March 14, 2019
Recollecting the rough winter of 1948-49
Elders share stories 70 years later
BY HUNTER L. ANDES
BY HUNTER L. ANDES
Winters on the Upper Missouri can feel long and brutal, but comfort can be found in comparing the current weather with that of a time when conditions were much worse. The winter of 1948-1949 was one of these years.
During this harsh winter, area farmers were unable to escape their yards. These farms, which dotted the prairie, could be found waiting for their weekly delivery of mail, groceries and even hay in some cases – which was dropped in by airplane.
“I was pretty young back then, but I remember all the snow we had and the airplanes flying over our farm south of Ryder,” Bonnie (Anderson) Schenfisch of Makoti said. “I will never forget the snow and watching as the groceries fell down to us out of the sky.”
Ardell Folden grew up just to the south of Schenfisch in Blue Hill Township and also remembers objects falling from the sky.
“The mail was dropped once a week and we didn’t have school for six weeks,” he said. “We weren’t able to really move around much because of all the snow.”
During this harsh winter, area farmers were unable to escape their yards. These farms, which dotted the prairie, could be found waiting for their weekly delivery of mail, groceries and even hay in some cases – which was dropped in by airplane.
“I was pretty young back then, but I remember all the snow we had and the airplanes flying over our farm south of Ryder,” Bonnie (Anderson) Schenfisch of Makoti said. “I will never forget the snow and watching as the groceries fell down to us out of the sky.”
Ardell Folden grew up just to the south of Schenfisch in Blue Hill Township and also remembers objects falling from the sky.
“The mail was dropped once a week and we didn’t have school for six weeks,” he said. “We weren’t able to really move around much because of all the snow.”
