How Humans Have Handled Snow Through the Ages: Photos

Skiing was originally invented thousands of years ago as a means of survival. Some of the earliest evidence of skis comes from prehistoric rock art and archaeological finds dating to the end of the Mesolithic era. Early skis were simple wooden planks that were not only helpful for traveling over frozen terrain but also for hunting prey.

Often regarded as one of the earliest major winter landscapes in European art, Pieter Bruegel the Elder painted “Hunters in the Snow” during the brutal winter of 1564-65. It was one of the longest and most severe winters Europe had seen in more than a century, during a period sometimes called the “Little Ice Age.” After his first snowscape, Bruegel couldn’t stop painting ice and snow. He also painted one of the earliest known depictions of falling snow, as well as one of the earliest nativity scenes set in a snowy landscape, and his work started a winter-themed trend among Dutch painters that lasted for some 150 years.

Events occurred either before or after “The Great Snow” of 1717 for generations of New Englanders. Starting in late February of that year, a series of storms dumped up to six feet of snow throughout the region, with drifts as high as 20 feet. New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Connecticut got the worst of it: entire houses were completely buried, livestock perished and even Boston's Puritans canceled church services for nearly two weeks. According to the New England Historical Society, while mail service was delayed, post boys continued delivery on snowshoes.

The exact origins of “blizzard” are unclear, but it appears to have emerged as a non-snow-related noun. An 1829 article in the Virginia Literary Museum, a weekly journal published at the University of Virginia, defined the word as “a violent blow, perhaps from blitz (German: lightning).” In his 1834 memoir, frontiersman Davy Crockett himself used the term to mean a burst of speech: “A gentleman at dinner asked me for a toast; and supposing he meant to have some fun at my expense, I concluded to go ahead, and give him and his likes a blizzard.” The first use of the word in reference to a severe snowstorm apparently came later. Etymologist and lexicographer Allen Walker Read believes the earliest usage of “blizzard” appeared in an April 1870 issue of the Northern Vindicator, a newspaper in Estherville, Iowa.

Today snow can mean long delays and canceled flights, but it once was a positive thing for travel. When the main mode of transportation was the horse-drawn carriage, packed snow on the roads made travel easier, allowing drivers to switch their carriage wheels for ski-like runners. Foot traffic was a different story, however, and by the mid-19th century, several inventors had patented versions of a horse-drawn snow plow to clear the streets of America’s cities. In 1862, Milwaukee became the first major city to use such a plow, and its popularity spread quickly throughout the Snow Belt, the area stretching across the Great Lakes from Minnesota to Maine.

Indicative of the winter wonderland that fills the hearts of many each holiday season, the snow globe was first seen in France at the 1878 Paris Universal Exposition. This early version gained little attention, however, and only found its way into the hearts and minds of holidaygoers thanks to Edwin Perzy Sr. The mechanic accidentally created a snow globe in 1900, when he was asked to fix a dim light bulb. After noticing that water-filled glass globes would fill an entire room with light when placed in front of a candle, he tried the same technique with a light bulb but didn’t get the same results. Next, he filled the globe with semolina flakes, hoping they would help reflect the light, but instead it inspired him in a totally different way—the flakes reminded him of snow. Perzy patented the snow globe, and the novelty caught on quickly.

Paralyzing the Northeast for over three days with snow, wind and freezing temperatures, horse-drawn plows stood no chance against the Blizzard of 1888. New York City was inundated with more than 21 inches of snow, along with high winds creating drifts of up to 40 feet—it was a snowpocalypse. The city’s elevated railways—usually the only transport option during storms—were blocked, leaving travelers stranded for days. The 1888 blizzard claimed more than 400 lives. It also did some good, however, by prompting cities to improve their snow removal procedures, including adding more plows, assigning routes and starting the plowing process in the early phases of storms.

When automobiles replaced horse-drawn carriages on the roads, clearing roads of snow became a big priority. Mechanized salt-spreaders helped but weren’t sufficient. As early as 1913, some cities began using motorized plows and dump trucks to remove snow. Chicago took it one step further in the 1920s, debuting a contraption called the “snow loader.” Equipped with a giant scoop and a conveyor belt, the device forced plowed snow up the scoop, onto the belt and into a chute that dropped it into a dump truck parked beneath. The snow loader revolutionized urban snow removal, making it far less labor-and time-intensive.

Snow blowing got personal in the early 1950s, when Minnesota-based company Toro released the first walk-behind, human-operated snow blower. Other companies produced their own models during the 1960s, ushering in the age of modern snow removal. Around the same time, satellite-based weather technology was making it easier than ever to predict and prepare for storms, and the widespread use of television and radio helped keep the public aware of impending hazards caused by snow and wind.

Odds are the snow removal tool most people know best is also the one that’s been around the longest—the shovel. Thought to date back about 6,000 years, the traditional snow shovel remains one of the most effective tools for digging out of a blizzard, no matter where you live. Since the 1870s, dozens upon dozens of patents have been granted for snow shovel designs, as inventors try their hand at improving the time-honored classic.