Snowplow Page

Jim's Snowblower

Actually, this picture was taken back in the late 1940s or early 1950s when I was a kid growing up in Calumet, Michigan. Calumet is on the Keweenaw Peninsula, the finger-like projection of the Upper Peninsula into Lake Superior, where winter and snow are a way of life. Monsters such as this "Sno-Go" were (and I assume still are) used to widen streets. Typically what happens is regular snowplows clear streets as they do here in Gettysburg, but eventually the snowbanks become large and the streets narrow. Sno-Gos are then used to eat through the snowbanks, usually compacting the snow in people's driveways and making shoveling an awful chore. By the end of winter, these compacted snowbanks are as high as wires on telephone poles and made great places to play the game "King of the Hill." Of course, that meant they took a long time to melt, and I remember traces of them in June. Ah, the good ol' days.

Apparently little has changed over the years as can be seen by checking out the snow thermometer in Calumet. This page gives the latest Keweenaw Peninsula snow report and shows the annual snowfall displayed on a "snow thermometer." While you're there, you might check out pasties, an Upper Peninsula gourmet treat, as well as other Upper Peninsula attractions.