Most people who have studied history know about the Great Blizzard of 1888. However, few people are aware of another blizzard that year, one known as the “Schoolhouse Blizzard.”
It is so named because hundreds of students and teachers were trapped in one-room schoolhouses during a sudden blizzard in the upper Midwest that winter. Many of these died as they either got lost in the snow trying to get home and froze to death, or they ran out of heat and food in the school and died inside the building.
Since there are few one-room schoolhouses left today, a disaster of this magnitude probably could not happen. But lessons can be learned from this terrible tragedy that apply to us in 2010. Each winter as snow, ice, and sleet grip the Four-State Area several times during the winter months, lives are put on the line when schools refuse to cancel classes. This also applies to churches, clubs, organizations and others who continue to schedule events in severe winter weather. Many lives are imperiled when people refuse to pay attention to the elements.
As a person who travels in winter quite frequently, I always make sure the car and travelers are well prepared and will not travel in extreme cold or when snow or ice is on the pavement. Having it on the side of the road is one thing, driving in it is another.
Class time, worship time, sports time, club time, fun time can always be made up. Lives cannot be. Winter is almost over, but with what is left of it, let’s not set the stage for our own version of the Schoolhouse Blizzard of 1888. Be wise. Be smart. Cancel, cancel, cancel.
David Shipp
Nevada
