Mayo memories: county town isolated in Big Snow of 1917
By Tom Gillespie
'IN living memory a severer snow-storm had not visited the west of Ireland than the one we are after just going through'. So reported The Connaught Telegraph in the edition of February 3, 1917 - 109 years ago today.
The report went on: On Monday, January 15, 1917, a fall of frost, after a few days of exceptionally hard wind, tended to dry up the roads and the land after the dampness experienced in the early part of the new year, and the continuance of the frost made things rather severe, especially for the people in the towns, as the farmers found it difficult to open up the pits of potatoes, with the result that at the subsequent two markets there was a small supply at Castlebar market and prices ruled very high, the climax coming on last Saturday, when there was no market at all in Castlebar - at least the ‘market’ was there, but there was nothing to be sold.
The frost, which commenced on the 15th, grew in severity until Thursday week - the ground being then as hard as steel - when we were visited by the unprecedented fall of snow.
We may say, and very truthfully, that the snow was welcomed by all, it being heralded by a blizzard - a veritable cutting east wind that made the hardiest keep indoors - but it was not long with us until we found it had come to stay for some time and indeed it is with us yet.
On the evening of Thursday week, when the thermometer was at zero, and the rivers, ponds, roads, etc., being frozen, the snow commenced to fall and in less than an hour’s time the hurricane which continued to blow had made drifts three and four feet high, and by Friday morning the fall was the heaviest remembered: it continued all Friday and Saturday and with the blizzard still blowing on Sunday morning all the roads were impassable, the drifts in some places being five to 10-feet deep.
The wind worked the snow into the most fantastic and grotesque shapes, piled it as high as many of the homes, leaving many sections of roads and fields without a particle at all, the wind in its vagaries being helped by the dryness of the earth.
The combination of the three elements, frost, snow and wind, brought us a real Antarctic climate and all felt the effects, but none so much as the poor, and distress became very acute.
The poor, who at all times must live from hand to mouth, suffered from shortage of fuel and potatoes, and with town and country isolated, there was no means of replenishing supplies.
The stocks of potatoes Castlebar traders had were quickly used up, and as there was evidence that there was acute distress in many homes, his Lordship, the Most Rev. Dr. Higgins, Auxiliary Bishop of Tuam, called a meeting of the people of Castlebar after last Mass on Sunday for the purpose of opening a relief fund. We are pleased to say there was a generous response to the appeal made by his Lordship. A distribution committee was appointed and a collection made on Monday, and all deserving cases were given assistance.
Up until Wednesday, Castlebar continued to be isolated from the country, and on that day, when some of the drifts had been removed, some donkey loads of turf came in and were snapped up at Famine prices.
On Sunday, Monday and Tuesday the roads of the county were so blocked that it was impossible to travel over them. On Monday, to permit a funeral travel from Castlebar to Drum, over a hundred young men of the latter district assembled early in the morning and by two o’clock had the road cleared into Castlebar, a distance of almost over 10 miles.
On Monday, Mr. Dixon, county surveyor for south Mayo, sent the following notice to the road contractors in his district:
Please employ on your main contract roads (not on district roads) sufficient gangs of men immediately to remove deep snow drifts which prevent loads of turf and potatoes, etc., from coming into the town. This should be done quickly before the snow becomes still harder. This authority only applies to main roads, and only to deep heaps of drifted snow and not to ordinary snow on the level.
Keep a detailed account of cost and render same to me on completion, letting me know when the larger obstructions are removed.
Also let district surveyor know at once the exact situation and extent of the snow drifts you find it necessary to remove so that he may inspect and value the work you have done.
You are only supposed under your contract to remove normal accumulations of snow, and this I will allow for.
As a consequence many of the roads were cleared on Tuesday and Wednesday and communications established between the country and town, and turf, potatoes, milk and butter was brought in, in small quantities.
Potatoes were sold at 1s 6d per stone owing to the limited quantities brought to the market.
Castlebar market was not held on Saturday. Many sheep have died as a result of exposure. Snow-drifts disorganised the train service, the postal deliveries to rural districts were abandoned.
In Castlebar, a direct labour staff had all obstructions removed, and private people also did much in this regard.
On Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday donkey loads of turf (two little creels) sold at a half crown, and donkey cart loads went five or six shillings. Potatoes are going 1s 8d a stone.
At a meeting of the finance committee of the Mayo County Council on Tuesday the action Mr. Dixon took to have the roads cleared was approved.