The "Long Winter" of 1880/81 

I have always found The Long Winter to be a horror story stuck in the middle of a bunch of pleasant kid's books, which is far more terrifying than anything Hollywood ever conjured up. Death was right there beside them all winter and there was no way to escape. They simply had to keep twisting hay sticks and trying to swallow little bits of coarse bread, and keep watching Pa go out to haul hay hoping he would make it back before the next blizzard came. I have read eight of her books enough times to have them memorized, but this one I have only read a couple of times. It haunts me. All of my life, it has driven me to be sure I had food in the house early in the fall, and a way to heat the house as best I could, even though I don't live anywhere near the Dakotas. My own experience with southern Kentucky in '78 was enough to drive it home that really bad winters can hit elsewhere as well, as Texas and Arkansas learned this winter. Just FYI, I thought I heard you say that Eliza Jane was Laura's aunt. She was not. She was Laura's sister in law. She was Rose Wilder Lane's aunt.

When your house is being carried down the river for a long enough period that you've got time to build a raft to leave it, you've had a rough time.

We had a blizzard in 1976...we lived on a farm (in 2 cheap mobile homes) in a sparsely populated area. My folks were keen on preparing for the worst, so we didn't need anything, but locals used snowmobiles to check on families and make sure they were okay. As a kid, I thought that was the coolest job ever.

I read the Long Winter every year, it’s tradition ! It always reminds me to “be grateful for all I have, and I remember I’m lucky to have it” , remembering what Ma told Laura when there was very little wheat in the bag. I still have the set of books that my Mom got me for Christmas in the 70’s. Each book is marked with an .85 cent price tag. Love Garth Williams illustrations in the books. It is said he did researched / visited each sight before he took on the task . I recommend everyone read the original books by Laura , so great for kids and adults alike

I stand utterly surprised this channel hasn't been taken down to prevent ppl learning from History.

Thanks again ‘History Guy’. Another superb telling of history worth remembering!😊

When I was little there were people alive who had lived through the blizzards of '80 and '88. They all had harrowing tales to tell.

Similar situation happened in the Chicago area on January 1st 1979. I remember it vividly, it started to rain the night of the 31st. and then the temps dropped quickly. The rain turned into an ice storm turning all roads into skating rinks before it turned to snow. Most people on the roads had to abandon their vehicles due to the ice. Then the snow started around 3am and did not stop for two days and 33'" of snow plus winds which also caused these massive snow drifts around homes. It was crazy! My uncle had just given us his old snowblower he bought in 67' and this baby was a monster. 36" opening, 6hp motor, self propelled, even had chains on the wheels! This thing could easily handle the snow and ice chunks with ease. I figured I could make some money with this baby and I did, a local townhome HOA hired me and my brother to clear the sidewalks. I may have only been 11 years old but we made over $1,200 for two days work (12 hour days). It was hard but for an 11 year old $600 was big bucks.

Your timing is perfect with this story. Even here in Houston we had a week of 20 degree temperatures that we were not prepared for. Our infrastructure is hardened against HEAT, not cold. I am happy that we had, what is normally an attractive nuisance, a fireplace. We had to boil water for a week and over 1/4 of a MILLION people need plumbers.All our citrus trees are dead. The lone fig tree survived. Your comment about neighbors helping neighbors rang very true.

Whenever I think my life is tough, I reread my favorite Laura Ingalls Wilder Book: THE LONG WINTER. Eliza Jane Wilder's description of the coffee grinder making flour for bread, and twisting the hay into little sticks to burn for fuel exactly comes from Laura's historical book. We know very little of "tough." Tu, 03/16/2021

I love the little house series by Laura Ingalls Wilder.

Just finished reading the Little House series to my daughter. We went over a lot of details about weather, pioneering and farming.

Everybody’s Grandparents: “SEE?? UPHILL BOTH WAYS!”

You never cease to amaze me with the depth of your search for history. My family roots in the US were set in Yankton SD when Johann and his wife and five sons arrived in 1837 from Bavaria. To think they survived such a winter amazes me.

THIS, is history worth being remembered. In the context of the winter storm here in Texas it’s especially poignant. Excellent work!

I enjoyed this episode more than most & I always enjoy them. My family, to be specific, my Great Grandparents are mentioned in Laura Ingells the long winter. They were the Wilmarth's who owned the Wilmarth Grocery. In fact, my father was born in 1921 & his mother died in 1922. He was bounced around for a while, but ended up being raised by his grandmother, Margaret Wilmarth, who was the wife of George Wilmarth who owned the grocery. George enlisted in the 57th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry in 1861 & reenlisted 3 times serving for the entirety of the Civil War, before settling in De Smet after getting married & buying the store. I'm currently trying to find more information on his unit. Again, thank you very much, my dad is gone now, but this episode reminded me of him & I loved it!

