Story of the Month | South Dakota

Most historians agree that the blizzard of 1888 was the most treacherous.

On January 12, F.W. Taylor welcomed his students at the Providence School near Dakota City. George Shearer and 9 of his classmates enjoyed the near spring like weather as they began their day at the Amburn School near Milltown. By the afternoon temperatures had plummeted, and the blinding snow rolled in. The teachers had to decide whether to send the children home or keep them in the schoolhouse. Both schools’ teachers kept the students.

Mr. Taylor was lauded for his decision. When he died in 1892, the Dakota Advance, reported his involvement.

The blizzard of 1888 became known as the “Children’s Blizzard." 170 people lost their lives in South Dakota, many of them children.

According to The Wi-iyohi, South Dakota Historical Society's bulletin published in 1965, the blizzard claimed 27 in Hutchinson County: W. B. Hadley, Parkston; three children of John Kaufman (John, Elias and Henry); child of Peter Garber; 1 child of John Albrecht; Mrs. John Gunn; Joshua Saylor, son of Joshua Saylor (Alonzo); William Reiswig: hired man of William Reiswig; daughter of P.H. Sweet; George Verlhauser, son of Jacob Brunt; George Lang; two sons of John Tebelius; Mrs. Ann Wilson and nine school children.

My 97-year-old cousin, Jim Stirling, born in 1928, remembers the blizzards and the dust bowls of the 1930's. He also remembers combinations of both!

Growing up on a farm near Parkston, those were not easy times. 1936 was the coldest February on record in South Dakota. Temperatures in some areas dropped below -40 degrees, McIntosh recorded -53 degrees. During that winter the accumulation of snow was 63 inches. Snowplows were rare. Jim recalls county workers shoveling snow by hand.

“The snowbanks were up to the top of the telephone poles!”- Jim Stirling

It started in November of 1948 and lasted until March of 1949. Storm after storm left South Dakota and surrounding states on the brink of disaster.

The snow buried houses, crippled normal transportation, and left livestock to the mercy of the elements. Communities were isolated. It was so devasting that Harry Truman, then President of the United States, declared it a National Emergency and created “Operation Snowstorm.”

For many the only lifelines were the airlifts of food, medical supplies and feed for livestock.

My cousin Cliff Adkins, long-time operator of the Parkston Airport, launched his own private rescue efforts then joined with the Red Cross. Living in Nebraska at the time, Cliff flew 12-15 flights per day and flew five tons of groceries to needy families in the area. The “Holt County Independent” of O’Neill, called Cliff “a mercy mission air hero.”

Ted Malone, of the ABC network in New York, flew to Nebraska to interview Cliff. Malone referred to Cliff “as a good American and typical hero during the worst winter on record in the West.”

Cliff told me years later, he was honored by the publicity, but that he was just one of many heroes from that storm.

March of 1957, Parkston was hit by an afternoon blizzard. The buses didn’t go out, leaving the country students to stay with their friends and relatives. Snow drifts were everywhere. But by nightfall, the stars had come out and so did the students. Wandering around town with nothing to do (most everything was closed), a small group came up to the local chief of police.

“Isn’t there anything to do in town?” they asked. The chief of police was my dad, Pete Adkins. He knew the VFW club in Schuver’s Café was open, but empty. After a brief conversation with the club manager, the place was opened. It had a bar, but no alcohol was served!

After that, meetings were held, and the Teen Canteen was born. Partnering with the VFW, and auxiliary members, it was in operation on certain nights for several years. My grandmother, Molly Mize was one of the volunteers for the canteen.

Mary Ellen (Idema) Nelson recalled the event. She and her husband, Gary Nelson frequented the place often. Sometimes good things are created by snowstorms.

Snowstorms have always presented challenges for students and their teachers. Country school students sometimes looked at it as an adventure!

“Our neighbor, Mr. Moege, Betty’s Dad used to come and pick us up in a wagon pulled by a tractor. We would cover ourselves in blankets, and off we’d go!" - Jeannie (Bialas) Buenning, student at the Washington School near Parkston.

