I’m from New England and as a kid I remember sitting in a diner (after a big snowstorm) and the plowmen would come in for coffee, breakfast, etc. and shake off the snow and cold and I admired them. Big men, happy men, doing a man’s work. A fun winter memory
Rumor has it that Charlie is still out there somewhere and that the county commissioner says he should be punching through to the main highway within the hour!
Back in the day those trucks had around 150 HP and those were the big ones , in WW2 1.5 tones 6 WD had about 115.00 HP . After the war there were major blizzards in the upper midwest in 1948 -1950 that the US military was called in for help and they came with tracked vehicals as well as transport aircraft to drop hay to the stranded livestock , the bulldozers not only cleared roads but went into the fields to cut paths for the livestock to get to the air dropped feed from the newly created USAF C 47 and C 46 transport aircraft ,at that time right after WW2 we had a lot more ability to react.
What's most important plowing is traction. Take a 1000 hp truck with 2 wheel drive and bald tires and it won't be able to plow. Now take a 140 hp Tacoma with 4 wheels and good rubber and it can plow all day
Now I know why my mother always announced: "Plow's Commin'!" My dad didn't go to work those days, but he knew that announcement meant he had to go shovel the end of the drive so he could go to work the next day. We also knew it meant back to school. If the plow came, we didn't get the next day off. I remember twice in my life when we got two snow days in a row, once when I was in high school and once when my kids were in grade school. We got 5' of snow that storm. The second day, our plow driver, came down the road like these guys. He plowed off up at the corner to the other end of the road. That was about 3 blocks. About a half hour later he came flying past the house. Took the snow about 15 minutes to settle from him going through. I asked how he knew he wasn't going to go off the road when the snow is that deep. He said, I have been at it 30 years. I know where the roads are. If I don't go 50-60 miles per hour, I can't get through it. It's why all of us plow the same routes!
It’s funny how times have changed in terms of closing schools. Here in KY, they close for anything. AC out, bad rain predicted, unusually cold, etc. All will close the schools now. I grew up in the 60’s and I can remember only once having the a]schools closed for weather.
Sort of. They still have a few of these trucks out east, and you can find them for sale occasionally. Stuff was built different back then, now days things are built to a price point not a function. Walter and FWD trucks are massive, overbuilt, amazing pieces of equipment. I grew up in midwest, we have more old FWD then Walter over here. The front pumkin(differential) on an old FWD truck has got to be 18" diameter or better. These trucks had lower horsepower then new trucks, but they also had big gear reduction like a tractor and lower top speeds which is why they could move so much stuff.
Newfoundland here. Stephenville use to have an American airforce base there in the 40s and 50s and my father worked there as an operator on snowblowers and plows. They loved working for the Americans and some settled there. Herd many stories about the Americans and all always good. Treated my father and others with respect and generosity. This is some many years later a wont be ever forgotten. God speed
It is rare to see snow like this today. This was pretty common prior to the 1980s. I grew up in the 60s and 70s and we almost always had snow on the ground continuously from November to April. Haven’t had that in at least 30 years. The last time I had a hard time plowing my driveway open was in 2003 when we had five storms of 1’ or more all in March. The windrows were so high my pickup would not longer push them back. Now I am lucky if I even mount my plow four times all winter. I only plowed twice last winter.
where do you live? I live in upstate New York and we get snow like this all the time. I lived in Bozeman, mt for several years as well and it was nothing to get four feet of snow in a shot. Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, Minnesota, Michigan, Idaho and eastern Oregon and Washington get snow dumps as well as the sierra nevadas in California.
@@AnastasiaRomanov-w9x Northern PA near the NY border. Yes, downwind of the lakes still produce snow, but we don’t get the widespread snow systems like we did 40 years ago. Not even close.
I can't imagine the damage that does to a man's body. That man would have taken 100s of low speed impact collisions per day...multiply that for a 4mth season and 10+ seasons........and lets remember this is 1940s...so that means no seatbelt, no comfy seats, no sound proof cabins, no power steering or power breaks.
@@9ZERO6 yep now everyone has a complaint, no “heat” “seats aren’t comfortable” “I’m quitting cus I’m a little bitch who’s been giving everything” is what they ought to say nowadays
I remember seeing crews of 15+ men walking ahead of plows with shovels breaking up snow pack so plow could bust through. Also big Allis-Chalmers dozers going ahead of plows in the 50's & 60's. Seen pictures of my mother sledding off barn roofs in the 40's. Great video, thanks for posting.
@@gumby511 Does a chimpanzee have "true grit" because they use a rock to smash open a nut? Or the human who figured out how to make a nut-cracker? Nothing wrong with working smarter, not harder.
The farmers in my area were responsible for the roads back then. Usually someone in the neighborhood had a horse drawn road grader. After the big blizzard in 78, they used a Case 2670 four wheel drive tractor with a dozer blade to clear the snow for the milk truck. My dad cleared our road out after that storm with our John Deere backhoe. It was a mile out to the main road.
@@mrpoizun we had a big storm in 1977 too. I don't remember that one very much but I was old enough to remember the one in 1978. There was a snow drift up to the eve of our back porch.
I have heard the farmers in South Dakota talk about this. Their motivation for clearing the roads was to get the milk to the creamery before it went bad. Dozers were kept running 24 hours a day and men working in shifts to keep them going. The biggest barrier was getting fuel. In some cases they had to rely on horses and sleighs to haul fuel into the rural areas. Winter of 68 or 69 if I remember right.
My grandfather bought an army surplus Half-track after WW2 and used it to plow his neighborhood in Ohio for about 20 years until it broke. Was just fun watching that thing push the snow.
@Al Fabeech Uh, that's not how any local government I've ever seen in Wisconsin works--these decisions and their financing are all local. Are you sure you're not just being a disingenuous idealogue?
