Snow People Pics of the Past

By Anita Mae Draper

Winter, Penrhyn Stanlaws, artist, 1907. LOC Prints and Photographs Division

This 1907 art poster shows a style of snowman with legs instead of a wide base. The artist, Penrhyn Stanlaws, has created a scene with a woman in a fashionable outfit with her hands in a hand muffler and standing beside what appears to be a male snowman. Unfortunately, the publisher isn't identified.

A snowman is not just an iconic image to be sung about and enjoyed during the holidays if you are someone who lives in a snow belt. Anyone who has ever made a snowman, dreamed of making one, or watched a movie featuring a snowman knows that snowmen keep us snow-thumpers sane through the winter months. First, you need a certain type of snow that is moist enough to hold the snow together and that means around freezing point with lots of moisture in the air. Second, the weather that brings the perfect snow to make a snowman is the same type of weather that melts snow. Hence, seeing a snowman brings hope of a thaw, yet it also brings the inevitability of something wonderful passing.

Since snowmen are also found as snow women and snow people, I wanted to see what they looked like in the past. I was pleased to discover that circa 1853, Welsh photographer Mary Dillwyn (1816-1908) took the first known photograph of a snowman. Although the original is held in The National Library of Wales, it is displayed on the their Flickr site, as well as on Wikipedia.

The earliest known photograph of a snowman, Mary Dillwyn, photographer c.1853. Public domain

I find it fascinating that a c1853 image shows such detail in the clothing, never mind the fact that someone thought that playing in the snow was worthy of a photograph. (If I may inject a modern term, Go Mary!) 

Wikipedia also shows a 1511 woodcut with a wonderful scene of people dancing around a snowman, with more snowmen in the background. 

People are dancing around a snowman, woodcut by Holzschnitt von Schneemann, 1511. Wikipedia, public domain

In 1867, a book translated as, The World is Small: Twelve Pictures from Children's Life. A family book, was written in German by the poet Emil Rittershaus with drawings created by Eduard Schulz. The drawing for Winter shows a large snowman surrounded by children. 

Illustration from The world in small: twelve pictures from children's life. A family book by Eduard Schulz with text by Emil Rittershaus, Flemming, Glogau 1867. Wikipedia, public domain

Can you tell if the snowman in the above photo is a snow man or woman? Although it seems to have been made with the same style of two- or three-ball snowmen we often see today, it has the older style wide base. Could this be for stability, or is it because the person depicted is wearing a robe or skirt? 

The National Archives of The Netherlands Flickr photostream shows a delightful image taken on January 21, 1913, where the country's Queen Wilhelmina & Princess Juliana were created as "snowmen." 

The Dutch Queen Wilhelmina and Princess Juliana as snowmen. The Netherlands, 21 January, 1913. National Archives of The Netherlands Flickr photostream, public domain

The features are outstanding, but were the snow people of the Dutch royal family a true likeness? A bit of research from the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division in Washington led me to a photograph of Queen Wilhelmina and Princess Juliana taken the following year, in 1914. What do you think?

Queen Wilhelmina and Princess Juliana, glass negative, 1914.  LOC public domain

In April 1924, American silent film actress Fritzi Ridgeway was photographed cuddling up to a snowman. The image doesn't say where the photo was taken, but Fritzi was born and raised in Montana and due to the proximity to the mountains I'm sure she could have found sticky snow in April if she wanted to make a snowman. It's interesting to note that the base of this snowman is also quite wide, and along with his cap appears to give the impression of a being a boat captain due to their wide stance on a lolling ship.

What it takes to melt a snowman this young lady has - Miss Fritzi Ridgeway, April 2, 1924. LOC public domain

My research led me to believe that the snowman's shape didn't change much until the sending and receiving of Christmas cards became a huge part of the holiday season. Postcards from the late 1800's onward show every type of snowman imaginable, much more than can be added here.

I'll close with a very modern 2018 cell phone photo taken by my daughter who is an English as a Second Language (ESL) teacher in South Korea. Snow in winter is as familiar to Jess as Christmas is in December, but not so much to the people in her current resident city. So when she awoke one morning to find a light dusting of snow rapidly melting, she raced to a sheltered spot and made a tiny snowman. My heart swelled as I thought of my daughter, halfway across the world, taking joy in something as simple as snow.

