Alva Review-Courier -

With summer and its blazing hot 100-degree days upon us, perhaps this is a good time to tell the story of a blizzard that happened near here once upon a time.

The year was 1886 and I am happy to report that I did not witness this weather event first-hand! What I know about it are accounts I have read in books, newspapers and journals.

I mention the blizzard of 1886 in some of my classes at Northwestern Oklahoma State University every year. It had a huge impact upon life – human, animal and plant – on the Great Plains.

As a student, I learned about this weather phenomenon from teachers who were experts on the American West and were training me and my classmates to follow in their footsteps.

The storm adversely affected, especially, the cattle industry that had spread across the American West in the preceding two decades. After the Civil War ended in 1865, raising beef cattle became big business in the West.

Headquartered originally in Texas, the cattle industry grew tremendously from the late 1860s until the late 1880s. Historians refer to those 20 years or so as the “heyday” of the business.

Ranches large and small began operation, creating jobs for thousands of cowboys. The beef produced in the American West helped feed the people who lived in the cities of the Midwestern and Northeastern regions of the country.

Surely, no one reading this will be surprised to hear that cattle raising has been an important part of the history of the American West.

During the “heyday” era of the industry, profits for ranchers were great. Demand for beef was high while costs of production were low.

But, in addition to discussing the impact the 1886 blizzard had on the cattle business, I want to tell you about a human interest story that grew out of the storm.

The scene of this tale is a small town in Kansas. We will look at that part of the story next week in part 2 of this article.