Millerton’s Warriors of Winter helped keep streets clean

MILLERTON — As winters go, 2018-19 so far has been a relatively mild one with snow disappearing almost as soon as it arrived. But there have been times, particularly in the earlier days of the village, when Mother Nature did her worst and humans had to fight back any way they could. 

According to Ray Loper, who was the superintendent of streets and water in the 1960s, tales of the struggle were passed down to him from Super George Wolfe, who in turn, had stories from his father about the times when “snow removal was almost non-existent.” 

Loper said travel by foot or by horse “resulted in paths limited only to a personal destination.”  Warriors of  Winter — private and public — did battle with gumption, their wits, shovels, brooms and horses who would drag logs, known as “snow rollers” over the streets. That process “packed the road down through the winter. Everything would stay on top; but it kept building up, and in the spring it was a very nasty mess.”

All had their own battles to fight. Loper recalled his mother describing her three-mile trek from their farm above Rudd Pond Road to the high school located near the present-day Checkerboard Corner. Often as not, she would shun the roads and travel through the fields, sometimes walking across snow piled so high that she could “touch the telephone wires.”

The vital daily milk delivery from farms to the town factory was accomplished by a combination of horse-drawn wagons or sleighs whose drivers would sometimes also rely on cross field travel when necessary.

“The source of heat for a home was limited to wood or coal, and everyone tried to accumulate a stockpile that would last all winter,” Loper noted. “If a delivery was required, it had to be with the use of horsepower and hand shovels.”

Eventually a tractor and a dump truck joined the hand tools that cleared the main streets and downtown area. But even with new equipment, hard work was still needed, just as it is today. 

“Due to the fact that hydraulics were not yet available, the dump truck body had to be elevated by means of manually turning a large wheel mounted on the side of a truck,” said Loper. “It was quickly decided it was much easier to leave the tailgate down, put the truck in reverse, backup fast, and slam on the brakes, the result being that the snow would slide out the rear, eliminating raising the body.”

Loper continued, “As George related to me, he was using this process to dump the snow into the Milk Factory pond. Everything went well, but late in the day the temps turned sharply colder, the result being, when George backed up, the snow had frozen in the truck body and the tracks had turned to ice, allowing the snow, the truck, and George all to slide into the pond.”

All ended well as “Horses were used to pull it out, but I would guess that a good laugh was had by all, and George’s ego badly bruised,” and another legend was added to the tales of the Millerton Warriors of Winter — Hidden Treasures who are always there to keep the roads open and the village functioning.

Editor’s note: If you have any old family recipes you’d like to share for an upcoming Hidden Treasures article, send them to editor@millertonnews.com.