Snow is cold, wet, and miserable when you have to deal with it on a long-term basis, but it's also wonderful to play with and to create something that will make people smile. It's part of our natural cycle and most of us would rather live with it than give it up because we know there will come the day when temperatures rise and all snow people will melt away. 

The Welsh photographer, Mary Dillwyn, knew the importance of building a snowman when she took her 1853 photograph shown near the top of this post. Making a snowman is a great stress-relieving activity for the mind, body, and spirit. 

Have you had the chance to make a snowman? If you've never made one, what style would you make if you could? 

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Anita Mae Draper lives on the Canadian prairies where she uses her experience and love of history to enhance her stories of yesteryear's romance with realism and faith. Readers can enrich their story experience with visual references by checking Anita's Pinterest boards. All links available on her website at www.anitamaedraper.com

Horses Wearing Snowshoes

by Anita Mae Draper

Woodcut from Historia Delle Genti, by Olaus Magnus, 1565 edition. Library of Congress 

While researching my Lapp & Finn heritage, I happened upon the above image of a woodcut from a book published in 1565 about the history of northern people. Intrigued, I soon discovered that North Americans also put snowshoes, and even mudshoes, on their horses when needed to distribute their weight over a larger area to keep them from sinking into the snow or mud.

In 1888, James Mason Hutchings wrote In the Heart of the Sierras, a comprehensive work of natural and human history of Yosemite. On the topic of traveling through snow, he experimented with wooden snowshoes on horses and came to a successful conclusion which he describes in his book in detail, including this next illustration which shows the underside of the wooden snowshoe.

In the Heart of the Sierras by James M. Hutchings (1888). Public Domain

Concerning the snowshoes, Hutchings wrote that, "...Each animal seems to have an intuitive knowledge of what they are for, as of the duties expected of them; for, carefully lifting the foot higher than he would under normal circumstances, with a somewhat rotary and semi-oscillary movement, he throws his foot forward, and one shoe over the other, with such intelligent dexterity that they rarely touch each other...There is no confusion or even awkwardness in their use, although there is in appearances when seeing horses in such ungainly-looking appendages."

Similar horse snowshoes were used in the British Columbia goldfields as shown in this next image from the book, Prospectors, Promoters and Hard Rock Miners by Ian McLeod (with Holly McNeil). 

Bill Stewart with a horse on wooden snowshoes in Stewart, B.C.; Courtesy of Stewart Historical Society Museum

In 1891, Edward James Glave led an unoffical exploration from Seattle to Alaska with the purpose of finding a transportation route with adequate forage for horses. Such a route would enable Alaska to receive food and goods as well as send furs and gold south without depending on water routes. Instead of staying close to shore, Glave headed inland and then north, following the valleys where his animals had no problem finding nourishment. Glave's horses had been trained to walk the narrow paths on mountainsides when they needed to find a pass through, but when he encountered deep snow, he taught them how to walk on snowshoes...human snowshoes...

In the article, Alaskan Exploration in 1891 by John Bonner, published in The Californian Illustrated Magazine Oct 1891 to May 1892, Glave said, "They were the ordinary Canadian snowshoes, oval in shape, and rather small. At first the horses were awkward with them; but after a time they learned the trick of spreading their feet apart, and seemed to understand the purpose of the unusual hoof gear."

Around 1881, Edward Whymper engraved a winter scene showing a horse with a different type of snowshoe pulling a cutter in Eastern Canada. More open than the solid wood type, these round snowshoes were crafted of wood, metal and leather, based more on the traditional look than the wooden type.

Horse in Snowshoes, Pulling Cutter, Eastern Canada, ca.1881; Courtesy of Glenbow Archives

A close-up of the above snowshoe style is on display online through the digital website, of the Norsk Folkemuseum (Norwegian Museum of Cultural History) where they are called hestetruger (horse snowshoe). 

Similar to the underside of the solid wooden snowshoes, the metal chains and leather straps help to keep the snowshoes from slipping on ice and snow. Here's an image from the McCord Museum in Montreal that shows the underside of the snowshoe as a man puts one on the horse.