After having a hard day with a spike in my lifelong MDD, and having to avoid RUclips suggestions of even political stuff I agree with... being suggested and clicking on this old video is a breath of fresh air. 😊 ❤️ Thank you for sharing.
When we had a snow day when i was in high school in the 60s i plowed with the towns Walter Snow Fighter.it had a big V plow and a double wing.What a beast.It got about 2 MPG but it could move some snow.They still use it on big storms.
Sounds like a good paying job, sorry it doesn't involve Tiktok or some "mocha frappe latte bullshit from Starbucks" and 12 safe spaces because the white snow hurt your feelings for being White.
@@willythewave I was thinking about the massive snow storms they used to have in the old days. So... you know how they can do cloud seeding with tiny particles to make moisture condense and eventually fall to the ground. Well... I was wondering if the “dirtier” air of yesteryear had anything to do with those big snowstorms we had previously. The stories of big snow storms seemed to increase around the time of the industrial revolution. So... maybe all that particulate in the air caused bigger/more frequent storms. 🤔 the storms seemed to have decreased once we stopped burning so much wood and coal. 🤔 🤔 🤔
I worked at our local highway department during the blizzard of '77 in Western New York and we bucked plugged roads with an Oshkosh and v-plow with double wings just like this. I remember working two 80 hour weeks during the worst of it.
This from the region I grew up and live. Turin is 40 min from where I live. The plows made at frink in Clayton ny. That has been closed for years. Great video never seen this footage before.
I just love seeing real history and seeing people's everyday lives. Unscripted as it took place. So fascinating. Brings a sense of connection to a by gone time.
You can tell that the snow has been there awhile from how it's frozen into hard layers. I plowed snow for my municipality for 30 years and going out in the rural areas to "Bust Drifts" could be nerve rack. Hoping an abandoned car wasn't buried some where. There wasn't a mail box I couldn't send flying 60 feet.
Great video thanks for sharing this video. My snow storm happened in 1978 I was eight years old and it took the county 4 days to get us plowed out, my uncle got stuck on the farm road and they barely went past his car and he almost didn’t have a car after that. My parents had to walk a mile to the farm to milk the cows and stayed at the farm until they got through the road! They had to milk the cows only to have to dump it down the drain because the milk truck couldn’t get to us. It’s happened twice in my 52 years so far. We had pancakes every morning because my uncle was single and could barely feed himself 😂😂😂 but we survived.
The blizzard of '78. I remember being off from school because of that. I was 9 years old. My grand parents live on a one lane road around a lake in Chelsea Michigan. They got trapped for 3 days. It was common that no one stayed at their home on that lake but my grandfather thought the storm wouldn't be so bad. After two days he called the city and asked, "when are you going to plow our road?" The reply he got was "We thought everyone vacated so if you hadn't called we weren't gonna plow it at all." Well, the next day (day 3) the plow crew came through and cleared the road just for them.
@@monty4336 Oh man that’s something else, I was 8 then so we’re pretty close in age, we live on a north and south running road so when it drifts we get nailed! Luckily we have equipment that can move the snow better than in 78’ so we can manage it better but we still get nailed down. Another thing I don’t understand is the people that just go driving around to see how bad it is? I’ve pulled many dudes having country cocktails and pulled them out.😒 Another story really quick in 68’ the Michigan National bank in Battle Creek got robbed on snowmobile and they never caught the guys because nobody could get around to catch them.😂😂 Happy new year stay well.
I plowed with a 1950 FWD. You can take the jarring when you are young, Just make sure your hands are not in the steering wheel spokes or you were in for a injury when the wheel spun around.
I worked for the highway and enjoyed it. As late as the 1960s we had trucks that the passenger had to use a hand pump to raise the blade. Nothing is more fun than finding a buried car with a V plow. You wouldn't believe it but if you hit a snowmobile track it packs the snow and hits like a brick. One Christmas in the early 2000's a driver came back to the shop shaking his head, I asked him what happened. He said "I was plowing and had a lady riding my butt in a no passing zone, she floored it and got into the unplowed snow flying by me sideways flipping me off with the suv full of kids and presents, I was mad, upset, and had had enough of them for awhile but that doesn't surprise me anymore, it was the old guy that followed me all the way to the gas station, got out and climbed up to my window. I thought oh man, what now? He said thanks for being out here at 10pm on Christmas to keep us safe and could he buy me a coffee?" The driver wiped away a tear looked at the ground and said "twenty seven years doing this and that's the first time anyone's thanked me." We had several men killed every year by inattentive drivers. Some saw horrible accidents at workzones helpless to save someone from a mangled burning wreck. Everyone's got a cell phone now, they know they are your boss too. Just try pulling over to eat your sack lunch in the middle a 16hr day and find out when you get back and the district boss calls you to chew butt before you go to sleep on a cot at the shop you don't remember driving back to, and get up and go again. Thanks guys and gals for keeping the roads open!
And at the end of the season the drivers left leg muscles were larger than the right leg muscles from pushing in the clutch in and out a hundred million times. lol
I lived in west Central Wisconsin, on a gravel road,one time a big grader with a big v blade.came down the road ,@scraping the road ,the blade hit something solid,it stoped the grader cold!!!!!with a bang!!!!!
We used 6 wheel drive graders with chains and the snow drifts were over the hydro wires here in Sothern Ontario before the snowbelt moved 100 miles north.
I was living in the panhandle of West Virginia, up in the hills of Harpers ferry, when we got about 4 ft in 2001. Regular plows couldn't deal with it alone, we were snowed in for 4 or 5 days until they came by with a bulldozer in front of a plow truck in front of a grader, each one making a slightly wider path. Took me a full day to shovel the driveway before that and then another half day after they dumped more snow from the street on it LOL.
