@South Sierra Then and Now

Current events & historical accounts from southwest Sierra County

ALLEGHANY - Sunday March 19, 2023 ~ After four days of no precipitation, the rain started again this morning. It’s carving snow sculptures in the berms along the road. The water caused a small section of a dry-stack rock wall that I built over 20 years ago to fall. It was a section that I struggled with originally and that never had the desired batter (inward slope).

Both the Alleghany Water District and Pliocene Ridge CSD (Fire District) held their monthly meetings here last week. (Fire board meetings alternate between Alleghany & Pike). The talk around town was regarding the almost record-breaking snowfall in the Tahoe-Truckee area. Word is; if this weather continues much longer, records dating back to 1957 might be exceeded up there. I sensed an assumption that this would correlate with record snowfall here, but that is not the case. Perhaps if all this winter’s precipitation had been in the form of snow, we would be breaking some records.

Dick Brooks in the Plaza in Alleghany winter 1968-69, Photo courtesy of undergroundgold.com

Those of us who have lived here for over 30 years remember the “snow tunnel” that used to form at elevation 5,200 feet on Ridge Road before it drops into Alleghany or Forest City (heading east). The snowbanks were higher than the top of the school bus for at least a couple of months every year. Living near the Ruby Mine, we expected to be snowed in for a minimum of four months. This was with dad (Don Bell Sr.) clearing the road by tractor at both ends of the season (fall and spring). Deep snow was so common, it didn’t really stand out unless an event associated with it happened to burn a memory.

One event, etched in my brain, happened at the end of March/first week of April 1982. My two younger brothers and I were going to stay with our school teachers in Forest City for a week (that was the plan). Dad usually brought us out by snowmobile, but sometimes we skied out. I don’t remember how we got out on that specific occasion. I do remember that it was sunny, and Forest City had patches of dirt showing through the snow, with daffodils blooming. I still remember the rush of spring fever that I felt, seeing those daffodils after months of being snowed in. A couple of days after we arrived, it started snowing heavily. This continued for about four days. The result was over 12 feet of new snow on the ground! Our measuring stick was the second-story gable end windows of the houses. The schoolteachers, (two married couples in sideby- side houses) had plans to take a trip for Easter Vacation the following week. Arrangements were made to dump my brothers and I at Aunt Ingrid’s house in Nevada City. When we got to Nevada City it had over three feet of snow. My parents managed to make it out by snowmobile right around Easter, which according the calendar was April 11th that year. Dad was an expert at breaking a snowmobile trail in new snow. He always carried snowshoes and sometimes had to pack a trail with the snowshoes first, especially on the uphill stretches.

Another memory belongs to my older brother Don Bell (DBJ). We are fuzzy on the exact year, but it was around 1983 or 1984. He was in his 20s and living with Tom and Sally Block in the old Bradbury House in Alleghany (since burned down). Sally was pregnant. When she got close to her due date, it started to snow and continued to snow. The snow came so fast and got so deep that the road crew lost the road on top, isolating the town for several days. Sally went into labor. Luckily the phones were working. They got a midwife from N. San Juan on the line (Mary Kawa, previously of Goodyears Bar). DBJ manned the phone while she walked Tom through the (breech!) delivery of a healthy baby girl. DBJ says that he’ll always remember the rush of seeing a new baby come into the world for the first time. Tommie Michelle Block. The family moved away a few years later, and we lost track of them.

If you have news, additional info., or corrections to share, please email Rae Bell Arbogast at raebell44@gmail.com