The bus headed home during the 1940 blizzard, ran off the road so they stayed overnight at two farm homes! The George Kreugel farm home had the girls, and across the road, they took in the boys. Only a farm home could feed all of those hungry kids before the days of
deep freezes!

A memorable storm indeed!

Mary Lahammer tells the history of three deadly Minnesota blizzards along with meteorologist Paul Douglas, climatologist Mark Seeley and historian Hy Berman. 1880s’s Laura Ingalls Wilder blizzard, 1888′s Schoolchildren’s Blizzard and the 1940 Armistice Day Blizzard are all brought back to life.

There’s a 5-min video excerpt posted to the Almanac FB page.

My dad grew up around Dodgeville and Lancaster, WI. On the day of the blizard, my dad was quarterbacking a high school football game. He said the wind got so fierce that when the ball was punted into the wind it landed 20 yards behind the punter.

Meanwhile, my Aunt Louise’s husband Bill was duck hunting on the Mississippi. He and his hunting buddy were among those who did not survive. Once the storm was over, my grandfather and my dad drove over to the river and dredged for Bill’s body. They hooked him through the boot and it was small comfort to have a body to bury. His wife, my aunt, was pregnant with their first child at the time. My dad was 16 at the time and says he became a man the day they brought Bill Steffenson’s body home.

Alma, Wisconsin is located on the Mississippi River just below the Chippewa River. Beef Slough is a very popular duck hunting area and many were rescued over the course of two days. Fortunately only 2 hunters lost their lives in our area.

In addition we are hosting an “open house discussion” the afternoon of Sunday, November 14th and we invite all who experienced the blizzard or have family stories to tell to join in and share.

Katherine Goodman
Executive Director
Wings Over Alma Nature & Art Center

What’s your last name?

I think it would be relatively easy to duplicate this same situation. No warning, very mild and pleasant morning, and then eventual whiteout.

Here’s more detail from the MPR story (just in the event you don’t go there and see if for yourself). Hmm, a human chain. I wonder who organized it:

A passenger train loaded with duck hunters and a freight train collided in front of the Watkins depot. Unable to see in the white-out, the passenger train’s crew missed a track-side signal. An engineer and fireman were killed. Watkins residents formed a human chain to lead the passengers to safety. (Minneapolis Star Journal, courtesy Minnesota Historical Society).