As a retired plow driver,our trucks were like Cadillacs compared to the rigs these drivers used and our streets were gold compared to the roads these guys had to plow.The last 15 years I was there our trucks were automatics,no gears to shift and all your controls at your finger tips.We had it made compared to these guys.Those old V plows jarred your kidneys every time you made a hard stop pounding that snow/ice.Glad I didn’t have to do what those men had to do to clear snow.✌️👍
About 1965 I had the pleasure of seeing all of the freshly maintained snow equipment roll out of the Anchorage, Alaska facility...there must have been a mile of powered plows, graders and snowblowers. Was not unusual after/during a snow storm to see a flying wedge of huge snowblowers clearing the runways at Elmendorf AFB. Now, in Wisconsin, mostly I see those big bull plows clearing the roads. In Idaho Falls, they used a conveyor system to load from the plows directly to dump trucks. The innovations have been fun to see. One thing hasn't changed though...the need to shovel out your driveway after they pass by. BTW back in the day, many places had "one track" roads as shown at the start of the video, somebody had to give way for traffic to flow.
I worked for a county road dept around Y2K. We had Mack trucks with substantial structure supporting the plows. I don't think they would have sustained the impact that these early V plows were being subjected too. Hats off to the gents that engineered the structure and the welders who built them.
I saw a similar comment below. I am 65. My dad drove trucks of all kinds when he was young, and I remember him telling me how very, very underpowered trucks were back then, compared to "today" - which would have been in the '70s now.
Near Owen Sound we had the lake effect snow fall. In the late 40's one snow removal company used an Oscoch military 6 wheel drive snow plough. Many talked about it, and how it would plough snow, in the early 70's I was able to conversate with the operator whom confirmed the ability of this snow plow. I remember when the ploughed with Champion road graders, and in fact broke them in front of the cab
Fast forward to today. Snow still piles high. Plows are pretty much the same. The only improvement is we don’t use banjo music anymore in documentaries. And thank the Lord for that!
Getting ready to go out and plow the drive with our side by side, thankfully we didn't get amounts of snow anywhere near as bad as these guys were busting out. The people that did it like this back in the day got us this far today.
Route 26 between Boonville and Turin I remember making the trip well many many times to go skiing at Snow Ridge, the snow was usually as high as the telephone wires every winter tug hill plateau common place
Its a little crazy to think this was pulled from a dumpster in 78. Makes you wonder what other really cool video tapes/reels are hiding in your neighborhood landfill
I remember when I was a kid, we lived between two hills. They would drift in bad. One winter after a bad storm, we heard the plow coming but, it sounded different. When we finally could see it, it wasn't the usual big Oshkosh truck with the V plow. it was two D8s with a V plow in front. The road has been reworked since so it doesn't get snowed in like that anymore.
Lack of decent lighting to plow constantly during night storms? Trying to think of the reason why they didn’t keep up w a storm instead of waiting until the storm ended.
Those plow mounts and associated brackets must be hooked directly to the frame of the truck, the force of a 40,000 pound truck ramming snow like this must be insane!!!
Born in 1946 remember dad pulling snowplow into barn with tractor welding up plow or truck frame and sending them back down the road. We still do that in Michigan the trucks are bigger and the tractors. And today every farmer can weld like a pro.🤗🇺🇸🇨🇦
I grew up in this area, which is the tug Hill plateau East of Lake Ontario, in the 1940s. At that time there were many abandoned farms and towns in decline.
That is a good old video Ed...geez you know I can remember snow drifts similar and old plow would take most of the day to go about 1/2 mile and that was on #10 North of Mafeking.. then a good old Northwester would blow up and fill the sucker right back in again lol... thanks for the share.. will pass it around.. Jack
The mill I work at has an old FWD (four-wheel drive motor company) military truck, at one time it had a snow blower mounted to the front of it homemade and was used to clear local roads, cab is made of wood and tin, old girl is real rough these days but she was driven and park to where she sits now not too many years ago. When my grandma was alive she told me about the trucks that they had rigged up to use around Drumheller in the winter, all handmade by guys with next to no education, wish I could have seen them.
Well besides the guy over in Germany trying to exterminate half the world...The world is probably more innocent today than it ever has been in history. I agree though that these sorts of videos make us nostalgic for a time that didn't really exist.
@@sarthurl9001 thats a real good point about germany. I often allow myself to get narrow minded when thinking about the past. Theres no good without bad, and there was a whole lot of bad back then. However can you elaborate on how you think the world is more innocent today? These technologies have allowed life to get so complex. Nearly the whole world has instant access to all the history of man. We know more each and everyday, less can be ignored. Innocence is diminishing rapidly in my opinion , talk to a 13 year old these days. Its a real shame what they have been exposed to on the web.
When I was a kid my dad plowed snow for the town and the surrounding towns. He had a Walters and it was HUGE. I don't remember drifts quite this deep but we had some serious snow. Some of those scenes look really familiar and took me back. Nice film.
Lake effect snow events sometimes dump 3-5” per hour. I’ve seen it. The wind on that plateau is outta hand,so drifts will fill in to their original size within the hour. The area itself isn’t heavily populated, yet had miles of wide open roads. The video shows the “ fleet” they had, so yes, these men plowed around the clock.
A long time. With low gearing, the clutch never needed to slip much for cushioning. Walter trucks were famous for the durability of the entire drive train.
Back in the late 70's with that big snow storm we got in the Mid-west I recall a big plow coming down the road after we had been struck at home for a few days. Well, the plow reached the bridge, which was about 1/4 away, and couldn't go any further. We were stuck a few more days.
I love seeing content like this. Oh, and here I thought wing blades were a rather new technical achievement as we only started to see them around my area of the northeast about 15-20 years ago. LOL...
I know all to well what those guys went through. I own an old Coleman plow truck similar to the ones used here. I also plow snow from October to June over two mountain passes. Granted I use a modern grader but 5 feet of hard packed snow and up to 12 foot drifts it's hard going. Hats off to those old timers!