I live in rural South Australia. This kind of weather is as far from my understanding as String theory. Though i can cook an egg on my car

I read her book every winter to feel good about living in a warm home with good access.

"Times can be tough, but good times will come again" ... wise words and optimism of an earlier age. Many thanks Mr History Guy for sharing these uplifting sentiments.

I have to say I have truly enjoyed dozens of your presentations ! Its a joy to listen to someone who speaks well, articulates wonderfully and your enthusiasm for history is contagious to me and a great many others ! Thank you !

I grew up on the prairie and watched the crazy weather in all seasons. Never has a storm analysis been read with such urgency as we heard at 4:05. Well done!

"Spring has come..." I cannot describe how profound that sounds, after being through such long period of hardship. 😥

My Great Grandfather homesteaded in ND in 1879 and lived in a sod hut. Tuff Scandinavian ancestry is why I'm still here.

I have to give the history guy credit, he covers obscure history that is overlooked by in large part of historians.

Read "The long Winter" by Laura Ingalls Wilder - you'll FEEL what it was like to endure.

I remember reading about this when I read the Little House series. I find myself in awe and admiration of the people who survived this when there was no central heating or houses that weren’t as insulated as they are now. The pioneers were hardy people.

"People worked together" , this was key to survival back then. Not so much now.

Just watched your video again. Again thanks. I was in Iowa as a small boy during the blizzard in the late 1940's. As a young teenager, I was with the US Marines in a blizzard in the Sierra Nevada. If you have food and keep warm, a blizzard is no big deal. It is terrible if cold and without food. My adult friends who survived the Battle of the Bulge told me unforgettable stories.

I was trapped at school in Niagara in the Blizzard of 1977. I remember the second to last bus leaving, and then I saw the children walking back to the school. They looked like grey ghosts coming out of a grey-white darkness. My bus would never come. This was a Friday afternoon and 2000 children were trapped. Most would make it home by Sunday. I live far from the school so I was the last kid left at my school and needed to be boarded at a teacher's home who lived near the school. I didn't make it home until Monday afternoon. I may have been the last kid to make it home. The snow drifts cover buses and nearly buried houses. So, I've been in a real blizzard. The blizzard of '77 was deadly. Actually, I've was in the Army in Meaford Ontario and it snow every day. Lake effect blizzards were common. Even when it was sunny it would snow. One night the winds were so fierce, and the snow so harsh, it hurt your face walking into it, so you had to walk backward from your room to the mess hall. And if you ever want to experience blizzards at any time, go to Newfoundland they've had so many, they are the norm. Oh, just one more note about my adventure during those four days in 1977. Not only did I live through an historic natural disaster, while I was at school, during the evenings we watched the historic mini-series "Roots". It had a profound affect on my soul. Later that weekend when I made it to the nearby teachers' home, I was treated my first experience with the digital world. I got to play the first computer game console, "PONG." When my parents came to get me that afternoon, I didn't want to go home because I was having too much fun playing video games. I remember more about those four days than I do the last four days I just lived. I still remember that cold, hard, school room floor and crying. I hated school. I was Asperger's and ADHD back in the day when they only had one word for me, BAD!! My principal hated me, and I hated her and I was trapped in the place I hated most. School. Now, in my best Marlon Brando voice, "The horror, the horror."

Having read The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder to my daughter 20+ years ago now, I'm grateful that although I can remember a winter with an October blizzard (1997) and a March blizzard (1998), we had plenty of breaks in between with no deprivation and few wants going unmet. Certainly, I have never twisted hay or grass to make fuel for a fire as mentioned both in your video and in the book, but it must be hell on your cold fingers!

Excellent. Would love to see a video about the Blizzard of 1899. Dallas hit its all time low of -8 degrees. That is significantly worse than what Texas just went through.

I remember my father telling me about the winters of the late 1970s. Only way to get through town in Rockford was using snow mobiles or huge 4 wheel-drive trucks with chains on the tires. He had to shovel his roof off several times due to area roof collapses. Later my parents moved to Davenport, IA where ironically the winters were more tame, although still very cold. Christmas of 1984 had a HIGH of -9. Eventually my parents split and my father moved to south-central Texas where he enjoys the weather and telling me about it. Great video! Kudos!

