The blizzard of 1949

It is 75 years ago since the winter of ‘49 and the epic blizzard on the days after Sunday, January 1st, 1949 is one I will always remember.

I was born in 1935 in South Dakota and lived on a farm/ranch. We did not have a tractor, so for all of our farm and ranch work we used horses. We would not have survived without our horses.

I have five sisters and one brother, but only my sister Elsie and I were at home in ‘48-49. I was in the 8th grade and attended a country school 4 miles from home.

We had had some snow storms in November and December 1948, but the weather had turned warm — ­some of the...