The snow storm of 1951....I remember...from dad.

The results of the great sleet and snow storm that began Sunday, January 28, 1951, will be of interest to later generations. "The big snow of 1951" had six inches of ice covered with four to seven inches of snow.
File this for future arguments as to what did happen here and when:

In Louisville, all city and county schools were closed, leaky roofs and damp walls inside the house were common all over the county; roofs caved in, no trains were in operation, and outside telegraph and telephone services were cut off; there was no mail, no traffic on the highways, electric lights and power were off; water pipes froze, there were no newspapers, birds starved by the thousands, the thermometer registered 21 below, and limbs and trees crashed because of a heavy weight of snow and ice; highways and sidewalks were damaged, stores were closed, both city and rural mail deliveries were restricted for several days; motors of autos would not start, radiators were frozen, and business, the courts and public schools were closed down; ill-tempered folks with frost-bitten ears and noses were common, and danger from falling icicles four feet in length, and from crashing trees and slick sidewalks was the rule.

Several broken arms, legs and hips were reported, and stock perished in the fields and the barns because of the intense cold; hunger from food shortage

Threatened in some areas, and there was widespread suffering on the part of the underprivileged; no buses were in operation for four days, motors burned out when the electric current became weak, no garbage was collected, and all light and power went off when the lines broke; there was no social; activity, gas and oil furnaces and refrigerators were dead, church attendance was low and all sports programs were cancelled, and many basements were knee deep in water, the town clock froze, parking meters were useless, and candles were in great demand for lighting all over town.

The storm began Sunday, January 28. The worst period was the following Wednesday through Monday, February 5, when it became a bit warmer.
At present the going is still rough, with no sign of melting ice and snow.
The weatherman reports colder weather is due."

The above were reports from the Louisville area but Edmonson County also suffered.

I was three and a half years old, but I can remember this storm and the reason I can recall it was that a revival was in progress at Mt Zion Church and Bro.William Johnson walked from Oak Grove Community to our house….a distance of about 9 miles….and stayed with us during the revival. In walking the Mt Zion Ridge, he froze the right side of his face and right ear as the wind was blowing from the south west across the ridge. Dad had killed hogs earlier and I remember him getting one of the hams and bringing it into the house to cut and eat.
The temp dropped to -19….I remember hearing my dad speak of this often…., and because the snow and ice made it impossible to obtain firewood, the local members of the church took down ‘tear- poles’ from the tobacco barns in the community and sawed them into wood to use in the stove at the church.
The revival continued for about two weeks, both day and night services, without missing a service. Bert Johnson, now into her mid 90’s, still recalls how fearful it was to her and the children. The snow and ice was piled so deep on the roof of their house that she thought it was going to break through and crush them.
The good part was that no one had electricity or running water back then in rural Edmonson County, so we weren’t as impaired as people would be today. Actually the Amish today have it better than we did back then because of better advances in medical science; better ‘gas’ lights; and telephones.
Norman