The Long Winter is one of my favorite books of all time. Well at least out of my 52 years of reading. Good video. Cheers from North Carolina

My husband and I enjoyed this about the long winter. I remember reading about it also in one of the"Little House On The Prairie" book's. I've always been a fan of Laura Ingalls Wilder and her family and loved the show.There was actually a show one time that was about a serious blizzard I remember well watching. Thank you very much for sharing such enjoyable history like this. We've been watching you now for about three years. God bless.

We only had a taste of it in 1978 in Ohio for ten days. If you were caught on the roads, you'd expect to be towed and fined if not murdered by ppl who didn't want you clogging the road. You couldn't see your hand in front of your face, let alone see through a windshield. We had heat though and food in the kitchen. I moved to Maine 30 years later. Up there they bellyached every other day that they're in a blizzard. In 10 years up there, the worst I ever saw was a hard snow. No blizzard.

My favorite Laura Ingalls Wilder book.

"Times can be tough, but good times will come again." Unless you are killed, that is.

So pleased to see this section of history covered, being a Laura Ingalls Wilder fan. (Eliza Jane was Laura's sister-in-law. She was an older sister of Almanzo, Laura's husband.)

The quote I will never forget. "Winter is coming"

My great Aunt Eighty was the eighth child and since the family had run out of names to name her, she was named 'Eighty'. She was born during the winter of 1880/81 too. Great video!

I remember reading 'The Long Winter on a 80 degree July day and shivering.

Thank you very much sir...you make every subject interesting. I've learn not to skip one episode.

Yeah....think I'm gonna stop complaining about winter... Most Americans today would fall apart from losing internet and having to shovel out their cars. These people went through sheer hell for months with no hope for "FEMA" aid or National Guard anything, and they pulled it together, even with horrific deaths and near starvation.

Thank you for your constant approach to educating. God Bless you and yours stay strong join me in praying for our fellow citizens.

My dad grew up in Yankton SD as a kid we would go there on vacation in the van all the way from California. He said he moved to California because he never wanted to shovel snow again.

I remember the Blizzard of '78!

Well, that ending was just what I needed right about now. I think I'll take that to heart.

As a retired meteorologist, I approve of this type of PSA. It is a reminder that, in these times of fast-changing climate, extremes will be either more frequent or more extreme or both. Here in BC, we have lived through major forest fires, a heat dome, and now three major rainfall events in a week this year. We are still struggling to get through the last one that just finished. All these were record breaking, not just by a little, but by unthinkable amounts. Don't all disaster stories involve weather? Probably not yet.

In Oregon, we just survived an ice storm of particular ferocity. We were without power, water or transportation for 10 days. Your video put things in perspective.

I so enjoy this channel... I only wish my grandmother was alive to witness all this. Thank you again!

I did not do great in high school history class. Not for the fact that I didn't like it or it was boring, I just had a teacher who catered to the school board and I didn't want to play sports. So I was automatically on the"down curve" even if my test scores said otherwise. All bs aside, you make my love of history come alive again. I love your channel.

Thank you Mr and Mrs History Guy.

This reminded me of one of the great storms of our modern era. The “White Death” of 1977. The entire Niagara peninsula was covered as if by an avalanche. Houses completely buried. There are pictures of people walking at the level of street signs and of Police delivering medicines by snowmobile.

Here in the Pacific North West we had a bad Blizzard in the winter of 1949/50. I was 4 years old at that time. My only recollection of that winter was that my brother, who is 8 years older then me, had to walk in front on me as the show where we lived was over 3 feet deep (or more) and almost a deep as I was tall. I've been up to Mount Rainier and see first hand snow 20 to 30 feet deep. I can't imagine six months of that.

Fascinating! One of the better THG stories! We pampered modern folk can probably not even imagine how hard it would be to live for...months?...when the trains can't get through to bring supplies. No interstate highways? No big tractor-trailers delivering truckloads to the various Walmarts in town? Then, the snow *finally* begins to melt...but wait...here come the floods! Thank you, Jesus! Holy cow, I would not have survived. It's a miracle that anyone did.

Amazing where you get these stories. Never fails to fascinate. ❤️👍🇨🇦

Early on in the video you mentioned Grant Co, NE SD. I lived S of there in Codington Co. Parts if not all of Grant county lies in the Coteau Hills. Beautiful rolling hills in the summer and, from a distance, beautiful in the winter unless you want to drive through it after a blizzard. I was once up there talking to the sheriff. During the conversation he happened to say, "This is God's country" Upon being asked why he said it he replied, "Because no one else wants to live here!"

