3/15/2007:
March in North Dakota means basketball and blizzards. The former…a celebration of youthful athleticism and achievement. The latter…an often deadly reminder that the fate of those of us living on the Great Plains is often in the hands of Mother Nature.
The Saturday, March 15th storm was an intense and fast-moving “Alberta Clipper,” originating in Northern Canada as a result of an unsettling pattern of high and low pressure systems, and although it didn’t last long or produce an unusually high amount of snowfall, winds of 50 to 80 miles an hour blew with deadly force across the plains.
The day began very mild. Mrs. Lawrence Ramsey and her sisters were ice skating on a pond in front of their farm house near Crystal, ND, but had to quit when the ice began to melt. Warm afternoon temperatures caused melting and puddling in the farm yards across the region causing farmers to take advantage of the mild weather, hastily doing their morning chores so they could get to town and enjoy the day. Many of them were trapped in town, or were injured or even died as they tried to race back home ahead of the fast-moving storm later that day.
Weather forecasting has always been an inexact science, and in 1951, people just did not have advance warning of the rapidly moving blizzard. One story exemplifies the tragedy of this violent spring storm. Mr. and Mrs. Warren Taylor farmed just 4 miles southeast of Dazey. The evening of March 15th, Leo, 17 and Donald, 15 took their twin ten year old brothers, Dickie and Robert, rolling skating in town. After skating they left for home in their car. Their car stalled and they began to walk home. When the boys didn’t show up on time, Mr. and Mrs. Taylor got worried. News of possible danger spread quickly, and neighbors began searching for the boys. Ralph Bender and Beaumont Stowman from Dazey started out at midnight, walking about 15 miles in the storm looking for the boys. At 7:45 a.m., the morning of the 16th, the older boys, Leo and Donald were found frozen to death. Vernon Jacobson, another neighbor out searching, saw the feeble wave of an arm, and began digging. Vernon uncovered Dickie, who would die just a few minutes later, but his twin, Robert was alive and taken to the hospital in Valley City. Robert would be the only one of the four brothers to survive the storm that night.
Hundreds of stranded travelers survived the blizzard by staying with their cars although some of them did experience severe frostbite. A few of those who left their cars got lucky and struggled their way through the storm to safety. Of course the storm was also tough on wildlife and farm animals but two lucky turkeys emerged from a snow bank after being buried in the snow for 23 days on the Robert Grindler farm near Rogers and a live sheep was uncovered at the Fred Schroeder farm near Valley City 17 days after the storm.
When it was all said and done, the March 15th, 1941 blizzard caused 71 deaths in North Dakota and Minnesota.
By Merrill Piepkorn
Source: “Looking for Candles in the Window: The Tragic Red River Valley Blizzard of March 15, 1941” by Douglas Ramsey and Larry Skroch