The Evening Star, April 6, 1887, reported: “Maine Buried in Snow. A northeast snowstorm, more furious than any of the great tempests of the winter months, began on the coast of Maine early Saturday morning, April 2, and continued until Monday afternoon, April 4. All day Saturday and through the night the wind blew a gale, and the air was so thick with flying snow that objects could not be distinguished a few yards distant. The whole State is buried deeper than ever in snow drifts, and the general aspect is that of a severe February instead of April. The like of it has seldom, if ever, been seen here… some accumulations reported were — Portland twelve feet, five inches, Bath nearly three feet.”

The photograph shows a Brunswick horsedrawn snowplow in action during that storm. The earliest types of snow plows were powered by horses. The wedge-type blades were made of wood.

Trains and snowplowing go back as far as the mid- 1800s. the rotary snow plow was created by a Canadian dentist named J.W. Elliot. It contained a set of blades positioned in a circle. It worked by rotating the blades and cutting through the snow as the train moved forward. The wedge snow plow, which works like many plows today, simply could not move the snow aside quick enough for trains. Usually, a second engine was used to assist in moving the train while the first one in front was responsible for removing the snow.As the blades turned the snow was lifted through a channel and forced to the top out the chute. The operator sat up top in a cab behind the chute and he or she had the ability to control the direction of the chute and rate of speed of the blades. These controls eventually led back to the ‘pushing’ engine so that the operator of a pushing locomotive could have control. In areas where severe snow fell, the use of a ‘double’ or ‘duel’ rotary engines was needed. These engines would contain rotary plows on both ends. They were often effective in clearing snow from rail stations and in situations where the snow continued to accumulate after going in one direction. Patents for snow plows were issued as far back as the early 1920s.

The first infamous snowplow for vehicles was created by two brothers, Hans and Even Overaasen, from Norway. They constructed a plow for use on vehicles which soon paved the way for traditional equipment used today to clear roads. Another milestone inventor named Carl Frink was also considered an early manufacturer of car-mounted snow plows. His company Frink Snowplows, which was based in Clayton, New York, was created in 1920 and still runs today under the name Frink-America.

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Photograph and information: Maine Historical Society, Snowplow Forums website.