Putting Snowshoes on Horse, about 1900; Courtesy of the McCord Museum

Although this next image looks like a line of mounted antique baby shoes, what you're looking at are ca.1900 horse snowshoes displayed at the Canadian Museum of History. This type of horse snowshoe isn't as common as the others, probably due to the expense of crafting the leather "boots". I wonder if they were made for a particular horse, or could they be adjusted to fit different sizes?

Horse snowshoes, circa 1900. Canadian Museum of History

The history timeline of Bradford, Ontario, Canada, states that in 1872, "Bradford prospered with businesses such as lumber and mattress making using Marsh hay. Horses used in the harvesting of the hay used wooden snowshoes like clogs strapped to their front feet to prevent them from sinking into the marsh."

Using the Library of Congress Chronicling America website, I found numerous newspaper articles that mention snowshoes on horses including these topics:
- Idaho County Free Press (Grangeville, Idaho), January 2, 1902 (Horses on Snowshoes common in the Buffalo Hump District)
- Mountain Home Republican (Mountain Home, Idaho) April 8, 1922 (Horse on snowshoes to take the mail and supplies through)
- The Owyhee Nugget (Silver City, Idaho) December 7, 1911 (The shoes the horse wears are round, similar in construction to those worn by men)
- Wood River Times (Hailey, Idaho) April 11, 1887 (If the breaking team were provided with horse snowshoes, such as have been used in the mountains of California)

Although the above newspapers are from Idaho, you can see that snowshoes were used in other mountain regions when the path became treacherous due to the weather. They weren't only used in the west, either. I've mentioned that they were used in Eastern Canada, but did you know they were used in New England as well? Check out the article, Collector's Antique Tools, Gadgets in Good Hands, about the Sheffield Historical Society in Sheffield, Massachusetts, and how it's preserving the past, including a photo of the actual size of a wooden horse snowshoe. 

Did you know that horses wore snowshoes? What do you think? 

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Anita Mae Draper is a veteran of the Canadian Armed Forces who served twenty years on Air bases with her eyes on the skies. She uses her experience and love of history to pepper her stories of yesteryear's romance with hardship, faith, and joy. Anita Mae Draper's published stories appear in Barbour Publishing, WhiteFire Publishing, and Guideposts Books. Readers can enrich their story experience with visual references by checking out Anita's Pinterest boards. All links available on her website at www.anitamaedraper.com

Winter Travel by Caboose

Heated caboose on sleigh runners labelled "Saskatoon Beer", 1900-1909. Source:

Western Development Museum Curatorial Centre, Saskatoon, SK

Did the above image grab your attention? It sure caught mine. I was researching images of winter transportation, such as school bus sleighs in heavy snow zones, when I happened upon what I first thought was an early party bus. Considering it is heated by a stove and shows two women and a man in well-dressed clothing, it seemed to be the right setting. However, further research seems to indicate that the heated caboose in this 1900-1909 photograph was actually used to transport beer from Saskatoon Brewing Company to Saskatchewan's thirsty bars, and not the people who would drink it.


The word caboose intrigued me as I'd only heard it referred to as the back end of a train, but when I searched for winter caboose I found an exhibit for 100 Years of Transportation in Lanigan and District at virtualmuseum.ca. Thanks to the Lanigan & District Heritage Centre for granting permission to show them here. 

Home-made Winter Caboose, ca 1940. Courtesy of the Lanigan & District Heritage Centre, Lanigan, SK

The common denominator of a caboose is the presence of a small stove. In the accompanying text, Marion Barclay writes, "...They were quite comfortable and warm. You plodded along and you never got there very fast. It was a little better than walking."

I discovered that a caboose was often invented and built by a farmer for any winter travel whether it was for school use, church, shopping, or visiting.

Closed-In Rig, circa. 1930. Courtesy of the Lanigan & District Heritage Centre, Lanigan, SK

One prairie province over to the left, Alberta was using the same type of caboose for winter travel. Sometimes they would take an old car or buggy topper and put it on a wooden sleigh bottom - anything to stop the wind and keep the heat inside.

Go-devil sleigh, Dorothy area, Alberta, ca. 1930s. Courtesy of Glenbow Archives, Calgary, AB

Heading back into Saskatchewan, we see how a Catholic priest completed his parish circuit during the prairie winter. 

