The Snowstorm of 1947

The Snowstorm of 1947

Many Milwaukee area residents still remember the snowstorm of January, 1947. Harold H. Cardo, a former C.& N.W. engineer who now resides in Montello, WI recalls that storm. (Similar contributions from others are certainly welcome! Just e-mail the webmaster)

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I was a Locomotive Engineer on the Chicago & North Western Railway in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and was called to report for work at 7:00 am at the Chase Roundhouse. Since I was a qualified Engineer, I was put into service as a Main Line Dispatcher – which meant hostling locomotives from Chase Yard to the Third Ward Roundhouse, to the depot at the foot of East Wisconsin Ave. and to any of the outlying yards.

It snowed all day, and when I finished my day at 5:00 pm, my car was snowed in. It stayed there for more than FOUR days because of the storm. I had to go to East Wisconsin Ave. and get a hotel room for the night. Was I ever lucky to get the last streetcar that left that evening from the south side at South 6th Street and Chase Ave. The storm was so bad that going up hill on South 6^th St., we had to get out of the streetcar to push it up the hill.

We finally arrived at East Wisconsin Ave. and the first thing to do was to register into a hotel. They had just one cot left in a room full of 15 other men. This crowded room was a structure added to the present brick building and not too sturdy. While just lying there on the cot, I heard a heavy wind coming off Lake Michigan and could feel that the room sort of swayed with the wind. It was scary!

I slept about four hours when someone tapped me on my shoulder, and I was told to report for duty at the depot. It was still snowing and blowing with snow drifts as high as the street signs. At the depot, people were sleeping on the steps and on benches. They were all over the area.

My assignment was to take coal and water on the passenger steam locomotives. When I opened the cab window, which is about seven feet from the ground to the window sill, I was LEVEL with a snowdrift. Some trains, which were under the depot train shed, had to have heat supplied to them because everybody would not fit in the depot. The section men were shoveling; tractors and trucks were pushing snow, and people living near the depot came down with baskets full of sandwiches and beverages and helped shovel snow.

The railroad ran a “snow train” up from Chicago to Milwaukee with men they’d gathered up on Madison Street-Chicago. When they arrived in Milwaukee and started to unload, some men only had oxfords on. They said “forget it” and went back to Chicago. There’s a little more about the “snow train” including a couple of pictures at the end of this story.

Section men were still cleaning the switches when I reached the south end of the depot, and the locomotive got stuck in the snow. As the section men shoveled snow, snow and more snow, we could finally couple with one engine ahead of mine and one engine to the rear of mine. We finally got out of that drift. As we slowly moved along, we tried to make it to the roundhouse, which was about six blocks away. As I neared the roundhouse, the engine went on the ground. Well, I almost made it, I told myself. The section men’s help was needed again, and we finally did get to the Third Ward to supply and service the engines with water and coal.

My next assignment involved the depot switch engine - a diesel. I was surprised and wondered where did they pick this thing up? It was a relic, one of the original Ingersoll Rand/G.E. box cab diesel switchers, and was operated from both ends and did look just like a box. I was told to transport crews to wherever they were needed. I worked on this assignment for four or five days. There was one day that we never turned up anywhere. We just sat and waited to be told what to do and where to go.

The Milwaukee Fire Department was very helpful to us as they were able to get to the depot and supply some engines with water. That is one snowstorm I will never forget!

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And how, he won’t forget it! The storm lasted three days (January 28 through January 30, 1947, dumped 18” of snow, tying up Milwaukee for 4 days, and was accompanied with winds of up to 60 mph. The Milwaukee Journal told it like it was a day or so later with the headline – “Snow Paralyzes Milwaukee.”

The “snow train” mentioned by Harold came up from Chicago with the 1619, Engineer Joe Parichy (better known as “Parachute Joe”) and Fireman Ed Pietschmann. They are in the top picture. Below are some of the snow shovelers. For those not familiar with Chicago in those days, “gathering men up on Madison Street” meant recruiting the more ambitious skid row residents (bums).

“Parachute Joe,” Ed Pietschmann & the 1619

Snow removal from the track and slip switches near the Milwaukee River Bridge.

Photo courtesy of Don Ross

This is the engine Harold refers to, less the snow. It does look just like a box!

Harold: Please accept our sincere thanks for this fine story and thanks also to P.J. Cleary who provided some additional details.

Revised: 10/06/04