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The Evolution of the Snow Plow - Sparking Interest in Inventions

Album Description

One of my favorite activities from elementary school was one in which I had to decide what I thought the most important  invention of the past 100 years was. I was tasked with interviewing older adults, conducting research, and presenting my findings. Engaging students in thinking about how things that may seem simple and normal today (ie. washing machines, cars, televisions, cell phones), is important when teaching about history and how the evolution of technology has affected us.

Inspired by the winter, snow, the recent 1-95 pile-up a couple of weeks ago, and this Tweet, I was curious to research another invention myself: the snowplow. I wanted to see how the machine has evolved over the years and how such an invention has progressed, but also remained stagnant, over time. Obviously, we now have the technology and vehicles to help clear the roads of the beautiful, but dangerous, substance faster; but, incidents such as the ~19-hour pile-up on January 4, 2022, still occur. 

Being from the south myself, I have never had to deal with much snow. But after speaking with a friend from Boston about how “under-prepared” DC seems (we both now reside here) during the small fall of snow we had yesterday, it sparked my interest in the evolution of the machine. 

The first   snowplow patent was issued in 1840, with the first prototype coming into existence in 1862. These vehicles were first pulled by horses through the snowy streets of Milwaukee. Before this, snow was nearly impossible to travel through - besides on foot with durable snowshoes. This delayed mail, travel, education, and access to health care provisions. Snowplowing eventually became more popularized in the US and people were hired during the winters to man the horse-drawn buggies. Eventually, the automobile came into the picture, and that is how we eventually ended up with the vehicles we have today. 

Introducing something like this into your classroom on a   snow day creates a fun activity where you can discuss important inventions and how they have impacted our lives today. Maybe consider implementing the same project I had years ago, ask students to research an invention, why they think it is important, and what we can learn from that going forward. Please share if you implement this!

Scenes From the History of Snow Removal

Scenes From the History of Snow Removal

A brief history of snow removal

A brief history of snow removal

Here’s How Mainers Removed Snow in the Early 1900s Read More: Here's How Mainers Removed Snow in the Early 1900s

Here’s How Mainers Removed Snow in the Early 1900s Read More: Here's How Mainers Removed Snow in the Early 1900s

Motor locomotive of railroad equiped with snow plow. Durango, Colorado

Reference link: http://www.loc.gov/item/2017787958/

Reference note

Contributor Names: Lee, Russell, 1903-1986, photographer
Created / Published: 1940 Sept.
Subject Headings: -  United States--Colorado--La Plata County--Durango
Genre: Safety film negatives
Notes: -  Title and other information from caption card.
-  Transfer; United States. Office of War Information. Overseas Picture Division. Washington Division; 1944.
-  More information about the FSA/OWI Collection is available at http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.fsaowi
-  Temp. note: usf34batch4
-  Film copy on SIS roll 24, frame 2632.
Repository: Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print
Digital Id: fsa 8b26361 //hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/fsa.8b26361

Clearing road with snow plows near Berlin, New Hampshire

Reference link: http://www.loc.gov/resource/fsa.8c11848/

Reference note

Contributor Names: Wolcott, Marion Post, 1910-1990, photographer
Created / Published: 1940 Mar.
Subject Headings: -  United States--New Hampshire--Coos County--Berlin
Genre: Safety film negatives
Notes: -  Title and other information from caption card.
-  Transfer; United States. Office of War Information. Overseas Picture Division. Washington Division; 1944.
-  More information about the FSA/OWI Collection is available at http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.fsaowi
-  Temp. note: usf34batch6
-  Film copy on SIS roll 6, frame 949.
Repository: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print
Digital Id: fsa 8c11848 //hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/fsa.8c11848

Snow plow

Reference link: http://www.loc.gov/item/2004662076/

Reference note

Summary: Drawing shows a man carrying a scythe walking past a large wooden snow plow leaning against rocks. Bayard Taylor traveled through Norway and Scandinavia in 1856 and 1857, after the death of his first wife.
Contributor Names: Taylor, Bayard, 1825-1878, artist
Created / Published: [between 1856 and 1857]
Subject Headings: -  Snow plows--Norway--1850-1860
-  Norway
Notes: -  Inscribed upper left: No. 11, p. 11; small.
-  Gift; Charles F. Heartman; 1922; (DLC/PP-46411a).
Repository: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA
Digital Id: ppmsca 22854 //hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/ppmsca.22854

Snow plow

Teaching Notes

Stereograph

Reference link: http://www.loc.gov/item/2005683033/

Reference note

Contributor Names: Hart, Alfred A., 1816-1908, photographer
Created / Published: Sacramento, Calif. : Golden State Photographic Gallery, [between 1865 and 1869]
Notes: -  No. 239.
-  Title from item.
-  Part of series: Central Pacific Railroad, California. Scenes in the Sierra Nevada Mountains.
Repository: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA
Digital Id: stereo 1s00570 http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/stereo.1s00570
stereo 2s00570 http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/stereo.2s00570
cph 3b04803 http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/cph.3b04803