Father Thomas J. Ash near Meacham, Saskatchewan, n.d. Courtesy of Glenbow Archives, Calgary, AB

You can see the smoke stack in some of the photographs, such as this one from the Sask History Online site with the Western Development Museum (WDM) which shows two women waving from the inside. A note written across the top says, "One like this tipped over with mom inside." 

"One like this tipped over with mom inside", 1930-1939. Courtesy of the Western Development Museum Curatorial Centre, Saskatoon, SK

Also with the WDM we have this image of a caboose showing a man and children with lunch pails. It doesn't say if they were going to school, work, or whatever, but it looks like they would be gone for the day.

The rig we used for winter travel ‘47. Courtesy of the Western Development Museum Curatorial Centre, Saskatoon, SK

Travelling east to the prairie province of Manitoba we find what they called an "Early Bombadier [sic] type bus" used to ferry miners to the Flin Flon mines. I'm fairly sure they meant a Bombardier, although as an anglophone, I remember calling it a "bombadeer" in my younger days as well.

Early bombadier type bus, Manitoba. Ca. 1930s. Courtesy of Glenbow Archives, Calgary, AB

In the 1950s, the Lanigan School Unit purchased a Bombardier for getting students to and from school, and by that time the winter caboose had started to look like the modern version we know today.

Lanigan School Unit No. 40, 1950-1960. Courtesy of the Lanigan & District Heritage Centre, Lanigan, SK

As you've noticed, all of the above images are from the Canadian prairies, but not for want of looking. When I crossed the Manitoba border into Minnesota, however, I found this one in the fonds of the Beltrami Island reforestation project...

This cabin was mounted on sleigh last winter to transport four children to and from school. July 1936. Source: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.

The writeup for the Beltrami Island one says, "This cabin was mounted on sleigh last winter to transport four children to and from school. A stove was kept inside to protect them from the severe cold. The children only missed one day of school the entire winter. Used to leave the house at 6:30 a.m. so as to get to school by 8:30 a.m."

There should be more of these types of images in photo albums and museums all across the snow belt of America and I'd love to show them here as well. If you know of any pre 1950 images like the ones above please let me know, either here in the comments or through the Contact page of my website.

Do you have a preference for winter travel when all of the above images are taken into consideration?

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Anita Mae Draper's historical romances are written under the western skies of the Saskatchewan prairie where her love of research and genealogy yield fascinating truths that layer her stories with rich historical details.  Anita's short story, Here We Come A-Wassailing, was a finalist for the Word Guild's 2015 Word Awards. Her novellas are included in Austen in Austin Volume 1, The American Heiress Brides Collection, and The Secret Admirer Romance Collection. Readers can check out Anita's Pinterest boards for a visual idea of her stories to enrich their reading experience.  Discover more at:

Website - www.anitamaedraper.com

Pinterest - www.pinterest.com/anitamaedraper/

Alberta Ranch Winter Photos

While searching for winter ranch images, I came across the wonderful collection of Hugh Beynon Biggs, an Alberta rancher who took hundreds of photographs of his family and their Drumheller area ranch. Born in India in 1875, Hugh immigrated to Canada in 1893 and shortly afterward bought the Springfield ranch.

I found Hugh B. Biggs on a 1901 Canada census record for The Territories in the district of Alberta. (Alberta wouldn't become an official province until 1905.) At the time, Hugh was single and living on a ranch along with 3 bachelors. It's interesting to note that their names, ages, occupations and annual income were recorded as:
Hugh, 26, Rancher, 1000
James, 20, Cow boy, 60
Harold, 20, Ranch hand, 60
Francis, 34, Farm Labourer, 300

Although many of the photographs in this post show ca1900, I suspect the ones with people in them were actually 1910 since Hugh didn't marry until 1906, and his first of 4 daughters wasn't born until 1909. However, I'm leaving the official photograph captions as I found them at the Glenbow Archives. 

This first photograph shows the Biggs ranch as it would look in the summer. Such a pastoral setting.

Springfield [Biggs] ranch near Beynon, Alberta ca. 1900, Photographer Biggs, H. B, Courtesy of Glenbow Archives.

And this is what it looked like in winter when everything was slapped by the snowy force of the prairie wind.

Springfield [Biggs] ranch in winter, near Beynon, Alberta ca. 1900. Photographer Biggs, H. B, Courtesy of Glenbow Archives.

