Washington Street during the Blizzard of 1888

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Dover received over five feet of snow from March 11 through March 14, 1888. Snow drifts reached the eaves of some stores and employees had to tunnel through the snow to reach the door. Grocers, butchers and teamsters shoveled through huge snow drifts to reach the street, only to find drifts of similar size. Many streets were “trackless wastes of solid snow”. “It was almost impossible to use the snow plows to any advantage except in a few places as the snow was so compact the horses could not get through, and where they could go, the plow would run on top of the snow instead of through it.” Trains were blocked, those that were able to get through were late. Many mill workers were unable to reach the mills, at Sawyers Mills only half were able to arrive by the afternoon. It took a week to dig out from the Great Blizzard of 1888.