Thank you for the memories, I was part of the cdn military snow and ice control over a number of years on 12 hrs shifts. Long and hard especially during a multiple day storm. I’m glad we had the stuff they drive around to day. Only thing I didn’t like was when our crew chief decided to go on 8 hr shifts. Those really messed with our inner clocks. But all said I was particularly proud of our work clearing up streets, parking lots and airfields.
my great uncle used to talk about walking to school and being able to through snow ball DOWN at the cars cause the banks were taller then the roofs of the cars.
Snow coverage in New England is not what it used to be and it’s been that way since the80s, early 90s. It’s not global warming, it’s as cold as you can imagine but it has something to do with storm patterns.
2:20 - LOL..... how many times did the driver's head smash into the steering wheel??!! Pretty sure they only had lap-belts back then. It says around 5:40 the driver's name is "Charlie." Knowing that and where this was filmed, I doubt it would be that hard to find out who filmed this....
I quite literally can remember snow like this in the 1980's here in Nova Scotia, Canada where the D.O.T. would have to call in one of the 2 or 3 massive snowblowers in the province to get through to open the road and get the grader out of the snow drifts that was stuck.
You don't slip the clutch on trucks like that. You just engage it and go, and with no slippage, there's not much wear and certainly no burning. As to those other breakage issues you are thinking of, Walter trucks were famous for the durability of their entire drive train.
This reminds me of a winter storm we had in Minnesota 40+ years ago I had to crawl out a window to get outside to shovel snow away from the door to our house.
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Who else was recommended this video in 2024?
I've search it cuz I was curious on how they remove the snow on the old times. hehehe
Old neighbor sent it to me.
it showed up in my feed
Was recommended out of the blue
I thought you sent it to me.
I’m from New England and as a kid I remember sitting in a diner (after a big snowstorm) and the plowmen would come in for coffee, breakfast, etc. and shake off the snow and cold and I admired them. Big men, happy men, doing a man’s work. A fun winter memory
Then you surely remember the storm of '78', I was working a 3-11 shift didn't it make home that night.
Rumor has it that Charlie is still out there somewhere and that the county commissioner says he should be punching through to the main highway within the hour!
I read this before the city commissioner came out to inspect the work and laughed at how bizarre things were then
hahaha
Poor Charlie, hope he's got a big thermos of coffee in there!
I wonder what Charlie's back was like when he retired.
@@HANKTHEDANKEST ....and a couple of bologna and lard sandwiches.
Back in the day those trucks had around 150 HP and those were the big ones , in WW2 1.5 tones 6 WD had about 115.00 HP . After the war there were major blizzards in the upper midwest in 1948 -1950 that the US military was called in for help and they came with tracked vehicals as well as transport aircraft to drop hay to the stranded livestock , the bulldozers not only cleared roads but went into the fields to cut paths for the livestock to get to the air dropped feed from the newly created USAF C 47 and C 46 transport aircraft ,at that time right after WW2 we had a lot more ability to react.
With 900 lb torque
Back then we airdropped food to feed our livestock, nowadays our administration can't even keep baby humans fed
The Hall- Scott engines had more power then that.
What's most important plowing is traction. Take a 1000 hp truck with 2 wheel drive and bald tires and it won't be able to plow. Now take a 140 hp Tacoma with 4 wheels and good rubber and it can plow all day
Thank you for sharing!
Now I know why my mother always announced: "Plow's Commin'!" My dad didn't go to work those days, but he knew that announcement meant he had to go shovel the end of the drive so he could go to work the next day. We also knew it meant back to school. If the plow came, we didn't get the next day off. I remember twice in my life when we got two snow days in a row, once when I was in high school and once when my kids were in grade school. We got 5' of snow that storm. The second day, our plow driver, came down the road like these guys. He plowed off up at the corner to the other end of the road. That was about 3 blocks. About a half hour later he came flying past the house. Took the snow about 15 minutes to settle from him going through. I asked how he knew he wasn't going to go off the road when the snow is that deep. He said, I have been at it 30 years. I know where the roads are. If I don't go 50-60 miles per hour, I can't get through it. It's why all of us plow the same routes!
It’s funny how times have changed in terms of closing schools. Here in KY, they close for anything. AC out, bad rain predicted, unusually cold, etc. All will close the schools now. I grew up in the 60’s and I can remember only once having the a]schools closed for weather.
@@SMaamri78 and now they do online school on off days with no time to go play in the snow
I know exactly what your talking about.. I grew up in Maine.. what state for you??
I’ve gotten a week of before
I remember this exactly almost in upstate New York, Albany as a kid
That was some serious deep snow. The repeated ramming of that hard=packed snow had to be murder on the machines.
And the driver.
@@jenette16 Repeated crash...no seat belts
Must of had beefy transmission.
Sort of. They still have a few of these trucks out east, and you can find them for sale occasionally. Stuff was built different back then, now days things are built to a price point not a function.
Walter and FWD trucks are massive, overbuilt, amazing pieces of equipment. I grew up in midwest, we have more old FWD then Walter over here. The front pumkin(differential) on an old FWD truck has got to be 18" diameter or better. These trucks had lower horsepower then new trucks, but they also had big gear reduction like a tractor and lower top speeds which is why they could move so much stuff.
@@davenhla and the drivers died early of concussions
Newfoundland here. Stephenville use to have an American airforce base there in the 40s and 50s and my father worked there as an operator on snowblowers and plows. They loved working for the Americans and some settled there. Herd many stories about the Americans and all always good. Treated my father and others with respect and generosity. This is some many years later a wont be ever forgotten. God speed
8.5 yrs later the algorithm brought us here.
And I'm not disappointed, lol. Finally something recommended that I actually was interested in.
Same and this is great!
@@george8873 yes, RUclips just isn’t the same anymore. It’s like having cable. 500 channels of nothing to watch........most of the time.