I suspect digging coal may have been a winter chore, much like logging, as there usually wasn't time for such things during the rest of the year.

Coal being dug from bank, Beynon area, Alberta ca. 1909. Photographer Biggs, H. B, Courtesy of Glenbow Archives.

Sometimes logging with the family was a great way to spend a winter day. That's probably Hugh's wife, Mabel Florence James, and their first two daughters enjoying the ride on the logging sleigh.

Woman and children on sleigh with load of logs, Springfield [Biggs] ranch, near Beynon, Alberta.  ca. 1900. Photographer Biggs, H. B, Courtesy of Glenbow Archives

Ranching in winter is no fun, as can be seen here where one of the guys is loading up a hay sleigh from a huge hay stack. (I'll be showing summer pics of this in a few months.)

Haystack, Springfield [Biggs] ranch, near Beynon, Alberta. ca. 1900. Photographer Biggs, H. B, Courtesy of Glenbow Archives.

From other photos of the Biggs ranch, I can tell you that the horses and hay sleigh are travelling on the frozen river, which is the easiest way to get back to the ranch.

Hay on sleigh, Springfield [Biggs] ranch, near Beynon, Alberta. ca. 1900. Photographer Biggs, H. B, Courtesy of Glenbow Archives.

Whoopsie! He's definitely tipped, however, I don't know if he was trying to pass, or if it's an easy way to unload some hay into the other sleigh. It doesn't look like fun either way.

Tipped hay sleigh, Springfield [Biggs] ranch, near Beynon, Alberta ca. 1900. Photographer Biggs, H. B, Courtesy of Glenbow Archives.

Here they are pitching hay off the sleigh to feed the cattle that stay on the range through the winter.

Cattle in winter, Springfield [Biggs] ranch, near Beynon, Alberta. ca. 1900. Photographer Biggs, H. B, Courtesy of Glenbow Archives.

This next photo of the cattle grazing on the snow could have been taken in fall, after the first snowfall, or it could be in spring after an light snow year, but after the feed has run out.

Cattle, Springfield [Biggs] ranch, near Beynon, Alberta. ca. 1900 Photographer Biggs, H. B, Courtesy of Glenbow Archives. 

The caption for this next one simply says, cattle, but from the geography, as well as the shiny surface on the bottom right, I'd guess the cattle are standing on ice and trying to get a good lick or two.

Cattle, Springfield [Biggs] ranch, near Beynon, Alberta. ca. 1900 Photographer Biggs, H. B, Courtesy of Glenbow Archives.

And now for some fun. I don't know if these are the four Biggs daughters, because their ages don't match what is recorded at Alberta on Record, and I couldn't find any other census records for them, so they could be visiting children out for a day of sledding. Whoever they are, the seem to be enjoying themselves. 

I'm posting these in order of sequence as to tell the story of their day's adventure.

Children playing with sleds on hillside in winter, Springfield [Biggs] ranch, near Beynon, Alberta. Photographer Biggs, H. B, Courtesy of Glenbow Archives.

Children playing on hillside in winter, Springfield [Biggs] ranch, near Beynon, Alberta. ca. 1910-1915 Photographer Biggs, H. B, Courtesy of Glenbow Archives.

One thing I love about snow in the country is that when it covers everything, it dulls sound. Without leaves rustling in the trees, and other sounds of summer nature, you can hear cows bawling, dogs barking, and coyotes howling over a mile away. And looking at the happy faces in these pictures, I believe I can hear them. Listen...

"Look at me Dad! Look at meeeeeeee..."

Children playing on hillside in winter, Springfield [Biggs] ranch, near Beynon, Alberta. ca. 1910-1915 Photographer Biggs, H. B, Courtesy of Glenbow Archives.

Children playing in winter, Springfield [Biggs] ranch, near Beynon, Alberta. ca. 1910-1915 Photographer Biggs H. B, Courtesy of Glenbow Archives.

I am grateful to Hugh Beynon Biggs, rancher and photographer, for his images of life, work, and play on an Alberta ranch. I'm especially thankful to the people who saved his life's work, and to the Glenbow Archives for posting it online and thereby making it available to everyone. 

Would you like to see another post or two on the work of H. B. Biggs including photographs of cowboys, summer chores, and women on the ranch? 

