Re: Blizzard of '77

Posted by blinwmi on January 14, 2009 at 21:07:33 from (71.82.89.212):

In Reply to: Blizzard of '77 posted by geo in MI on January 14, 2009 at 07:25:26:

Growing up in West Michigan 4 miles from the big puddle, the big storm came in Jan of 78. We were in our first week back in school from Christmas break. At that time all my aunts and uncles lived within 2 miles of the farm. As the school bus was coming to drop us all off, the snow was already so bad that the driver just dropped all the cousins off at the farm so he could head back to town and have a chance of getting there. We ended up being stuck at the farm with grandpa and grandma for 5 days, 13 kids with sleeping bags and aphgans spread over the living room floor. My dad and uncles all had snowmobiles so they stayed home to keep the woodfires going so the pipes didn't freeze. Seemed like we had the JD B set out on the generator for 4 days keeping things running. The snow was so bad that grandpa didn't even try spreading manure, the gutter cleaner chute was in a lean too on the barn and for the week he just let it build a pile on the floor. The milk truck was stranded about 2 miles from us, the driver had made it to the first farm from his house and it set there for 3 days. Grandpa pulled the plug on the tank for 3 days and let it go down the drain.
The biggest thing I remember was grandpa getting up to go do chores Thursday morning and looking out the living room window to the farm 1/2 mile north seeing it in full blaze. Grandpa called dad and one uncle, he had a one ton dodge wrecker with a snowplow. After calling the neighbors to let them know the barn was burning, grandpa got the 3020 with the snowblower fired up and headed up the road blowing. My dad is a deputy for the county so when the fire trucks in town 4 miles away couldn't make it out of the town limits, the fire cheif called dad and told him the circumstances. While grandpa stayed and helped to try to salvage any of the cattle, my dad with the 3020 and uncle with the one ton plow headed for Rothbury to bring in the fire trucks. They made it the 4 miles to town and turned around to head back to the farm, to find thier path blown back shut. They had to bust drifts the whole way back to the Allen farm. By the time they got there the barn was down, they just used the fire trucks to hose down the house and other odd farm buildings so they didn't ignite. The farm owner and grandpa had been able to get three cows out of the stanchion barn, 26 cows didn't get out. Come to find out, the fire was a result of an electric heater the guy had left in front of the water pipe where it came into the barn. The barn was a total loss, and everything but the three cows. The owner gave grandpa the three cows for his help in trying to save him. I remember we kids weren't allowed to leave the house but we all were glued to that big dining room window watching the events a half mile away. We finally got to leave the house when grandpa got back and went to start morning milking at 1 in the afternoon. I don't know how he did it because all his stanchions were full but he made room for the 3 new cows somewhere.
The neighbors ended up rebuilding the barn, I can remember the day we came home on the school bus and saw a brand new bulk tank setting on a semi out front. But they never put a cow in the barn, they went so far as to get the tank put in, a new pipeline instead of buckets and a new silo, then the young couple got a divorce and the barn never had a cow in it.
At that time there were 19 dairys, that I can remember, with in 4 miles of grandpas place, today there are 4 still milking.

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