Winter in North Dakota can be a challenge, but it also offers great experiences and traditions. Dakota Datebook joins in the celebration of winter with a look at Vinterfest!
Snowshoeing in the 1880s provided a means of winter travel, laughs, daring rescues, and community spirit. Snowshoes were especially useful in deep snow. With snowshoes on, Attorney E. T. Herrick could “scoot” across the country, unaware that a foot or more of snow lay between him and solid ground.
One train car passenger became fascinated with the snowplow on the train. He snowshoed ahead to watch it in action. When the train appeared, he failed to notice the danger and was sent flying fifty feet into the air, landing in a snowbank forty feet from the tracks. Despite the mishap, he became more “convinced of the grandeur of the scene and the efficiency of the steam plow.”
Hannaford resident Gus Hemmersfead snowshoed to Dazey, though he would have made it quicker “had the shoes not sat him down a few times to rest.”
Some even preferred snowshoeing to using a horse. One man, described as a “Martyr,” would exchange a pony and tack for “a brace of snowshoes” or “anything that doesn’t ‘buck’ in harness.”
The winter of 1886-1887 was tough for Emmons County pioneers. With provisions running low and horses struggling in the deep snow, four young men—who had no domestic attachments to mourn—volunteered to snowshoe twenty miles for supplies. They returned with 1,000 pounds of flour and other provisions. The Griggs Courier quipped, “any young ladies would do well to take them for husbands.”
Snowshoeing was popular across the region. A local news item from Winchester in January 1887 simply said, “Everybody on snowshoes.”
Bismarck residents were also looking forward to the winter season in 1887. They had plans for the world’s largest toboggan slide, a bachelor’s club shunned by young ladies, plays, holiday festivities, and a snowshoe club. They even planned regular races to Mandan and Fort Lincoln, with oyster suppers waiting at the destinations.
Dakota Datebook by Cody Goehring
Sources:
- Bismarck Tribune, February 20, 1880, p1, “Wanted to Know How it Worked.”
- Bismarck Weekly Tribune, October 28, 1887, p5, “The Social Outlook”
- Emmons County Record, February 25, 1885, p1, “Wanted--To Exchange”
- Emmons County Record, December 10, 1886, p1, “The deep snow hasn’t bothered...”
- Emmons County Record, January 28, 1887, p1, “Winchester”
- Griggs Courier, February 25, 1887, p2, “Hannaford”
- Griggs Courier, March 4, 1887, p6, “Valuable Snow Shoe Club”