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Anita Mae Draper's stories are written under the western skies where she lives on the prairie of southeast Saskatchewan with her hubby of 30 plus years and the youngest of their four kids. When she's not writing, Anita enjoys photography, research, and travel, and is especially happy when she can combine the three in one trip. Anita's current release is Romantic Refinements, a novella in Austen in Austin Volume 1, WhiteFire Publishing, January 2016.  Anita is represented by Mary Keeley of Books & Such Literary Management. You can find Anita Mae at  www.anitamaedraper.com

The Dakota Hard Winter of 1880/81

BY: Michele Morris

A long time ago, I read the stories of Laura Ingalls Wilder and her family for the first time. The Little House books captivated the history lover in me. They still do. 

My favorite of the series is The Long Winter. Mrs. Wilder accurately detailed the events of what would widely become known as the Dakota Territory’s Hard Winter or the Snow Winter of 1880/81.

During the summer of 1880, the people of Dakota Territory had no forewarning of the winter to come. Indian summer lasted into October and folks were taking their time with final preparations for winter. Hay still needed to be cut, feed corn picked and firewood gathered. Little did these hardy pioneers know how profoundly a little procrastination would soon affect them.

Suddenly, in mid-October,1880, without warning, the vast Dakota prairie skies darkened and it began to snow. According to most accounts, folks didn’t panic when it started to snow. It was early in the season, after all, there’d be plenty of time to finish winter preparations, but quickly it became apparent the blizzard wouldn’t soon end.

White out conditions.

Blizzard after blizzard blew across the plains of Dakota Territory, and by mid-December, snowdrifts completely covered single story buildings. Farmers had to tunnel from their house to their barn. There are stories of settlers tunneling out of their home only to have to burrow back down through ten, or eleven feet of drifted snow to reach their livestock in the barn.

A group of cowboys gave an account stating that a twenty-eight-foot deep canyon filled to the top with drift snow. Twenty-eight-feet! That’s a lot of blowing and drifting snow.

The Dakota Territory settlers were a hardy bunch and adapted to the freezing temperatures and continuous snowstorms until their food ran low. The threat of starvation loomed heavy over the towns as day after day the supply trains failed to arrive. Businessmen formed committees to ration out food and fuel, so everyone had their fair share. Families moved in together to share heat and chores. In my research, a diary entry from a town’s woman said that after blowing snow had covered her windows, and the lamp oil had run out, sitting in the near dark day after day became the most distressing and depressing part of the Hard Winter.

 

By January 1881, trains had suspended service to the area due to the massive amounts of snow. In an attempt to resume rail deliveries, railroad companies hired hundreds of men to dig out the track, but to no avail. As soon as the men dug out a stretch of track, a new storm would begin and blowing snow would fill in all their hard work.

February 2, 1881, another massive blizzard bore down. There were nine straight days of white out conditions, and no winter thaw. It seemed the season would never end.

While there was much hardship during the hard winter, there was little real suffering. Ranchers lost livestock and farmers lost crops, but there are very few reports of human deaths. This is a testament to the hardiness and comradery of the settlers.

Finally, in the late spring of 1881, the weather quickly warmed and the snow melted . . . In three days. Vast sections of the plains were flooded and ice jams clogged rivers. The town of Yankton was almost entirely washed away. More lives were lost in the floods after the blizzards than during the entirety of the Hard Winter.

Living in the south, I’ve forgotten how cold winter can be. My Michigan family laughs when I complain about the cold 60-degree weather. (I know, it is a little pathetic!) I can’t imagine living through a winter like the Hard Winter of 1880/81.

Do you have any winter tales to tell? Have you had to survive without heat during a blizzard? Or maybe an ice storm took out your electricity for a few days? Please share your experience in the comment below.

Thank you for joining me here at Heroes, Heroines, and History. Have a blessed January and keep warm!

Blessings,

Michele

Michele Morris’s love for historical fiction began when she first read Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House book series. She grew up riding horses and spending her free time in the woods of mid-Michigan dreaming of days-gone-by and knights-in-shining-armor. Therefore, it only makes sense that she now writes historical romance with a touch of suspense. Married to her high school sweetheart, they are living happily-ever-after with their six children, three in-loves, and six grandchildren in Florida, the sunshine state. When not spending time with her large brood or writing, Michele enjoys photography, genealogy, and cooking.