Snow Plow of the Central Pacific R.R. Company - Near Cisco

Reference link: http://www.loc.gov/item/2002721309/

Reference note

Contributor Names: Lawrence & Houseworth, publisher
Created / Published: [published 1866]
Notes: -  The Library holds only one photo from a pair published as a stereographic view.
-  Gems of California scenery, no. 1263.
-  LOT subdivision subject: Central Pacific Railroad Equipment and Tracks on Donner Pass Route.
-  This record contains unverified old data from caption card.
Repository: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA
Digital Id: cph 3a27839 //hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/cph.3a27839

Snow plow in field in Michigan

Reference link: http://www.loc.gov/item/2014680170/

Reference note

Contributor Names: Bain News Service, publisher
Created / Published: [no date recorded on caption card]
Subject Headings: -  Michigan
Genre: Glass negatives
Notes: -  Forms part of: George Grantham Bain Collection (Library of Congress).
-  Title from unverified data provided by the Bain News Service on the negatives or caption cards.
-  General information about the George Grantham Bain Collection is available at http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.ggbain
Repository: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print
Digital Id: ggbain 00172 //hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/ggbain.00172

[Colorado. Snow shed and snow plow. Hagerman Pass. Plow attached to locomotive.]

Reference link: http://www.loc.gov/item/2018653694/

Reference note

Created / Published: c1905.
Notes: -  Photo by Detroit Co.
-  This record contains unverified, old data from caption card.
-  Caption card tracings: Shelf.
Repository: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print
Digital Id: cph 3a30113 //hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/cph.3a30113

Ford Motor Co. snow plows

Reference link: http://www.loc.gov/item/2016825012/

Reference note

Created / Published: [between 1910 and 1925]
Genre: Glass negatives
Notes: -  Title from unverified data provided by the National Photo Company on the negative or negative sleeve.
-  Date from negatives in same range.
-  Gift; Herbert A. French; 1947.
-  General information about the National Photo Company collection is available at http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.npco
-  This glass negative might show streaks and other blemishes resulting from a natural deterioration in the original coatings.
-  Temp. note: Batch seven.
Repository: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print
Digital Id: npcc 31576 //hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/npcc.31576

Snow plow during storm, New York

Reference link: http://www.loc.gov/item/2014684456/

Reference note

Contributor Names: Bain News Service, publisher
Created / Published: 1/15/10 (date created or published later by Bain)
Subject Headings: -  New York
Genre: Glass negatives
Notes: -  Forms part of: George Grantham Bain Collection (Library of Congress).
-  Title from unverified data provided by the Bain News Service on the negatives or caption cards.
-  General information about the George Grantham Bain Collection is available at http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.ggbain
Repository: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print
Digital Id: ggbain 04462 //hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/ggbain.04462

A train snow plow, which might as easily be called a train snow PROW, sits idle on a summer day in Glenwood Springs, Colorado. But it gets plenty of action in Colorado's snowy Rocky Mountains that surround the town

Reference link: http://www.loc.gov/item/2015633617/

Reference note

Contributor Names: Highsmith, Carol M., 1946-, photographer
Created / Published: 2015-08-04.
Subject Headings: -  United States--Colorado--Glenwood Springs
-  America
-  Train snow plows
Genre: Digital photographs--Color--2010-2020
Notes: -  Title, date and keywords based on information provided by the photographer.
-  Credit line: Gates Frontiers Fund Colorado Collection within the Carol M. Highsmith Archive, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division.
-  Gift; Gates Frontiers Fund; 2015; (DLC/PP-2015:068).
-  Forms part of: Gates Frontiers Fund Colorado Collection within the Carol M. Highsmith Archive.
Repository: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print
Digital Id: highsm 33602 //hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/highsm.33602

It’s Snowing: Plowing Ahead with Primary Sources from the Library of Congress

It’s Snowing: Plowing Ahead with Primary Sources from the Library of Congress

Snow Plow ads: Montana farmer-stockman. [volume], January 01, 1951, Page 31, Image 31

Reference link: https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn86075096/1951-01-01/ed-1/seq-31

Reference note

Newspaper: Montana farmer-stockman. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1947-1993
Newspaper Link: https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn86075096/1951-01-01/ed-1/seq-31
Image provided by: Montana Historical Society; Helena, MT
PDF Link: https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn86075096/1951-01-01/ed-1/seq-31.pdf

Rotary Snow Plow: Montana farmer-stockman. [volume], December 15, 1951, Page 11, Image 11

Reference link: https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn86075096/1951-12-15/ed-1/seq-11

Reference note

Newspaper: Montana farmer-stockman. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1947-1993
Newspaper Link: https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn86075096/1951-12-15/ed-1/seq-11
Image provided by: Montana Historical Society; Helena, MT
PDF Link: https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn86075096/1951-12-15/ed-1/seq-11.pdf