More Chattanooga Photos, Aftermath of the 1978 Blizzard
Over a foot of snow fell and winds made drifts as high as house roof-lines. Nearly all roads were closed and the temperature dropped to below zero. That was nearly 36 years ago, after the Great Blizzard of 1978.
Here are a few more photos of Chattanooga after the Blizzard of 1978.
Severe blizzard conditions continued for over 24 hours. When the winds subsided people began digging their way out of their homes and crews opened up the roads.
I recognize Jim Fisher standing on the right in the photo above. I do not recognize the other two men. Maybe someone can identify them.
That was one huge drift! Did Catherine Miller shovel all that snow herself?
Below is the Chatt Volunteer Fire Department, probably one of the first establishments to be dug out.
Thank you to Jerry Miller for sharing the photos.
Karen
Greetings from the Chattanooga, Ohio, area. Yes, Ohio has its very own Chattanooga, aka Chatt, a small village in west-central Ohio, near the Indiana border. I have been doing family history research for over 20 years and am a Board-Certified genealogist, certified by the Board for Certification of Genealogists®. My main genealogical interests are family research, cemetery research, and historical and genealogical research of the Chatt area, with a focus on two area Lutheran Churches, both named Zion Lutheran, one in Chatt and the other in Schumm, Ohio. Family names I am researching include Miller, Schumm, Brewster, Rueck, Reid, Headington, Huey, Bryan, Whiteman, Schinnerer, Scaer, Breuninger, Bennett, and a few others. I belong to several lineage societies, including the Daughters of the American Revolution, U.S. Daughters of 1812, First Families of Ohio, and First Families of Mercer and Van Wert Counties. I am also a retired dental hygienist and our church organist. I hope you enjoy Karen's Chatt.
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Fun to see the farm tractors doing the work! Farmers are exceptional people who get very little credit for what they do and how they do it. In fact there are very few who would even allow their picture to be taken or others to praise them before they simply went on to the next challenge. Odd that in the news last week a farmer rescued his 87 year old neighbor who was back a long drive with waste deep drifts and lost power, so he was cold and trapped. The farmer was there on his big tractor before snowplows and rescue crews could get to the scene.
The farm was also a great equalizer. Long before women were even seeking equality in the workplace, women tackled what ever needed doing on the farm right beside their husbands, children and livestock. Need out weighed politics, societal custom, or recognition for most country folks. Only city folks would be surprised to see a woman driving a tractor or cleaning stalls, or even shoveling snow. What have we come to? Now we have to ask if a woman could really have done the shoveling? Why? Is she too weak? Too slow? Too special? Too spoiled?
Check out the fancy snow shovels!! Now that is how you shovel snow, with a grain scoop. The best snow shovel ever made, yet not very common today. Guess they cost too much or hold too much snow. Back in the day when farmers ruled the country side, no one had snow shovels!
The men with the tractor. Far right Jim Fisher, center Allen Felver, I don’t know the man on the left, he’s probably the owner of the tractor.
Author
Thanks! I thought it looked like Allen Felver but I wasn’t sure.
Heavens! I initially thought these were photos from Chattanooga, Tennessee! My family lived in Licking County between Mt Vernon and Utica, and the blizzard amazingly did not wipe out the electricity. Good thing, since our house was all-electric! We did not have school (Utica) till weeks later, and then for a month or more we went in the evenings to a vocational school, I think it was. There was damage to our school buildings, apparently.
Author
No, this is the *other* Chattanooga! That was quite a nasty storm and I hope we never see another like it. Thanks for writing!