Snow in Readout, Oklahoma – 1903
It’s snowing (again) in Minnesota. The beautiful flakes cover everything with a clean coat of crisp, sparkling delight.
A handful of snow brings back memories of younger days, building impressive snowmen, sledding down steep hills or creating cavernous forts.
Not everyone is enamored with snowfall like I am. It is difficult to imagine living in a dugout during a snowstorm..
Snowfall in the Oklahoma Panhandle
According to the Amarillo, Texas office of the National Weather Service, the panhandle of Oklahoma receives an average of about 20 inches of snow per year. That snowfall is an accumulated total from the whole winter season (Sept-May). Their statistics show that about one-third of winters receive less than one inch of snow in total.
An interesting table lists the 10 greatest snowfall seasons in the Texas and Oklahoma Panhandles. 1902-1903 is tied for 9th-most snowfall.
Why is the 1902-1903 winter season of interest to our family?
Milton Rector and his family homesteaded in the panhandle of Oklahoma Territory in early 1901.
James E. Garnett homesteaded about a mile away from the Rectors in the summer of 1902.
Snow Reported in the News
The Beaver Herald-Democrat reported 15 inches of snow at the end of February 1903. Beaver is about 40 miles west of Readout.4The Beaver (OK) Herald-Democrat. February 26, 1903, page 1, column 1.
In March, the local reporter from Cline, OK reported the unusual snow. Cline was a small town, less than 10 miles from Readout.5The Beaver (OK) Herald-Democrat. March 12, 1903, page 4.
Ralph Rector Recalled the Snow
But anyway, we lived in the dugout. When the big snow came in nineteen three (1903) we hadn’t closed the outside door, like the cellar door. The steps were full of snow. We had to start like a ground squirrel at the bottom and dig out. [chuckles]
Then it just kept snowing. It was nearly three feet, on about.
This was in late March and it didn’t get very cold or everybody would have froze to death because the cow chips were all covered up and wet.
The man that had filed just north of us a mile had a small dugout. It was about 8′ x 10′ in a bank. And of course it didn’t take much to heat a dugout. They was not very ambitious and hadn’t picked any chips ahead. And he come down to our place.
Later when his family came out from Kentucky, he had two daughters. And my brother married one of the girls. [J.E. Garnett’s daughter Pettris married Ralph’s brother Gillison Rector.]
But he’d come down to our house and bring a can of tomatoes or something. Then when he’d go home in the evening time, he’d take about a half bushel of chips.
And a big cow chip in these little topsy stove would take the chill off his room. And in the morning he’d have enough to make some coffee or fix him some breakfast. But he’d be back again. [chuckles]
And that went long until of course after the snow. It turned warm and it melted real fast. But had it not been that and the wind had got up, nobody had shelter from the storm. It would have been disastrous.
But we lived in the dugout until when we got the soddy built.
Cow Chips
Yes, cow chips. There were not a lot of trees in western Oklahoma, so fuel was scarce. In a History Nebraska Blog post, chips are described as clean to handle (once dried) and usually odorless. Chips burned with little blaze but formed hot coals, which were very effective for cooking or heating.
What’s next?
What big storms do you remember?
Do you want to know more about Great Uncle Ralph, “Mr. Cow Chip”?
(Yes, that really was his nickname.)
SOURCES
- 1Woodward (OK) Dispatch, January 2, 1903, page 4.
- 2Adair County (KY) News. January 7, 1903, page 2.
- 3The Daily Oklahoman (Oklahoma City OK). January 11, 1903. page 1.
- 4The Beaver (OK) Herald-Democrat. February 26, 1903, page 1, column 1.
- 5The Beaver (OK) Herald-Democrat. March 12, 1903, page 4.
- 6Oklahoma Historical Society Oral History Collection Interivew with Ralph Rector. Oklahoma Historical Society. 1984.