Snow is in the forecast for today. A winter storm advisory. They’re calling for eleven inches at my house. (This is out my back door. It’s still early in the storm.) So I thought it might be a good day to review our blizzard history.

In terms of devastation, The Great Blizzard of 1888 still holds the record. Encompassing the New England states, it resulted in fifty inches of snow in some areas. This storm earned its nickname—The Great White Hurricane—with sustained winds of forty miles an hour and gusts of up to eighty. (Wow!) Snapped telephone and telegraph lines isolated the major cities for days, and the transportation difficulties led to the development of the New York subway system.

Silver City, Colorado holds the record for snowfall on April 12-15, 1921—98 inches in 72 hours!

A picture is worth a thousand words. This is a picture (March 29, 1881) of a train in Minnesota slogging through drifts higher than the locomotive. Notice the man standing on top of the last car. Railroad workers would have had to dig the tracks out by hand.

Even if we have to dig through eleven inches later today, it could be worse.

The Habit of Riding

Riding side-saddle (or aside) is becoming popular again. In the nineteenth century, it was the only respectable way for a woman to ride. This didn’t present too much of a problem until the latter half of the century when women’s fashions made riding aside immodest. (It was considered risqué to bare the ankle. Never mind the rest of the leg. Actually, even the word “leg” sounded risqué to Victorian ears. They much preferred the term “lower limb.”)

Consequently, split skirts were designed to overcome this difficulty. Unfortunately, they met with stern resistance from gentlemen who viewed them as too similar to trousers. One man told his sister he wouldn’t be seen riding through a canyon with her dressed in one.

Of course, pants were out-of-the-question. Only outlaws and ladies of the evening wore those.

Introducing the riding habit. It created an even hemline while in the saddle with extra fabric for draping over the knee, and it fastened with a button and loop to allow the wearer to walk without tripping. These were worn with pants underneath, just to make sure nothing unseemly could be seen.

The real drawback to both the split skirt and the riding habit was the danger. Danger? Yes. It seems the loose fabric would occasionally become wrapped around some portion of the saddle. If for whatever reason, the horse spooked the unfortunate lady could be dragged to her death.

If riding habits are so dangerous, why are they becoming popular again? Well, designers have created an “apron” skirt. It mimics the riding habit, but it’s safer.

What is this woman doing?

Read all about it on this link to Smithsonian.com. Too fun.

You can also link to Part 1.

A back seam drawn with an eyebrow pencil topped off the resourceful fashion effect

via Stockings Series, Part 2: Paint-on Hosiery During the War Years.

Due to editing my story instead of doing research, it’s been
awhile since I posted any historical tidbits. Here’s one from my research for
my story set in the late 1870s. My heroine uses one of these little beauties.

A pepperbox is a type of firearm designed to fire multiple
shots at once. As you can see in the picture, it has six barrels, each holding
a cartridge. (Not all pepperboxes had six barrels. Some had four or five.)
Since all six fired together, even a .22 caliber cartridge could make an
awfully big hole in the target. These weapons were popular among lawmen,
outlaws, gamblers, and…women. They were small enough to conceal in a waistcoat
or reticule. The Continental Arms Company named one of their models the “Ladies
Companion.”