Now days people get upset when their Internet goes down.

I love Laura Ingalls Wilder book "The Long Winter". I read it everytime we have a blizzard.

I remember the Blizzard of 78 here in Ohio, where we had 100 mile per hour winds up in Cleveland Ohio and 75 mile per hour winds down in Columbus Ohio.

Rural Pennsylvania, we wait for the snow plow. They are a blessing, take out a lot of mail boxes, and they are wider than the road width. But you have got to love them.

Experienced my one and only blizzard of 2006 in Denver. Was driving an armored truck for Loomis when it hit.

What a harrowing story! It is almost impossible to imagine the privations and hardships those plains settlers had to endure, but you have a done an amazing job. I was held spellbound.

The origin story of “You think this is bad? Why, when I was a kid the winters were so bad, the trains were buried over the tops of the engine smoke stacks! And I had to walk to school in those drifts, uphill, both ways, carrying my 3 siblings the entire way!”

Thank you! What a winter! My mom read Ingall's books to us, in addition to my personally reading them several times. Until now I had a distorted view of winters in that area, as also of the midwest and northeast in general. This changes my opinion of the northeastern parts of the US, a little... For sure the death tolls were likelyquite a bit higher than reported. I think Natives would not have been included much. Wonder how the Natives faired? The same year Great Britain also experienced extreme temperatures. Heard of a story were a guy's grandfather and granduncle had been caught in a Dakota blizzard as children, year unknown. They got lost so they just pulled a blanket(s?) over themselves and fell asleep on the buckboard. When they awoke in the morning, they found themselves in the barn. They were saved by the ho rse'(s?) sense...

The saddest part of Laura Ingalls Wilder's book was when her Pa's hands had frozen so much that he couldn't play his fiddle anymore. He sounded defeated, as if it was the first time he'd realized that him and his family could actually starve to death. It's a harrowing book.

Wonderful to know the facts of the winter of 1880-1881 in South Dakota and surrounding states/territories. I have read "The Long Winter" by Laura Ingalls Wilder many times through the years. It is such a compelling story it never gets old to me. To know that her account was an accurate description of that winter, just makes it all the more dramatic. Thanks for posting the video.

I feel really old... " When I was a kid in winter 1973 & 1974... I still can not do fractions because we missed so much school due to blizzards and snow fall" Oral history of Miss Dae duBois circa 2021

I am here in Ft Collins expecting a Blizzard in a few hours, so there is nothing better than watching documentaries about historic blizzards to see how mine stacks up!

A reminder of the old saying , we will carry out the work, God and Weather Permitting.

Thanks. Yes, hard times will come. When folks help one another, we can endure.

In recent history, here in South Jersey, the winter of 2009-10 was very unusual. We had multiple blizzards, one after another. Then when things started warming up in April we had multiple heavy rain storms. So in April there was flooding everywhere, in areas where there weren't even any streams or swamps. There were rushing streams flowing over roads where there actually weren't any streams. I took pictures all over. The ground was saturated, to the point where, in some areas, people couldn't use their indoor plumbing because there was no place for the water to go to in their septic systems. All of this is something I will always remember. I'm glad you mentioned the Blizzard of 1888. I have seen several pictures of its aftermath in New York City.

Wow. I reside in Pennsylvania and I thought this February 2021 was a bad snowy month. I take it all back now, 26 inches one day and several more days after, well I’ll take it compared to that crazy snow storm of 1880/81. Great job History Guy.

Very good as usual.

I often wonder on the timing of your Topic of choice presentations... so that we can look back just in time to see what's just ahead in our timeline. That adds a Prophetic quality to your historical outreach efforts. Great job!

My daughters read all of Laura Ingalls's books. Now they are being band by the new enlightenment.

Laura Ingalls Wilder was one of my favorite authors when I was a kid. I've shared her works with my own kids.

For every generation, it's always "the worst it's ever been!!!" It's really not, and everything will be just fine. Thanks History Guy.

