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Maple Grove History Museum
9030 Forestview Lane N.
(South Driveway)
Maple Grove, MN 55369
763-494-5983
Maple Grove Historical Preservation Society
Maple Grove, Hennepin County, Minnesota
Armistice Day Blizzard – November 11, 1940
by Walter Schumacher
"My name is Walter Schumacher and I was 11 years old. I lived on an 80 acre farm in Dayton township with my family of Father, Mother and 3 brothers and one sister. In 24 hours the twin cities got walloped with 16.8 inches of snow , outer MN with 22 inches and Collegeville 26.6 inches. Some 59 people died. Uncounted numbers of cattle , pigs and turkeys were killed.
It was a Monday morning and the chores we had to do was to milk the cows by hand , put the milk cans in the mild tank with cold water. Then we fed the cows and young cattle, horses, pigs and chickens. After the cows were milked Mother went to the house to make breakfast on the wood burning kitchen stove. Breakfast was oat meal or pancakes and some home made sausage. After breakfast my brothers and I helped our Father clean the barn gutters. First we let the milk cows out into the cow yard which made it easier to clean the gutters. We had a manure carrier that was connected to wheels that ran on a track. It ran pass the three gutters and out the double door on a swinging track anchored to the barn roof main beam.
When we finished, we got feed, and silage ready for the cows and pigs. Then we put the cattle in the barn. The milk cows came in and the young cattle ran around acting wild. My father left some milk cows outside to mix with the wild acting young cattle. The three of us moved them all together to the open door and they went to the lower part of the barn. We then tied them up. In the evening, we milked, fed and placed straw by the cows. We also had two horses, pigs and chickens to feed. Our lower walk in door got drifted shut.
We had two wood stoves to heat the house. The kitchen wood stove was to cook the food but on cold nights we left the stairway door open to let some heat upstairs.
The second day of the storm the snow was blowing very hard. We could not see anything outside.
We had to do the chores, using a kerosene light. Father said he would string twine to tie to the house and he would go and find the barn. It took some time before he found the barn. He tied the other end to the barn and then came back to the house. We all went together along the twine string to the barn to do the milking and all the other chores. The milkman did not come as the roads were closed. After one day the milk is too old. So we fed it to the pigs. It took four days before the gravel road got plowed open.
When the wind quit blowing my father hooked the team of horses to the wood sled. We shoved the snow from all the doorways and from our driveway on to the sled. We took it to a close by field and shoved it off. We kept hauling until we had the yard open.
When we moved the snow my brothers and I kept hearing turkeys call from afar. When it got dark we still heard them. The next day it was nicer. We did all the chores and worked moving the remaining snow. We could hear the turkeys calling north of our house. We decided to go looking for them. We walked on high ground (less snow) across our 40 acres and about 1/8 of a mile into a field of corn. There we found some turkeys trying to move and others were under the snow and corn stocks. We brought two home . Our father asked where we got them. We told him and he said we will take them to the farm that has the turkeys.
Dayton township had narrow roads with high bank hills and low cuts over creeks. With snow filling them 6,8,and 12 foot deep snowdrifts, the snow plow could not go through. Us farm boys would shovel a 3 foot deep path in the middle of the road about 5 feet long. Then the snow plow would drive into the bank of snow, move about 3 -6 feet and stop. Snow fell back on the plow and the driver had to restart the motor. We would shovel the snow plow v blade free of the snow. This continued until we got through the snow bank."