North Dakota

[Pat]

Robert, When I was stationed at Minot AFB there was a case where a local high school girl was out in the barn helping her parents with the milking and left to go the short distance to the house to do her school work. Next morning she didn't come down for breakfast and when her mom went to wake the oversleeper her bed wasn't slept in. For some reason she had become disoriented and missed the house and froze to death in the back yard. There were strong winds and blowing snow and temps well below zero F. Another risky behavior is not dressing for the conditions because you are only going to be outside for just a minute... Then you slip and fall or something and you are in the grip of hypothermia in moments.

Her death was totally preventable BUT they didn't have a rope to follow as they should have. Familiarity breeds contempt.

How the "Indians" made it? The ones not predisposed to being able to "handle" the conditions were eliminated from the gene pool early in the tribe's occupation of the area. The Indians in that area included the Mandans and the Flatheads who constructed large permanent winter lodges of logs and earth. Still not a picnic by any means but not all that difficult compared to say the Lapp, Inuit or Aleut.

Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[Pat]

Egon, I can recall cars left on the roadside along the federal highway between Minot and the air base would only have their radio aerials showing above the snow, if that. Huge drifts would pile up in certain places in a day or two and then the wind direction would change and they would disappear and reform in other locations.

A big joke back they was about being pure as the driven snow. A look at a drift gave the truth. There would be alternating layers of snow and dirt.

Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[egon]

Tents are not that bad to live in during winter conditions as long as one has a good source of heat.

The natives also had winter camping spots that took advantage of terrain for better living conditions.

Egon [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

[robertn]

Pat,
My Uncles had thier car run over by a tank...

My Grandparents were living in Herlong, a town half way between Reno Nv and Susanville Ca. My uncles were in high school. they had worked long and hard to build up a Mercury; had built a warmed over flathead, lake pipes, paint, etc.

It snowed... a LOT... Lots of cars parked along the street in front of houses.

Herlong happenes to be an US Army munitions depot. So, there were various military vehicles around, including tanks. After the big snow, they had equipment out clearing roads. Why tanks, I do not know. But, one of those tanks ran over my two uncles newly customized Merc... Flatter than a pancake!

this was an amazing series of storms that dumped incredible amounts of snow on the Sierra. To give an idea, US40, which later became Interstate-80, one of the major East/West highways in the US, was shut down over Donner Summit for SIX weeks! It buried highways, houses, businesses... It was a record storm, the likes of which had not been seen for years, the likes of which buried the Donner Party.

I have seen pictures in books about the Truckee/Donner area. It was amaxing how deep the snow was, and how long it fell.

[Pat]

Robert, Hard to top that story or even get close. The closest I can come is: The previous owner of my property was in the dozer business. One day a guy parked his brand new just bought pickup behind one of the big dozers and the driver didn't see it or feel it when he backed up. Looked like a flattened aluminum beverage can. Oh well, stuff happens.

Did the Army pay off on the auto destruction?

While I was in Minot the only thing ever destroyed by a snow blower clearing parking and taxi areas on the flight line was a couple air policemen who may have been napping on the job and could have been frozen when pureed.

I have been over all those areas multiple times.

A friend of mine turned in a reservation with a restaurant hostess and when the list worked its way down to his entry it got several chuckles. He signed up as a party of 19, the Donner party. She announced over the PA system in the waiting area, "DONNER party or 19."

Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]