This week in Seattle, we’re remembering the Big Snow of 1916 as we deal, ineptly, with a storm on a much smaller scale. I have a vague sense that I personally am disappointing my hardy forebears who were in Seattle during the Big Snow—Example A being my great-grandfather, Will E. Howard, shown above taking a break from snow management on an impressively clear sidewalk. As a descendant of New Englanders who grew up in the midwest, Will would likely have been shocked to learn his great-grandchild found herself with nary a shovel to deal with the six inches of snow that have accumulated over the past few days.
Bertha L. Howard, 1916. Gelatin-silver photograph, collection of Christine L. Howard.