So what? If you don't like it turn off YT.
@@bobwoods1302 your wattage seems to be a bit low as you appear to be extremely dim.
As a snowplow driver in northern Illinois, you defiantly don't want to wait until its 6ft and frozen lol, love these vintage videos
Also today snow fencing or other barriers to stop the drifting.
It is rare to see snow like this today. This was pretty common prior to the 1980s. I grew up in the 60s and 70s and we almost always had snow on the ground continuously from November to April. Haven’t had that in at least 30 years. The last time I had a hard time plowing my driveway open was in 2003 when we had five storms of 1’ or more all in March. The windrows were so high my pickup would not longer push them back. Now I am lucky if I even mount my plow four times all winter. I only plowed twice last winter.
where do you live? I live in upstate New York and we get snow like this all the time. I lived in Bozeman, mt for several years as well and it was nothing to get four feet of snow in a shot. Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, Minnesota, Michigan, Idaho and eastern Oregon and Washington get snow dumps as well as the sierra nevadas in California.
@@AnastasiaRomanov-w9x Northern PA near the NY border. Yes, downwind of the lakes still produce snow, but we don’t get the widespread snow systems like we did 40 years ago. Not even close.
That looks like it would take forever. I wonder how today's machines would handle it?
I can't imagine the damage that does to a man's body. That man would have taken 100s of low speed impact collisions per day...multiply that for a 4mth season and 10+ seasons........and lets remember this is 1940s...so that means no seatbelt, no comfy seats, no sound proof cabins, no power steering or power breaks.
Definitely a couple concussions
…….. and probably NO HEAT!
@@battlejack1863 Sure there was! It was called smoking cigarettes and wearing layers!
When men were men.
@@9ZERO6 yep now everyone has a complaint, no “heat” “seats aren’t comfortable” “I’m quitting cus I’m a little bitch who’s been giving everything” is what they ought to say nowadays
I remember seeing crews of 15+ men walking ahead of plows with shovels breaking up snow pack so plow could bust through. Also big Allis-Chalmers dozers going ahead of plows in the 50's & 60's. Seen pictures of my mother sledding off barn roofs in the 40's. Great video, thanks for posting.
Outstanding
one guy to drive, 6 guys to stand and watch. state work hasnt changed a bit
Getting harder and harder to find people with the true grit these ol boys had.
Technology has made it so the machines do the hard work and we just operate then for 35hrs straight.
Brute force over brains. I am happy that most of us are smarter now.
@@gumby511 Does a chimpanzee have "true grit" because they use a rock to smash open a nut? Or the human who figured out how to make a nut-cracker? Nothing wrong with working smarter, not harder.
@@gumby511 As a country boy...I'm totally fine with that. More time to do other stuff like play with the kids and stuff.
My Grandpa was one of 'em!
The farmers in my area were responsible for the roads back then. Usually someone in the neighborhood had a horse drawn road grader. After the big blizzard in 78, they used a Case 2670 four wheel drive tractor with a dozer blade to clear the snow for the milk truck. My dad cleared our road out after that storm with our John Deere backhoe. It was a mile out to the main road.
1978??? Where did you live??
@@mrpoizun southeast Michigan.
@@mrpoizun we had a big storm in 1977 too. I don't remember that one very much but I was old enough to remember the one in 1978. There was a snow drift up to the eve of our back porch.
I live there too was there actually big snowstorms back then. We barely get more than a couple inches now
I have heard the farmers in South Dakota talk about this. Their motivation for clearing the roads was to get the milk to the creamery before it went bad. Dozers were kept running 24 hours a day and men working in shifts to keep them going. The biggest barrier was getting fuel. In some cases they had to rely on horses and sleighs to haul fuel into the rural areas. Winter of 68 or 69 if I remember right.
My grandfather bought an army surplus Half-track after WW2 and used it to plow his neighborhood in Ohio for about 20 years until it broke. Was just fun watching that thing push the snow.
@Al Fabeech Uh, that's not how any local government I've ever seen in Wisconsin works--these decisions and their financing are all local. Are you sure you're not just being a disingenuous idealogue?
@@alfabeech life is a lot better if you don’t try to force politics into everything. Give it a go.
@@patty109109 yeah life is a lot better when you stick your head in the sand
After having a hard day with a spike in my lifelong MDD, and having to avoid RUclips suggestions of even political stuff I agree with... being suggested and clicking on this old video is a breath of fresh air. 😊
❤️ Thank you for sharing.
I've worked on trucks like that and a lot larger. Yellowstone still has a Walters plow, with the wings down and spread it is 24 feet across.
That Walter is my favorite of the Y’stone Spring plowing fleet. Such a cool old truck and still in use today.
You guys need to film it and show it to us!
@@oldblueaccord2629 Next time I’m in the area, I’ll poke around and see if I can find where they’ve stashed it for the Winter.
When we had a snow day when i was in high school in the 60s i plowed with the towns Walter Snow Fighter.it had a big V plow and a double wing.What a beast.It got about 2 MPG but it could move some snow.They still use it on big storms.
I love Walter snow fighters. 100% traction. Frink V plows.
What town was this?
OMG can you imagine working a 12 hour shift ramming snow back and forth ?
Yes my kidneys hurt just watching him, sadly been there done that 😁
Brain famagr
Frank damsge
Frain danage
@@rollinsomethingbutiforgot Me frian meh bamage? ohh no...
Yeah...with open headers in front of you and no cats! Wow. The smell all day alone would knock you out.
Sounds like a good paying job, sorry it doesn't involve Tiktok or some "mocha frappe latte bullshit from Starbucks" and 12 safe spaces because the white snow hurt your feelings for being White.
5:55 is why mailboxes were big sellers in the spring.
I can remember when the snow was so high in upstate NY, that you could almost touch the power lines. That was in the seventies and eighties
@@willythewave just like Al gore speaking about global warming, when he lives in a mansion.
