The famous blizzard of 1873, frequently called the "Easter Storm" was not the only destructive storm of the pioneer years. Recollections of the November storm in 1871 are revived by Jay Turner of Harvard, in the Harvard Courier.

The November, 1871, Storm
Mr. Turner, and Albert Moger, both boys in their early twenties were living in a dugout about a mile and a half north of Harvard. They were putting in their time plowing and expected to keep fairly busy throuout (sic) the Winter because they had been told that it was possible to plow most any day and there was plenty of ground to be plowed. On November 15th they spent the day plowing as usual, only it was so warm they went barefooted all day and had to stop frequently to let their teams cool off.

The next morning they awoke, convinced that it was time to get up, but it was still dark. Upon investigation they found that they were "snowed in." They dug the snow back into the room and succeeded in getting out. Mr. Turner climbed thru the hole and the moment he hit the surface his hat went racing with the wind and was not seen again until the following spring. They managed to get to their stable and care for the horses which were about snowed in and without food. The boys themselves were so short on rations that they ate nothing the first day. The blizzard raged for two nights and three days and cleared the third night. The weather bureau at Lincoln reported a temperature of 17 below with a seventy mile wind and it goes without saving that it was just as bad, if not worse, out here on the prairie where the wind had a clean sweep without even a house between here and Grand Island to stop it.

One man living on the south side of town froze to death in an attempt to reach aid. He and his son were living in a sod shack and had no food. They stayed there one day but saw they could not stay the storm out so started with the wind in their faces to locate the four houses which constituted Harvard. The father gave out long before they reached them, and the son just managed to get to one of them before he dropped.

The storm came on so suddenly and was so entirely unexpected that the people were completely unprepared. Many were like the boys, Turner and Moger, who lived on bread made of flour and salt, and snow water and coffee made from the same dirty snow water. Several lives were lost thruout the county and thousands upon thousands of cattle were lost in the storm.


The above article was taken from 'Nebraska History & Record of Pioneer Days, Vol VI'. You can read it by clicking HERE