Cold Winters of the Past

The Sheridan area recently endured a brutal cold snap, with temperatures as low as 30 below zero. But such temperatures, although they don’t happen every winter, are not uncommon in the Rocky Mountain Region and in Sheridan. Here are some stories from past winters, with extremely low temperatures. We should remember that 100 years ago, it wasn’t as easy to keep warm as just turning up a thermostat or plugging in an extra heater.

Homesteaders, especially, lived in small, often un-insulated houses, many made of just wood covered with tar paper. Heat was furnished by a coal/wood stove, and wood was gathered and split in the summer and coal was sometimes dug out of a nearby coal bank.

Fires were fed all day to keep the house heated, and banked at night with a lump of coal to hold the coals until morning. Many people who were raised in rural Wyoming were awakened in the morning to the sound of someone shaking the old ashes down out of the fire box into the ash pan so the fire would burn well again.

Travel during the winter can be hazardous today, but not as dangerous as it was in the early part of the 20th century here in Northern Wyoming.

From the Daily Enterprise, December 1909: The blizzard of last evening calls back to the memory of the older citizens another blizzard which occurred in 1894 when Howard West, assessor of Johnson county, was so badly frozen that it was thought necessary to amputate both his feet, while the terrible ordeal through which he passed so ruined his health that he died only a few years later.

West started out from his home in Buffalo with a team and buggy. The sun was shining and there was nothing to give intimation of the storm that was soon to sweep over the country.

He was well on his road to Lake De Smet when the storm struck him. Soon it became so severe that he determined to start for home. He had not gone far when he became bewildered and lost all sense of direction. The snow had drifted so badly that his team could not get through, and in order to give the horses a chance to save themselves, if they could, he cut them loose from the buggy. It afterward developed that at that time he was only a short distance from Barkey’s ranch, where he would have found warmth and shelter. The horses with that instinct to which many men bewildered and lost owe their lives went almost directly to the ranch, and had West followed, would soon have received succor. By that time, however, West was so cold that he was dazed and remembered little of his experience The next morning he was found by some soldiers near Buffalo, still able to wander around, but with his mind a blank.

Much depended on the weather in the 1900s. Mail was often held up due to winter storms, like this one in 1909. Sheridan Enterprise December 15:Stages are Halted and No Mail Delivered to Seat of Johnson County. (Special to The Enterprise.) Buffalo, Wyo., Dec. 14.— A blizzard which far surpasses in severity of the one which visited northern Wyoming early in the month, struck Buffalo and vicinity last night and continued until 6 o’clock this morning. In many places the snow has drilled 10 and 12 feet high and on the level is from 10 to 12 inches deep.

None of the stages are running: today and no mail has been received, practically isolating the town from the outside world. Only the telephone communication has not been interrupted. The three passengers and driver of the stage from Kaycee arrived here after midnight after a thrilling experience.

Blinded by the snow the driver was unable to see the road and was forced to trust to the horses. They wandered from the right road and for several hours the stage was lost lost in the storm. The correct route was finally found and the stage arrived here seven hours late.

One interesting thing back then, as the above stories stated, often the driver or the rider who might get lost in the snow could put his trust in his horse and they would very often bring their owner to a safe place. Today’s cars would have trouble duplicating that feat.

It got cold back then like it does today. Sheridan Daily Enterprise, December 5, 1909.Mercury Drops; 21 Below HereBurlington Thermometer Registered This Mark Last Night— Colder at Parkman. The coldest weather of the season attacked Sheridan last evening. At 6 o’clock the thermometer of the local weather bureau showed nine degrees below zero with the mercury falling steadily. The Burlington railroad thermometer shortly before mid night registered twenty-one degrees below zero. Parkman last night reported that it was twenty-four degrees below zero at that point.

According to The Enterprise on January 16, 1892, it was -48 degrees. And on Christmas Eve, of the same year: The thermometers indicated thirty-degrees below zero Wednesday night – the coldest so far this winter.