The teachers may have had different experiences. Some teachers would stay at nearby farms, like Jeannie’s teacher LuAnn Kipus who boarded with her friend's family the Wenzels’ next door to the school.

Some teachers, like my mother, Margaret (Mize) Adkins drove through countless bad winters during her 30 year career as a country school teacher, beginning in the rough winter of 1952.

Her most challenging experience was getting up the Milltown hill to go home to Parkston after one particularly icy snowstorm. She would start up and slide back, start up again and slide back. Finally, she decided to go the long way around. It took her hours to get home. But the next day, she was off again.

She represented that South Dakota attitude about snowstorms. It is just part of who we are.

Basketball tournaments seem to be a magnet for snowstorms! In the 1950s, Parkston had one of its best teams. My brother, Jim Adkins was part of that team. Doug Idema, his teammate, recalls coming back from the sectional in Yankton.

“What a blizzard, a really mean one, it was bad! The March snow was heavy and wet. We traveled to games in cars and formed a caravan back to Parkston. One of the cars ran off the road. There were enough of us young guys, we just picked up the car and put it back. We pushed on. Looking back now, it was a stupid thing for us to even try to get home.”

In 1966, what became known as the “Tournament Blizzard” hit in March just as the regional tournaments were taking place across the state. By March 3, many areas had over two feet of snow, accompanied by winds of 70 miles per hour. Drifts went as high as 30 feet. Many regional games were cancelled.

Gerhardt Buenning, a member of Parkston’s team, shares his experiences from that time. “We were playing at the Corn Palace but had to cancel the last game. It was rescheduled for the following Monday. We ended up playing 4 games in six nights. We were all exhausted, but we managed to win the State “B” Tournament that year!”

Six people died as a direct result of the “Tournament Blizzard.” In the blizzard of 1952, six also perished. The loss of lives during severe snowstorms is tragic, but also tragic is the economic impact to farmers and ranchers due to the loss of their livestock.

In May of 1905, there was the “Great Equalizer.” It was the latest and worst spring blizzard in western South Dakota. It killed thousands of livestock. The storm was named the “Great Equalizer” because some stockmen with the largest herds suffered the greatest losses—in some cases, 80 to 90 percent. The storms of the 1940’s took their toll also. In 1949, ten west-river counties reported losses of over one million dollars.

Some say the blizzard of 1952 was even worse than the one in '49, especially in south-central South Dakota. Thousands of livestock perished. My great aunt, Bertha Lingschiet, who lived in Draper wrote of the tragedy to her niece, Grace Mattas.

In 1966, estimates of over 40,000 livestock were killed in South Dakota, not only from exposure, but from heavy snow loads on barn roofs causing them to collapse, crushing the animals inside.

However, early October of 2013, the worst storm for livestock in the history of South Dakota rocked western South Dakota, “The Cattleman’s Blizzard.” A reported 75,000 livestock did not survive.

“I’m just so damned whipped,” Rancher Steve Schell, who lost half his herd, told the Los Angeles Times. “I can’t explain what it’s like because, mister, you can’t imagine it until you witness it with your own eyes. To see 15 or 20 cattle piled up — the fruits of all your hard labor — you have no concept. I sat down and bawled. Then I got up and threw up. It hurts just to talk about it.” – From the Rapid City Journal, 2013.

South Dakota snowstorms also bring out our “better angels.” Countless numbers of people, over our history have opened their homes and businesses to stranded motorists and basketball players!

In the winter of 1992, my brother-in-law, Russ Leonard took in five basketball players from Platte who had been stranded in Parkston. “I think it was most of the team,” he said. He found all available snacks in the house and as teenagers they ate every one of them.”

“1962, from mid-February to the end of March, six weekends in a row there were blizzards. It was tough on farmers.” Recalled George Sandhoff.

Some farmers ran out of provisions. Herb Wudel with his son David and friend Terry Grajkowske, loaded a pick-up truck with groceries and fuel for a farmer in need. The truck only got so far, so David and Terry loaded the provisions on sleds and toboggans and walked over the snowdrifts to make the delivery.

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Edited by Jessica Kay Brown

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