@@willythewave I was thinking about the massive snow storms they used to have in the old days. So... you know how they can do cloud seeding with tiny particles to make moisture condense and eventually fall to the ground. Well... I was wondering if the “dirtier” air of yesteryear had anything to do with those big snowstorms we had previously. The stories of big snow storms seemed to increase around the time of the industrial revolution. So... maybe all that particulate in the air caused bigger/more frequent storms. 🤔 the storms seemed to have decreased once we stopped burning so much wood and coal. 🤔 🤔 🤔
I worked at our local highway department during the blizzard of '77 in Western New York and we bucked plugged roads with an Oshkosh and v-plow with double wings just like this. I remember working two 80 hour weeks during the worst of it.
My father in lay had pictures of Oswego, NY from the winter of 76/77, snow was about 3 feet below the power lines.
The town of Verona. Still had one of those plows out front of the town barn on Germany road.
This from the region I grew up and live. Turin is 40 min from where I live. The plows made at frink in Clayton ny. That has been closed for years. Great video never seen this footage before.
At our work, we would watch this movie almost every year. The version we had was titled
“Tug Hill”.
I just love seeing real history and seeing people's everyday lives. Unscripted as it took place. So fascinating. Brings a sense of connection to a by gone time.
You can tell that the snow has been there awhile from how it's frozen into hard layers. I plowed snow for my municipality for 30 years and going out in the rural areas to "Bust Drifts" could be nerve rack. Hoping an abandoned car wasn't buried some where. There wasn't a mail box I couldn't send flying 60 feet.
I love how Joe pera nails this style of commentary perfectly. Relaxing and entertaining
is this joe pera? im confused about the narration matching the video??
It's not Joe Pera.
Great video thanks for sharing this video.
My snow storm happened in 1978 I was eight years old and it took the county 4 days to get us plowed out, my uncle got stuck on the farm road and they barely went past his car and he almost didn’t have a car after that.
My parents had to walk a mile to the farm to milk the cows and stayed at the farm until they got through the road! They had to milk the cows only to have to dump it down the drain because the milk truck couldn’t get to us.
It’s happened twice in my 52 years so far.
We had pancakes every morning because my uncle was single and could barely feed himself 😂😂😂 but we survived.
The blizzard of '78. I remember being off from school because of that. I was 9 years old. My grand parents live on a one lane road around a lake in Chelsea Michigan. They got trapped for 3 days. It was common that no one stayed at their home on that lake but my grandfather thought the storm wouldn't be so bad. After two days he called the city and asked, "when are you going to plow our road?" The reply he got was "We thought everyone vacated so if you hadn't called we weren't gonna plow it at all." Well, the next day (day 3) the plow crew came through and cleared the road just for them.
@@monty4336
Oh man that’s something else, I was 8 then so we’re pretty close in age, we live on a north and south running road so when it drifts we get nailed! Luckily we have equipment that can move the snow better than in 78’ so we can manage it better but we still get nailed down.
Another thing I don’t understand is the people that just go driving around to see how bad it is? I’ve pulled many dudes having country cocktails and pulled them out.😒
Another story really quick in 68’ the Michigan National bank in Battle Creek got robbed on snowmobile and they never caught the guys because nobody could get around to catch them.😂😂
Happy new year stay well.
I plowed with a 1950 FWD. You can take the jarring when you are young, Just make sure your hands are not in the steering wheel spokes or you were in for a injury when the wheel spun around.
Sounds like the narrator is the same guy who did all the old railroad videos for Sunday River Productions. Good stuff!
First thing I thought of was the narrator for the original Endless Summer.
Good stuff!
@sdunlimited1sdunlimited169 Same thing...has to be Bruce Brown.
I worked for the highway and enjoyed it. As late as the 1960s we had trucks that the passenger had to use a hand pump to raise the blade. Nothing is more fun than finding a buried car with a V plow. You wouldn't believe it but if you hit a snowmobile track it packs the snow and hits like a brick. One Christmas in the early 2000's a driver came back to the shop shaking his head, I asked him what happened. He said "I was plowing and had a lady riding my butt in a no passing zone, she floored it and got into the unplowed snow flying by me sideways flipping me off with the suv full of kids and presents, I was mad, upset, and had had enough of them for awhile but that doesn't surprise me anymore, it was the old guy that followed me all the way to the gas station, got out and climbed up to my window. I thought oh man, what now? He said thanks for being out here at 10pm on Christmas to keep us safe and could he buy me a coffee?" The driver wiped away a tear looked at the ground and said "twenty seven years doing this and that's the first time anyone's thanked me." We had several men killed every year by inattentive drivers. Some saw horrible accidents at workzones helpless to save someone from a mangled burning wreck. Everyone's got a cell phone now, they know they are your boss too. Just try pulling over to eat your sack lunch in the middle a 16hr day and find out when you get back and the district boss calls you to chew butt before you go to sleep on a cot at the shop you don't remember driving back to, and get up and go again. Thanks guys and gals for keeping the roads open!
And at the end of the season the drivers left leg muscles were larger than the right leg muscles from pushing in the clutch in and out a hundred million times. lol
Ol Charley could kick like a mule.
And the sciatic pain was probably immense
I lived in west Central Wisconsin, on a gravel road,one time a big grader with a big v blade.came down the road ,@scraping the road ,the blade hit something solid,it stoped the grader cold!!!!!with a bang!!!!!
We used 6 wheel drive graders with chains and the snow drifts were over the hydro wires here in Sothern Ontario before the snowbelt moved 100 miles north.
Where? In Collingwood we don't get much snow anymore.
I was living in the panhandle of West Virginia, up in the hills of Harpers ferry, when we got about 4 ft in 2001. Regular plows couldn't deal with it alone, we were snowed in for 4 or 5 days until they came by with a bulldozer in front of a plow truck in front of a grader, each one making a slightly wider path. Took me a full day to shovel the driveway before that and then another half day after they dumped more snow from the street on it LOL.
