By Jessica Gorman
“Snow, the Beautiful Snow” reported the Shreveport Times on 13 January 1892. Sleet and snow began to fall during the early morning hours of 12 January and continued until noon the following day resulting in 2 inches of accumulation at Shreveport. The weather report described it as “the heaviest fall of sleet and snow that Shreveport has witnessed for years.” On the same day, Monroe reported a “heavy snow storm,” the first in more than four years. In Simsboro, residents enjoyed ice skating and “a snowball party” of which “the ladies were victors.” Around noon, snow fell for about an hour in New Orleans and “snow-balling in Biloxi was indulged in to a considerable extent – the first time in ten years.” So far, I have found no reports from Minden. The accompanying photograph of Minden businessmen engaging in a snowball fight downtown is said to have been taken in 1892.
In general, the icy conditions brought great excitement. “The lovers of winter outdoor pastime readily improvised ‘snow wagons’” as “never, in the history of wintry visitations in this clime, has a better opportunity been afforded for elegant sleighing than will be presented this morning. It may be the rare chance of a lifetime, in the South’s sunny clime.” Residents were encouraged to “get out your sleighs!” Others were less enthusiastic stating that while beautiful “through the plate glass windows of a well-warmed comfortable mansion,” the cold was detrimental to the poor.
By 16 January, the snow had begun to melt resulting in slush in the streets of Shreveport and residents hoped for warmer weather. On the 18th, almost a week after the initial winter precipitation, it began to rain. The rain again turned to sleet and snow. This time, instead of excitement, opinion was that “this section has seen enough of ‘beautiful snow.’”
The effects of the winter weather were felt across the country. St. Louis had three inches of snow. Temperatures in Minnesota dipped to possibly as low as -50 degrees. Newspapers reported “the entire frontier of the Rio Grande covered with snow” for “the first time ever known.” U.S. Troops stationed in the area were “caught…in a wild and desolate country without any means of protection from the elements.” The temperature at Denison, Tx measured -7 degrees. In that same area, the Red River had frozen in places and hundreds of head of cattle were reported dead.
Despite warnings to “replenish your wood piles, for there is more to follow in the line of snow and blizzards,” the next week brought improved weather. The report at Shreveport being that the weather was “almost springlike.”
(Jessica Gorman is the Executive Director of the Dorcheat Historical Association Museum, Webster Parish Historian, and an avid genealogist.)