DARRINGTON — It’s been a tough winter in this Cascade foothills town.
Two families are waiting to bury loved ones in the frozen, snow- covered cemetery. Town officials have already spent most of the annual $60,000 street budget on snow removal. And the high school baseball team might start the season indoors since it would be hard to run the bases in snowshoes.
Nearly 6 feet of snow fell in Darrington during the last two weeks of December. After that, staff at the Forest Service Ranger Station were so overwhelmed they stopped taking the official measurement. Most people figure the total amount of snow to fall during the past three months was close to 9 feet.
Much of it is still on the ground, in 10-foot-high piles that crowd nearly every vacant lot in Darrington. More dirty snow is stacked at the town’s little airport, which has been closed for months.
During the December snow, some people had a hard time getting out to their wood piles and keeping their homes warm. School was canceled right before Christmas break. The grocery store ran out of eggs, milk, bread and produce, and the hardware store didn’t have enough snow shovels in stock.
Rain and freezing weather followed in early January, turning the snow hard and heavy like concrete, creating even more havoc.
Water pipes began to break and many shut-off valves were buried under the deep, heavy snow. Busted gutters, broken fences, fallen tree branches and crushed rhododendrons litter lawns along the town’s narrow streets.
Still, it could have been worse, Mayor Joyce Jones said.
The town’s building code that requires roofs to hold a snow load of 50 pounds per square foot probably kept many houses from collapsing. In addition, the town was able to kept the streets clear enough so ambulances could get in and out, she said.
“Many people remember far heavier snows, every year,” Jones said. “But this time it was different and it took people by surprise.”
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Lifelong Darrington folks such as retired logger Frank Bryson, 84, remember the winter of 1949-50 as being one of the worst, when the drifts were roof high and life came to a standstill.
Fellow octogenarians Clarence Caspers, Mary Faucett and Vivian Tollenaar also recall the 5 feet of snow that fell in five days in March 1955 and a couple of bad winters in the 1960s.
What was different this time, they said, was that the ground was already frozen, the snow fell all at once and the temperatures have stayed cold since.
“At least the snow melt has been gradual, and it’s not flooding,” Bryson said. “I’ve already got my wood cut for next winter. You have to be prepared and that’s something that some younger people don’t get.”
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Back in December, friends in other parts of Snohomish County thought town administrator Lyla Boyd was exaggerating when she described the scene. It wasn’t anything anyone in town had experienced for many years.
“The snow was incessant. We couldn’t see out the windows of town hall, the drifts were so high,” Boyd said. “We have decent snow-removal equipment, but it wasn’t adequate this time. We had to hire extra help. Now, we’re hoping for help from the federal government.”
Jones called the city’s road crew, Merle McCaulley and Rick Jones, in the middle of the night on Christmas Eve.
“They weren’t angry, though. They knew the snow was getting too deep and they had to get out there and plow again,” she said. “Those guys really sacrificed for us.”
Though he was often low on supplies, grocer Randy Ashe enjoyed a boost in business this winter because often people couldn’t drive down the highway to shop. He was happy to make deliveries to those who couldn’t get out in the snow.
Restaurant owner Ronda Wesson said the snow was bad for her business, but it affirmed her faith in the small-town ethic that brings people together to help each other in a crisis.
People in Darrington are generally very good to each other, she said.
Once in a while, they just stopped and walked outside to enjoy the beauty of the snow on Glacier Peak and Whitehorse Mountain.
Janie Green, who runs the town liquor store, wouldn’t live anyplace else.
“If people don’t like the snow, they can tell either God or Mother Nature, and neither one is going to change it,” she said.
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Town officials hope the snow will melt by April 11, the date of Darrington’s annual spring clean-up. There’s going to be a big mess to take care of, Jones said.
“If it snows like this next year, I am going to Hawaii,” she said.
In an attempt to have a little fun in the midst of the cold, the town is running a snow sculpture contest. Matt Willis and Jay Arnold made a tunnel and an ice cave. Judy Fink carved an elaborate angel statue in the snow. Jim Greenizer painted an enormous red and green snow worm along his fence.
It’s been a stressful winter for Greenizer and his wife, who are thinking about moving.
“You have to go to Arlington to see a blade of grass,” he said. “I just want it to be spring.”
Gale Fiege: 425-339-3427; gfiege@heraldnet.com.
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