As a retired plow driver,our trucks were like Cadillacs compared to the rigs these drivers used and our streets were gold compared to the roads these guys had to plow.The last 15 years I was there our trucks were automatics,no gears to shift and all your controls at your finger tips.We had it made compared to these guys.Those old V plows jarred your kidneys every time you made a hard stop pounding that snow/ice.Glad I didn’t have to do what those men had to do to clear snow.✌️👍
About 1965 I had the pleasure of seeing all of the freshly maintained snow equipment roll out of the Anchorage, Alaska facility...there must have been a mile of powered plows, graders and snowblowers. Was not unusual after/during a snow storm to see a flying wedge of huge snowblowers clearing the runways at Elmendorf AFB. Now, in Wisconsin, mostly I see those big bull plows clearing the roads. In Idaho Falls, they used a conveyor system to load from the plows directly to dump trucks. The innovations have been fun to see. One thing hasn't changed though...the need to shovel out your driveway after they pass by. BTW back in the day, many places had "one track" roads as shown at the start of the video, somebody had to give way for traffic to flow.
I worked for a county road dept around Y2K. We had Mack trucks with substantial structure supporting the plows. I don't think they would have sustained the impact that these early V plows were being subjected too. Hats off to the gents that engineered the structure and the welders who built them.
I'm 40. This is wild to see!!!!! Thx for posting!!
This is a gem of a video. Thanks for posting
Back in the 50s you knew it was a bad snow storm when my dad made me help him put the chains on the rear wheels of the car. They worked!
I saw a similar comment below. I am 65. My dad drove trucks of all kinds when he was young, and I remember him telling me how very, very underpowered trucks were back then, compared to "today" - which would have been in the '70s now.
Near Owen Sound we had the lake effect snow fall. In the late 40's one snow removal company used an Oscoch military 6 wheel drive snow plough. Many talked about it, and how it would plough snow, in the early 70's I was able to conversate with the operator whom confirmed the ability of this snow plow. I remember when the ploughed with Champion road graders, and in fact broke them in front of the cab
Real men and women back then. Love to see old films like these. Great job charlie 👏.
You're right, the wires and circuits in me need some retuning
That wouldn't be the case had I been born 100 years ago!
A real treat, thanks for saving and posting!
Fast forward to today. Snow still piles high. Plows are pretty much the same. The only improvement is we don’t use banjo music anymore in documentaries. And thank the Lord for that!
Getting ready to go out and plow the drive with our side by side, thankfully we didn't get amounts of snow anywhere near as bad as these guys were busting out.
The people that did it like this back in the day got us this far today.
Route 26 between Boonville and Turin I remember making the trip well many many times to go skiing at Snow Ridge, the snow was usually as high as the telephone wires every winter tug hill plateau common place
Yes....that's always tough going . It's unbelievable how much snow you guys get.
Get ready, its coming back!
Its a little crazy to think this was pulled from a dumpster in 78. Makes you wonder what other really cool video tapes/reels are hiding in your neighborhood landfill
I was in Dutch Harbor Alaska one winter and they had a road grader running 24/7. You gotta catch it before it gets too high or your out of luck.
Yes, _you're_ out of luck. 🙄
I remember when I was a kid, we lived between two hills. They would drift in bad. One winter after a bad storm, we heard the plow coming but, it sounded different. When we finally could see it, it wasn't the usual big Oshkosh truck with the V plow. it was two D8s with a V plow in front. The road has been reworked since so it doesn't get snowed in like that anymore.
I see city and county workers have always been the same, with 10 guys standing there watching one guy work.
Lack of decent lighting to plow constantly during night storms? Trying to think of the reason why they didn’t keep up w a storm instead of waiting until the storm ended.
Glad I clicked, this is incredible footage...... *GO CHARLIE !!*
Live in Marquette Mi in the upper peninsula, they still run these massive plows, 5 across down the highway, thank goodness, its a site to see!
West Turin is in the tug hill plateau. Lots of lake effect snow off of lake Ontario
We used to have snow storms like this in Cadillac Michigan but not anymore
Those plow mounts and associated brackets must be hooked directly to the frame of the truck, the force of a 40,000 pound truck ramming snow like this must be insane!!!
Your kidneys feel every bump and hard stop you make.Its a long day and night pounding hard pack.
Born in 1946 remember dad pulling snowplow into barn with tractor welding up plow or truck frame and sending them back down the road. We still do that in Michigan the trucks are bigger and the tractors. And today every farmer can weld like a pro.🤗🇺🇸🇨🇦
Did they not have snow blower attachments back then ?
I grew up in this area, which is the tug Hill plateau East of Lake Ontario, in the 1940s. At that time there were many abandoned farms and towns in decline.
Now, imagine how much longer it took to plow snow in 1839
I was thinking the same thing. How did they manage before automobiles.
@@monty4336 🧹
They went on top of the snow instead with sleighs or didn't go
I live where those movies were made. I have not seen that much snow in the last few years, but remember it well in years back.
I fondly remember those days. Kids today have no idea what a blizzard and five feet of snow is like.
Love these old video's! Great video and channel 👍😁🇨🇦
That is a good old video Ed...geez you know I can remember snow drifts similar and old plow would take most of the day to go about 1/2 mile and that was on #10 North of Mafeking.. then a good old Northwester would blow up and fill the sucker right back in again lol... thanks for the share.. will pass it around..
Jack
Super!!
The mill I work at has an old FWD (four-wheel drive motor company) military truck, at one time it had a snow blower mounted to the front of it homemade and was used to clear local roads, cab is made of wood and tin, old girl is real rough these days but she was driven and park to where she sits now not too many years ago. When my grandma was alive she told me about the trucks that they had rigged up to use around Drumheller in the winter, all handmade by guys with next to no education, wish I could have seen them.
