Generally, I like to talk about winter in the summer, and the reverse, but that’s not the case today. It seems like this year winter has already shown us some interesting events. I thought a look at back around 1895 would be interesting.

It was news in the Denver papers that for three days no trains on the Rio Grande or Santa Fe had been over the line south and the snow drifted into all the cuts. The snow rotary plow had been doing yeoman service on the road for the previous 48 hours, and Saturday forenoon it cleared the line as far as Palmer Lake. When it was observed going over the high bridge at Larkspur the snow was sent whirling in one dense cloud high into the air, and when it emerged the train was no longer covered with snow.

Several ladies and gentlemen waited at Palmer Lake to see if there would be a train south. When the plow came into view they were astonished at the manner in which the snow was sent flying. The agent then announced that the line south would soon reopen, free from snow. The crew on the train worked around the curve bound for Monument. An hour later a passenger train did arrive from Denver, but soon returned north, as the line into Colorado Springs was still blocked by snow.

Can you imagine I-25 blocked by snow drifts for a couple days! Or not getting as far as Monument from Colorado Springs for that long. It certainly wakes up my imagination. I have seen some pretty impatient drivers do some odd things in good weather, much less during snow storms. I wonder what an old fashioned winter would do.