In Jan 1976 I picked the wrong time to move to rural NE Illinois. It was 15 below as I moved, household goods in a trailer I was pulling. And the winter got no better. The town, Emington, had 20 foot snowdrifts on both ends of town, in the cut throughs. The wind out of the NW was so severe that no fallen snow stayed where it fell. I assumed most was seeing had fallen hundreds of miles away. It didn't let up. Never had I imagined snow so bad or winter winds so strong. Then, the severe weather continued for 8 more winters. The next winter was every bit as bad. Whiteouts, 30 mph winds almost every day and night. Stories to tell. The New Years Eve snowstorm of 1978-79 dropped a record snowfall in and around Chicago. I'd moved back to the Chicago suburbs by then. Enough of tiny towns. I would never live in rural towns again. That New Years Eve storm, it took all the apartment dwellers three days to clear the parking lot. Snow over he tops of cars. Thank god we did not go to a party. The cold winters were unrelenting until the winter of 198485, when the temperature gauge on the local bank read minus 34. The next winter, 1985-86 went back to normal. Around 10 days a little below zero. And the severe winters were over. Those were my first years in northern Illinois. I thought I'd made a huge mistake moving there. But once the severity stopped, it stayed stopped. I ended up staying there till 2012. But those first 8 winters were unbelievable. No more record snowfalls. No more minus 25 or 30. I know I can survive that now, but I choose not to have to. So many frigid memories. So much black ice on roads. So many weird shaped snowdrifts in so many places. So many whiteouts.

3:30 - 3:50 The reason many homes in the Tug Hill Plateau area of New York State east of Watertown and north of Rome have ladders permanently affixed to the sides of houses next to a second story window. Of course in that area, as are the downwind sides of most of the Great Lakes, such deep snowfalls are the norm.

This storm occurs at the tail end of a 500 year period called "the Little Ice Age".

My Grandpa went through the Blizzard of '88. when he was 13. Tunneling everywhere they went. We had a bad one in Nebr. 1975. 25 inches of wind blown dry snow, stranded cars everywhere, including mine. Three days before I could get at it. Could walk upon the drifts as if they were sand.

I am a transplanted Michigander. I probably should not say this but after viewing this video, I went outside to play golf in Aiken South Carolina where the temperature is 71. People up north ask how we like living down here. I tell them in Michigan you watch the Weather Channel for information, in South Carolina you watch it for entertainment. Keep safe everyone.

"The Long Winter" is one of my favorite of the "Little House" series

I think Eliza Jane was Laura’s teacher, then her sister-in-law. She is described in “Farmer Boy” by Laura as eventually being one of Almonzo’s favorite siblings.

I remember the harsh winters of 1975-1978 in Minnesota. Especially the Great Blizzard of '75-- aka the Super bowl Blizzard. School was out for three days -- in MN! We had over a foot of snow, and the winds whipped it into 30-foot drifts. The wind chill was down to -80 at times, and my home town had several people die on account of it. Extreme weather has always been more likely than we like to believe. 100-year rain, 100-year flood, or 100-year heat, 100-year drought, 100-year cold or 100-year snow -- you'll get one of them every fifteen or twenty years. And even if you don't right where you are, someone across state or over the state line will.

Best example of notable history by you, in my opinion so far!

Stories like this add perspective to my own family history. I have great-grandparents who passed that winter in the Northern Plains.

My two oldest daughters are in a Little House book club and reading this book right now. Thank you for being who you are.

Hello from Canada! We call this kind of weather "Wednesday".

Very good job at finding the facts and narration thank you

I believe that even Seattle, which rarely gets snow, had a historic snowstorm in 1880. Not sure what month.

This was amazing! Thank you for quoting Eliza Jane Wilder and Laura Ingalls Wilder.

During that winter, railway tracks where laid on the frozen St-Laurence river between Montréal and Longueuil, in Québec. The ice was 10 to 15 feet thick.

BTW… this episode prompted me to read Laura Ingalls Wilder 'The Long Winter, which I'm currently doing'. I've never read the "Little House" books before, but it's quite good. The only thing is, I know what's coming and I almost dread what's going to happen to Ingalls et. al. (I've only just got past the 2nd blizzard, and they all still think the trains will get through.)

Here in the softy south of England snow is quite rare. Two inches is enough to cause mayhem. In 1963/64 we had a winter more fitting to our 51deg. North. We have had snow that hung around for more than a couple days since then, rarely more than a week if that, but nothing like that. We're well overdue for another 63/64. Thanks THG.

Wishing you Good Times Sir.

I have heard of the blizzard of 1888, but I didn't know about 1880/1881. Thank you. Now, if you can only do something about RU-vid's total lack of consideration of when to plop down an advertisement.

Another splendid episode with your signature ability to transport viewers to another time. And thank you for puzzling out the recent sound snafus. The sound quality and consistency were outstanding!

Men got snowblind digging out the trains, Laura Ingalls Dad helped dig them out. Also Almanzo had a secret stash of wheat for seed he gave some to their family. Laura also twisted straw till her were raw. Highly recommend the Little House series.