What a fascinating way to start 2023. Man that snow was deep. Those times seem so pure and innocent
Well besides the guy over in Germany trying to exterminate half the world...The world is probably more innocent today than it ever has been in history. I agree though that these sorts of videos make us nostalgic for a time that didn't really exist.
@@sarthurl9001 thats a real good point about germany. I often allow myself to get narrow minded when thinking about the past. Theres no good without bad, and there was a whole lot of bad back then. However can you elaborate on how you think the world is more innocent today? These technologies have allowed life to get so complex. Nearly the whole world has instant access to all the history of man. We know more each and everyday, less can be ignored. Innocence is diminishing rapidly in my opinion , talk to a 13 year old these days. Its a real shame what they have been exposed to on the web.
This is awesome! Thank you!
8:27, The great snow worm attacks of 1939-40.
That's the meanest looking plow I've ever seen. A beast!
J Nolette
Yeah, the early snowplows had 150 horsepower weighing 3000 pounds trying to move 10000 pounds of snow and ice.
@@brucethomas3100 150hp if they're lucky that's a lot of power back then. It certainly is impressive
@@brucethomas3100 that rig weighs more than 3k lbs.
I used to represent Walter's and Frink in Alaska many decades ago. Oshkosh, Western Star and International too
Wonder how often parts had to be replaced
Watching this in Syracuse and a special weather report pops up.
*very thankful for this mild winter this year ❤️
Mild?
That was tough work on man
and machine alike, ramming
snow like that.
No power steering, manual transmissions. Manual brakes too.
@@frez777 the did have hydraulic brakes, big drum brakes..
Damn, discovered in a dumpster? Makes me wonder what other videos people made that never got discovered.
Man, I wish we could have a nice winter storm like that.
move to Buffalo you'll get some.
Thanks for sharing this!
When I was a kid my dad plowed snow for the town and the surrounding towns. He had a Walters and it was HUGE. I don't remember drifts quite this deep but we had some serious snow. Some of those scenes look really familiar and took me back. Nice film.
So I wonder how many ppl got hit by standing in front of the plow truck when it finally broke through the hardpack
That's what I was thinking. Lol
So going out when there's only a foot on the ground wasn't invented yet
Lake effect snow events sometimes dump 3-5” per hour. I’ve seen it.
The wind on that plateau is outta hand,so drifts will fill in to their original size within the hour.
The area itself isn’t heavily populated, yet had miles of wide open roads. The video shows the “ fleet” they had, so yes, these men plowed around the clock.
It's amazing what quadrupling the horsepower and torque does. That, and a lot more weight. Many more trucks making frequent passes is huge, too.
Where was this film found? Our grandfather Charlie had a snowplow company then in Southeast Michigan.
Wonder how long a clutch lasted in a Snow Fighter?
A long time. With low gearing, the clutch never needed to slip much for cushioning. Walter trucks were famous for the durability of the entire drive train.
Drove snow plow for 15 winters. Got into some tough situations that weren't fun at the time. Looking back now, I did enjoy it.
Guys like Charlie always came through with a solution. Every town and community owes a debt to guys like Charlie.
Back in the late 70's with that big snow storm we got in the Mid-west I recall a big plow coming down the road after we had been struck at home for a few days. Well, the plow reached the bridge, which was about 1/4 away, and couldn't go any further. We were stuck a few more days.
I love seeing content like this.
Oh, and here I thought wing blades were a rather new technical achievement as we only started to see them around my area of the northeast about 15-20 years ago. LOL...
I know all to well what those guys went through. I own an old Coleman plow truck similar to the ones used here. I also plow snow from October to June over two mountain passes. Granted I use a modern grader but 5 feet of hard packed snow and up to 12 foot drifts it's hard going. Hats off to those old timers!
That is insane. Thanks for the footage.
Fisher plough motto :
Always plough with the storm.
Thank you for the memories, I was part of the cdn military snow and ice control over a number of years on 12 hrs shifts. Long and hard especially during a multiple day storm. I’m glad we had the stuff they drive around to day. Only thing I didn’t like was when our crew chief decided to go on 8 hr shifts. Those really messed with our inner clocks. But all said I was particularly proud of our work clearing up streets, parking lots and airfields.
How many mailboxes were destroyed to make this video
The more things change, the more they stay the same!! Those plows still look like the ones the truck use up north. Super cool look into the past!!
my great uncle used to talk about walking to school and being able to through snow ball DOWN at the cars cause the banks were taller then the roofs of the cars.
Common up north.
Well it was in Alma, MI. Pretty far south for such a snow:)
Love it. Our highway boys see drifts half this size they are calling in machinery to get through it. They don’t even try anymore
Snow coverage in New England is not what it used to be and it’s been that way since the80s, early 90s. It’s not global warming, it’s as cold as you can imagine but it has something to do with storm patterns.
Thank you for the videos! 👍
2:20 - LOL..... how many times did the driver's head smash into the steering wheel??!! Pretty sure they only had lap-belts back then. It says around 5:40 the driver's name is "Charlie." Knowing that and where this was filmed, I doubt it would be that hard to find out who filmed this....
No seat belts then.
I quite literally can remember snow like this in the 1980's here in Nova Scotia, Canada where the D.O.T. would have to call in one of the 2 or 3 massive snowblowers in the province to get through to open the road and get the grader out of the snow drifts that was stuck.
I can still smell the clutch burning and hear the u joints and axels snapping
What if it's chain drive
You don't slip the clutch on trucks like that. You just engage it and go, and with no slippage, there's not much wear and certainly no burning. As to those other breakage issues you are thinking of, Walter trucks were famous for the durability of their entire drive train.
This reminds me of a winter storm we had in Minnesota 40+ years ago I had to crawl out a window to get outside to shovel snow away from the door to our house.