dumped into the rivers.
Another motorized invention, the snow loader, was successfully tried in Chicago in 1920, and several cities purchased snow loaders that same winter. The snow loader was an ingenious contraption. Riding on tractor treads, it was equipped with a giant scoop and a conveyor belt. As the snow was plowed, it was forced up the scoop and caught by the conveyor belt, which carried it up and away from the street. The snow was then deposited into a chute at the top where it was dropped into a dump truck parked underneath. The snow loader made snow removal much easier and more effective.
Early aviation development also advanced snow removal technology. Runways needed to be kept clear, prompting the first small airports to find solutions. Salt was effective only on ice and light snowfalls, and plowing mounds of heavy snow was time consuming. To combat the snow even before it hit the ground, snow fences were constructed on the windward sides of the runways, effectively trapping snow and preventing it from blowing onto the runways.
New fleets of dump trucks and tractor plows were very expensive for cities to purchase and maintain, but the amount of revenue lost if the streets were not cleared was by far more expensive than snow removal equipment. Because cities and businesses provided urban populations with a wide variety of goods and services on a daily basis, large snowfalls that debilitated transportation could strike a financial blow.
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