Well here we are in the New Year, winter’s a little different this season, as compared to the past couple of years. Much milder in Michigan, that’s for sure.

Since I’ve had some time to set back, take a breath and think about where we have been and where we are headed in the snow and ice business. I was lucky enough to have forwarded to me by good friends, videos that compare The “Good Ole Days” to now.

So let me start with a little history lesson on salt and how it go it’s start in the United States.

• Salt was found under Detroit in 1895
• Development moved slowly until 1914, 8,000 tons a month mined
• Used mostly to keep cinders and sand piles from freezing, until experiment in 1938 to deice roads.
• 1941-1942, New Hampshire, 1st State to adopt a road salting policy. 5,000 tons used nationwide
• After WWII, Salt use has grown to over 17,000,000 tons used in the US in the 2014/2015 season.

So, with that information, I thought it would be a good idea to see how we moved the snow and applied salt and aggregate.

First is a video from the Michigan State Highway Department (MDOT). It’s an oldie, but if you can get through the first few minutes (economic reasons to provide snow and ice removal) you’ll see some amazing footage of how it used to be done. I’m so glad I never had to ride in the back of a dump truck and shovel sand into a towed spreader. It was the “High Tech” equipment of the day.

Next is a video from my good friends at Truck & Trailer Specialties in Dutton, Michigan. This video has snow plowing in the 30’s – 40’s era and then shows modern day equipment.

I know this is entertaining, every now and then we need to take a minute to look back and shake our heads at how things were done way back when…. But we also need to look at what we are doing now! Have we always “done it that way”???

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Thanks for taking a look!