Photo taken in 1936 outside Westboro, Missouri,  on Highway C.  Martha Tucker Marriott, a former Westboro resident.

Submitted by Beverly Clinkingbeard

Eighty-three years ago, the main topic of conversation? SNOW! The year? 1936.

Few can remember, but many heard from their grandparents or parents about the difficult winter of 1936. Photos from Martha Tucker Marriott prompted a look at the news of then.

NW Missouri and SW Iowa folks thought there was lots of snow, but “the old timers of 1936” said maybe not, and remembered, “…1912 when Clarinda had 31 degrees below zero and snow on the ground. The winters of 1888, the worst in history in the belief of many, and of 1873…” Be that as it may, miscellaneous notes from 1936 bear what our fathers and grandfathers said. It was a difficult winter.

Just how difficult? Not only were there drifts and drifts of snow, but the temperature hovered at zero or sub-zero for 22 consecutive days. Today, on television weather news there are sometimes comparisons to other years. It is also interesting to note how often 1936 takes the win.

A 1936 January ad read, “Wanted: 10 acres of ground on which to pile my snow.” From January 1 to February 14, there were 39 inches of snow recorded, and still snowing. The scooping was endless and the inconvenience equally so.

“School [Westboro] was resumed . . . after being closed for a week due to the conditions of the roads. However, the buses could not get out and attendance cut almost in half.” Country school attendance was sporadic or on the basis of if and when a student could make it. Homer School was re-opened when 60 men, three crews, opened the road for school, and also a medical emergency. Forty men scooped the road open between Westboro and Tarkio. In addition to town volunteers, the farmers helped the road district clear roads and this was the years of the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corp). Not everyone was politically on board for the CCC, but their man power was utilized and may have eased some opinions. They opened roads so feed could get to cattle. Some places the drifts were so high that men would be placed on top to shovel away the snow someone shoveled from below. They shoveled the snow so the snow plow could get through and shove it further.

“Digging their way through drifts to assist a physician in his race with the stork, shoveling a path so that an undertaker can get through to a house touched by death, clearing the way for doctors, supplies and fuel to reach farm homes in which there is sickness – members of the Tarkio Soil Conservation Service and CCC camps are in their third week of uncovering Atchison County from the heaviest snow in years.” The diary of Mary Klute (a life-long Atchison County resident and faithful diary keeper of weather) alluded to these efforts and reported the wind blew the snow back into the roads while they slept. Re-scooping was needed.

“The Mail Must Go Through” slogan of the U.S. Post Office was severely tested when trains were not operating. “There were no mail trains for 142 hours…” – almost six days. Meanwhile, other means were used. From Westboro, “Maurice (Shorty) Macrander and Kyle Green have been assisting George Crawford, the local rural mail carrier, during the past week via horseback through the drifts.” “…Lester and Harry Morton went to Corning [MO] for Tarkio bound mail. Within 2 ½ miles of their destination, at the Irvin Buck farm, they were unable to proceed . . . They enlisted the aid of Mr. Buck, who hitched up a team of mules, drove the Mortons to Corning and brought them and the mail back to the car.”

Towns were isolated as trains could not get through. This resulted in a coal shortage. The first week of February, “Due to the scarcity of coal the local lumber yard [Westboro] is limiting each customer to one-half ton.”

By March, the Town of Elmo was in trouble for the lack of coal. “Through the aid of the Wabash Railroad, which responded so promptly to the plea of the town board when the coal shortage seemed critical, much suffering was prevented in Elmo. When an appeal to the firms supplying the local dealers did not give any definite promise of coal the city officials asked the local Wabash agent to wire his company asking for help.

“Wm. Greenland, division Superintendent, upon learning it, immediately ordered a car of company coal, in transit, to set off for Elmo.

“The car was in town less than 24 hours after the request had been made. The company let the town have this coal at cost and the town sold it to the citizens for the same price, endeavoring to let those in the most immediate need have it first.” Elmo Register

By the end of March, 1936, the area was dealing with melting snow. “The Golden Rod a mile north of town [Blanchard, now J-64] which was graveled late, has been impassable for some time on account of snow drifts melting into the road. Cars were able to get to Northboro Monday for the first time. Most of the roads have been drying fast, although the R.S.V. McKie farm is blocked both east and west yet.”

Then there were the effects of snow and mud. “There was a lot of money lost in the county during the cold spell with business almost at a standstill and amusement houses shut off from their patrons . . . it was almost impossible to put a pound of beef on a steer during the six weeks cold spell . . . It was a troublesome time for everybody and everything, even the sparrows.”

None of this seemed to deter March being the moving month, when new rental agreements took effect or farms were purchased. It probably required extra effort and planning, but a few local moves were: “Mr. and Mrs. Chalmers Kelly are moving to the Sherm Harness farm and Elmer Dinsmore is moving to the Glen Dunham farm vacated by the Kellys. Mr. and Mrs. Sam Jones are moving to the Jim Jones farm. Mr. and Mrs. Lee Smith have moved to the west George Rolf farm. Grant Rolf is moving to the old Fred Horstman farm while Elmer Rolf will run the farm vacated by Grant Rolf. The Hoffman Brothers will move to the old Frank Peck farm. Irvin Rolf will farm the place where Herbert Rolf moved from.”

April 1, 1936, was the last recorded snow and anything but an April Fool’s joke. The nation was still in the grip of a national depression and . . . “grain prices in Omaha – top price wheat $1.04, #2 yellow corn 63 ½ cents a bushel.”

With all that snow melting there were overflowing rivers to contend with and then …  “a terrible hail storm and 5” rain. Hail piled up like snowdrifts and was the first rain since the snowdrifts. N.J. Russell [Blanchard], local garageman is still wondering what would have happened if – he’d just driven his car over the bridge south of town having taken the shortcut from Braddyville and became stuck just after crossing. As he was working, he turned around, and the bridge started floating downstream. The creek had risen high enough that it was over the roadway, taking the bridge and all.”

So those are a few of the challenges our fathers and grandfathers faced. Now we know why snow storms of today never equal the snows of 1936. But leave it to the youth to be undaunted by weather or depression.

April 24, 1936, “The annual high school [Westboro] walk out was held Tuesday afternoon, most of the students walking to Tarkio.” It doesn’t say what they did in Tarkio, or if they walked home, caught a vehicle ride or returned on the afternoon train. Does anyone remember?

Meanwhile, stay warm, and may our winter weather fall short of the 1936 record setter. ‘Till next time.