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Click Here For More Blizzard Memories
60 years ago, a western Nebraska snow began falling on the evening of Sunday, January 2, 1949. By the end of the day Tuesday, January 4, 20 to 30 inches of snow had accumulated. Combined with 30 to 50 mph winds, snow drifts stood has high as 20 feet in some areas, burying fences, automobiles, and even trains.
Throughout the month of January, 2009, KCOW listeners will share their memories of the Great Blizzard, which struck our listening region six weeks before KCOW went on the air. KCOW was born on February 15, 1949.
If you have a memory to share, call our KCOW Comment Line at 761-5269. Please include your name and telphone number. You may also contact Kevin Horn at KCOW directly at 762-1400 to arrange an interview.
Click on the icons below to enjoy memories already shared with us.
Bob Watt -- Alliance: Bob was 26 years old and working at the Railroad Credit Union in the old Burlington Depot at First and Box Butte in Alliance (runs 13:28).
Fern Weinell -- Alliance: Fern was 18 years old and employed by the Alliance Times-Herald (runs 8:59).
Marcella Stratton -- Alliance: Reflects on husband's struggle to get to work (runs 1:42).
Max & Gretchen Garwood -- Alliance: Newlywed couple got stranded at Angora driving from Scottsbluff to Alliance (runs 14:11).
"Snow Train" -- A passenger train travels from Ravenna to Alliance on January 2, 1949, through the raging blizzard. KCOW's Kevin Horn and Mike Glesinger reinact the words of the trains' Fireman and Engineer, V.L. Munger and John "Dutch" Rogers, as they battle the blizzard. This production was orginally recorded at KCOW Radio in January, 1989, in recognition of the 40th anniversary of the blizzard. The dialog is from the book; Blizzard 1949 by Roy V. Alleman. This production, which runs 7:31, has been remastered to present an 'old time' radio sound.
Pat Sherlock -- Alliance: An 11-year-old at the time, Pat shares a memory of her father, a railroad employee, who was away from home for a week while digging trains out of the snow (runs 4:20).
Alan Danbom -- Hemingford: Shares the story of the Hemingford American Legion catapillar used to assist people in need (runs 8:25).
Dear KCOW,
I recently learned that you folks are gathering comments regarding the Blizzard of 1949 and its impact on Alliance. I thought that I would send in a couple of old photos for your use. I was 17 years old and stationed on the west coast at the time of the blizzard. My mother, Emma Schwaderer, wrote and told me about the storm and sent me some photos. For years she would remind me that I missed the big blizzard. Sincerely, Darwin Schwaderer
Addie Rochlitz, Hemingford. Addie was 18 and living in Alliance. She remembers her family housing snowbound guests who were in Alliance for a livestock sale (runs 5:54). Mary Ellen (Zajic) Wells, Alliance. Mary Ellen lived two miles south of Hemingford at the time of the blizzard. She shares memories of coping with the storm while caring for her family's farm animals (runs 10:20).
