This photo shows the impact to the city of Negaunee’s downtown area of a snowstorm that took place in 1938. (Photo courtesy of the Negaunee Historical Society)

NEGAUNEE –The blizzard that started on Wednesday morning, March 4, 1904, continued with severity throughout the day and night. It interfered with business and train schedules.

The storm had been raging since eight in the morning and in the middle of the afternoon the railroad began to feel the effects.. The Northwestern’s southbound passenger train for Chicago left Ishpeming at 6:50 p.m. Wednesday, and with the aid of a switch engine got over the first hill without difficulty but the pusher quit pushing and at a point opposite the Union Park, the long passenger train stuck hard and fast in the solid packed drifts.

The snow continued to pile up and the case was hopeless. Many of the passengers walked to Negaunee, a distance of about two miles. but some passengers remained on the train. The dining car was well stocked and nobody suffered from hunger.

It was after nine the next morning that the big plows reached the snowbound train. Fifteen hours later the train continued on its way south. The morning passenger train from the south arrived ten hours late. The severity of the storm caused the St.Paul Line to use the South Shore tracks between Republic and Marquette, stalling a couple of times going downhill.

They were five hours late to their destination. A phenomenon in connection with the storm was the thunder and lightning which were heard and seen at one stage of the blizzard.

Another memorable snowstorm in Negaunee began Tuesday, Feb. 24, 1922, and continued steadily through the following day when a real blizzard was underway. The temperatures did not go extremely low but the snow continued and everything was at a standstill.

In the Maas Mine field there were vast stretches where the snow was eight to 15 feet deep. In the northeastern part of town drifts of 25 feet of snow were reported.

The railroad was equipped with snow removal equipment but getting through the drifts was futile, trying to keep it open for each train that was coming through so they threw up their hands and waited for the end of the storm.

City municipal forces also gave up the struggle against the elements. They made an effort to keep the area around the firehall open so that firemen could make a start if there was a fire call. Many residents liked watching the performance of the new five-ton tractor attempting to clear the street to no avail.

Many of the teachers reported to school on snowshoes or skis. However the students apparently did not have the same ambition. in the high school about a dozen students showed up. With the exception of just necessary work, keeping the pumps going and boilers fired up there was no work at most of the mines.

Employees preferred to forfeit a shift than wade through the drifts. Another storm began at noon on Jan. 24, 1938, and continued for two days. Travel was impossible. The area known as Beverly Hills was completely isolated.

Plow drivers tried to open the streets, but the snow was too heavy.and the fast falling snow made it impossible to make any headway. Iron Street became a tunnel. Ten men marooned at the Mary Charlotte Mine could not leave as roads were impassable.

Two young men, John MacKenzie and Ralph Archibald made trips each day on snowshoes and skis to bring food to the men. Many residents in Rolling Mill had tunnels from the house to the road. Ishpeming miners employed at the Maas mine stayed overnight in the dry until the next day when they found lodging with friends and relatives until the roads were opened to Ishpeming.