The following stories come from the front page of the Feb. 2, 1967, Lowell Tribune:
Blizzard Blasts Lowell Area; 22 Inches Snow Fall
A recent snow fall and 40 m.p.h. winds, the worst in years, almost completely paralyzed Lowell and the surrounding area earlier this week. Even as late as Tuesday morning stranded people on U.S. 41 were still snowbound where they had spent the previous three to four days.
Business and governmental functions were at a standstill, their workers either snowed in their homes or stranded between work and home.
Thousands of cars and trucks, defeated by 15 ft. drifts, clogged highways throughout the area.
Deaths
Several deaths, including a Crown Point man, were directly attributed to the blizzard. Police said that the man died in a farm field east of Crown Point when he apparently tried to walk from his stalled car to a farmhouse.
Hotels, motels and farmhouses were crowded with stranded motorists and an estimated 2,000 others spent last Thursday night in their vehicles halted on snowbound highways.
Several farms along U.S. 41 in the Lowell area had unexpected visitors over the weekend and each with his own story to tell. Two such cases were the Watson and Wilkening homes on 41. Mrs. Watson told the Tribune that her daughter Mary, who had a birthday party scheduled for last Thursday night, was pleasantly surprised when 33 snowbound travelers were on hand to help her celebrate. At the Wilkening home 57 travelers spent several days until snow removal crews cleared 41 to where they could leave. A Lake Dalecarlia man, Thomas Bear, set some kind of a record when he trudged 14 miles through five foot drifts from the Intersections of U.S. 41 and 30 to Rt. 8 to Cedar Lake and from there down Lowell-Cedar Lake Road to Lake Dalecarlia. Bear told the Tribune that he covered the distance in just 6 hours, sometimes crawling on his hands and knees through drifts too high to walk through. Boston Marathon anyone?
Mobilize Guard
Governor Roger Brainigin mobilized the Indiana National Guard on Friday after Gary Mayor A. Martin Ketz declared a state of emergency in the Steel City.
A National Guard bulldozer punched its way through the drifts on U.S. 41 about midnight and joined up with a guard unit from Indianapolis which moved up from the south.
The rendezvous -- between St. John and U.S. 30 -- opened 41 to at least one-way traffic.
A spokesman said U.S. 30 was passable from the Illinois line through Valparaiso to one-lane traffic Saturday night.
The Lake County Highway Department was bucking seven and eight-foot drifts much of the way in trying to clear main arteries.
Every piece of available snow removal equipment was being used by city, county and state crews throughout Lake and Porter counties, and authorities requested assistance from private construction and contracting firms and from neighboring counties.
Police, fire and hospital personnel had been on around-the-clock duty since about 6 a.m. Thursday and supervisory officials said all emergency workers were held on duty until the state of emergency was raised.
Every government, business and industrial operation in Northwest Indiana was faced with the same problem during the storm -- personnel on duty Thursday weren't able to get home and late shift workers weren't able to report for work.
Traffic on U.S. 30 jammed up at the junction with U.S. 41. Because of the attempts of snow removal equipment to widen the break through and stalled vehicles, cars stacked a mile west of the intersection and about two miles east.
There were no major fires reported during the storm and relatively few crime reports, officials said. The few reported calls for assistance were handled by fire and police crews. Authorities reported delays in reaching hospitals, but said every emergency run was completed.
Some 100 persons -- mostly men trying to reach home after working Thursday -- spent the night in the Lake County Jail and the Criminal Court building in Crown Point. Jail personnel served hot soup and coffee during the night and reported there was plenty of food to keep those stranded as long as needed.
All schools in the Tri-Creek School Corporation were closed from January 26th to February first as the roads were impassable to the school buses.
At press time most of the streets and highways around Lowell were fairly clear but there was still a lot of work to be done, like hauling the snow, cleaning out parking lots, etc. The Lowell Town Board would like to express their thanks to everyone who helped them during this crisis.
It was reported over the radio and T.V. today that another big storm was on its way from the northwest. If this hits Lake County with the force of the last one, the problems it could cause would be next to insurmountable. Let's pray it doesn't!
Snowbound Stork Arrives in Lowell
A baby girl, Melissa Jeanne, was born Friday, Jan. 27th, to Mr. and Mrs. Joseph W. Blanford, at their home on Lincoln Ave. She weighed 8 lb. 2 oz. Because of the big storm they were unable to get to the hospital, but were fortunate to have a neighbor, Mrs. Lawrence Matthews, who is a registered nurse, to assist them. The baby has five brothers and two sisters. Maternal Grandparents are Mr. and Mrs. Mark Mattingly of Owensboro, Ky. and the paternal grandmother is Mrs. Florine Blanford of St. Joseph, Ky. Mr. and Mrs. Claude Mattingly of Philpot, Ky. are great grandparents. Both Mrs. Blanford and the baby are doing well.