The Sheridan, Enterprise, December 2, 1919 had this: Coldest Day In Two Years Occurs Here Minimum Temperature of 25 Below Zero Prevails Here. Arvada Sees 30 Below. At 6 o’clock this morning the temperature was 25 below zero which was the coldest that it has been since January 31, 1918, when a temperature of 32 below was recorded at the local weather bureau. The coldest December day on record here was 27 below in 1909. According to the report issued by H. A. Frise, weather observer, covering the western part of the United States, there was only one station where colder weather prevailed, that was Havre, Mont., where it was one degree colder. At 8:3O a.m. it was still 21 below.

It was reported at the superintendent’s office that Arvada was the coldest place on the Sheridan division last night where a temperature of 30 below zero was reported. Cold weather on the division east and west of here as well as on the Sheridan division has had the effect of delaying train service. All trains have been late into Sheridan in the last 24 hours.

This was interesting from the Sheridan Post, January 7, 1913. Not sure how true it was but it makes a good story.

” This cold snap we have had during the last few days makes me think of an experience I had in this country once when I was a boy,” said the Old Settler as he came into the office of The Post this morning and stood before the steam radiator to thaw the icicles off his whiskers. “Thirty-five degrees below zero Is purty snappy weather and I’ll admit that it would not take long for me to get enough of it if I had to be out, but that is because I am getting older, for I have rode over these hills lots of times in colder weather than this and never thought anything about it.

“The experience I started to tell you about, was nothing out of the ordinary. It was nothing more than what scores of men have done and are doing now. At the time I thought nothing of it, nor will it seem much of a story to men who are accustomed to living outdoors most of the time and in all kinds of weather, but since I have been hugging the stove most of the time during the past few years whenever the mercury got below the freezing point, it makes me wonder how men can live the lives we used to live and still remain above ground to tell the tale.

“One day during the cold snap that the present drop in temperature has recalled to my mind, I started out on a trip that would require about two days. The first day I rode about forty miles and stopped over night at the home of some friends. The people at that place had only a small house and were short on bed clothes, but they were long on hospitality and made me welcome with the best they had. There was no room in the house for me, so I slept in an old shed and my only bed clothing was an old blanket and a buffalo robe.

“In the morning the mercury stood at 38 degrees below zero, but that night I slept as warm as I did last night in my room, in which there is a steam radiator that is always warm. When I awoke there was snow on my bed, for the shed offered but little protection, but I cared little for that and was soon up and ready for breakfast.

“My destination was 15 miles further, so I finished the remainder of my journey and got back to my friend’s for dinner. Then I started for home. The last ranch I would pass on my return journey was 20 miles from our home and I passed that place just about sundown. I was only a boy then and did not know any better, so I decided to push on home.

“There was about eight inches of snow on the level, with a crust not quite hard enough to hold up a man, and the walking was slavish. I would ride until nearly frozen, then get off and walk until worn out. Urge as I would, I could not make the horse go faster than a walk, and it was nearly morning when I got home. How I ever made it I do not know, for the next morning it was 45 below zero.

“This kind of a trip would be fairly stiff for any one to make who was not in the habit of being out every day and in all kinds of weather, even with the felt overshoes and fur coats of today, but the main part of my story is to come, for I made that trip with nothing on my feet but a pair of leather boots. Overshoes I never heard of at that time, and socks I would not wear. If I had, my feet would have frozen; as it was, they were not even frostbitten.

“I see you are grinning, and I don’t blame you for not believing it, but I want to tell you that Jerry Simpson was not the first man to find out that socks are a nuisance. You ask any old-timer and he will tell you that If you want to keep your feet warm and have no overshoes pull off your socks. This wouldn’t work with the low-top shoes of the present day, but with boots your feet will keep lots warmer if you throw away the socks. If you can get the other old timers to talk about their experiences, they will tell you the same thing.”

So, when we, in our warm houses, driving cars and even ATV vehicles with heaters and heated seats, remember than when the country was being settled there was little people could do to escape the cold. Livestock was fed by horse and wagon, or sleigh, and trips to town in a wagon or sleigh would have been a cold proposition. Lots of homemade quilts on the beds, heavy coats and even buffalo robes were the order of the day to help keep warm.