Remembering the blizzard of 1951

Not too long ago several of us were talking about the weather and the severe storms years ago.

We had memories of a blizzard completing stopping traffic and travelers spending the night at Rex’s Tavern in Columbia Heights.

I was browsing through the 21 Dec. 1951 edition of the Hungry Horse News. A bottom page 1 story told of the “Flathead Blizzard Brings Rendezvous at Rex’s.”

Mel’s story referred to the Tuesday blizzard as a corker, unexpected, and blew in from Canada off the cold continental divide. There were about 150 folks storm-marooned at Columbia Heights. In later years it became Ol River Bridge Inn. Outside visibility was limited at times to the hand in front of the face. Wind was officially logged at 78 mph at the airport. Mel reported car doors opened and then broke away to vibrate on their hinges in the ruthless wind.

It was a lightless nightmare with vehicles stalled, crisscrossed and in ditches. Men, in groups of four and five, ventured into the wind to check cars and help passengers through huge drifts and ice to the safety of the tavern.

Workers from Hungry Horse Dam were among those marooned at the bar. They stood in line waiting to get word through to their families. Mel told of one man who waited for an hour to get his telephone call through. He told her he was at Rex’s. His wife did not wait for more

conversation but asked what he was doing there and slammed down her receiver.

Ray McMillan, Kalispell driver of a Consolidated Freightways 6-by-6 truck, was described as wet, gaunt and wind-beaten. He had picked up two occupants of two cars and headed for Rex’s. A mile away the motor stalled, as it couldn’t get air to breathe, too. Three men started on foot for

Columbia Heights and the rest huddled in the back of the truck van.

A rescue group left immediately for the stalled truck. Time passed and the tavern door blew open. Frozen, bent-over people were shoved into the room. They were Mr. and Mrs. Charles Green of Coram and their son, Randy, 4, and J. N. Birky, 67, veteran logging operator. They were safe except for frostbite.  

Then Elmer Ingraham, one of the three men who had started walking from the freight van, stumbled in the door. He had been injured at Hungry Horse about two years previously and had a wooden leg. His other knee was frost bitten and he was in pain during the night.

Mennonites returning home from a meeting in Oregon also found safety. Three of the men were from Pennsylvania. Mel asked them if they prayed, and they replied they do pray a lot. It was unusual to see Mennonites in the bar and they said it was a strange experience for them.

After midnight, men looked for places to sleep. A number went to the basement and stretched out near furnaces. Mel was among those attempting to find a level place to sleep in the room where cases of beer were stored. He said a case of Great Falls Select was never meant to be a pillow.

It was impossible to list all who helped. There was the Bureau of Reclamation plow operated by Ray Ellman. The highway department unit had overturned in a ditch.   

Mel said Sheriff Dick Walsh was in charge and did an excellent job, both out in the weather and inside. The radio transmitter in his car was used to send more than 70 messages. They were sent to Marion Larkin, Columbia Falls town clerk, manning the radio in the town hall.

A photo of a car showed the engine blown completely full of snow. Mel commented car seats were checked in vehicles and it was a relief to find them empty the next day.

Area mills were affected by the blizzard. Harry Preston, general manager at Stoltze Land and Lumber Co., said both planer and sawmill were shut down. The yard was being cleared of snow and log hauling from above Whitefish Lake and the South Fork will resume when roads are opened.

Plum Creek mill in Columbia Falls was stopped. Lawrence Rude, general manager, said sawmill and planer operations would resume in two days.

Superior Buildings Co. in Columbia Falls had its mill and planer on a repair and maintenance basis, according to Tom Crum, sales manager.

The other mill in Columbia Falls, Rocky Mountain Lumber Co., expected to suspend activity during January and February. Corporation officers were Maurice Raskin and Hy Van Allen.

Trains were delayed with the storm and post offices did not receive mail. Their schedules were delayed and postal patrons could not get to post offices in the area. Jim Konen, substitute carrier for Dan Saurey, who was recovering from surgery, could not serve Routes 1A and 1-B out of Columbia Falls. It was one of the few times longtime mail carrier, Maybelle Kelley, could not serve Star Route boxes or take mail to Hungry Horse and Martin City.

Gladys Shay is a longtime resident and columnist for the Hungry Horse News