Everyone seems to be surprised that we have had so much snow this winter, but some of us older ones remember the high snow banks that we waded through to get to school.

As a child I remember snow banks so high that we could not see the barn. This snow bank was still in existence when the dirt started to blow. The blow dirt blanketed the snow bank and even in the middle of July we could dig down and still find the frosty stuff.

In the early years before good roads, cars were put up for the winter and transportation was by horse and sleigh. Farmers replaced the wheels on the grain wagons with runners. The wagon with a layer of straw, along with fur rugs and foot warmers was the mode of travel.

Enclosed cutters were also used to take children to school. It is said kids only stayed home from school if the weather was too cold and windy for the school horse, not for the humans.

In 1946-47 Yorkton had a terrific snow storm. Streets were blocked and even the milkman and his horse could not navigate the streets.

The train between Yorkton and Melville was stuck and the machinery that was sent out to open the line was buried on the snowy track.

The CPR track was open, so passengers and supplies from Regina had to go to Lanigan and then from Lanigan to Yorkton. My husband was bureau manager in Yorkton for the Leader-Post and the papers would arrive in Yorkton about 2 a.m. instead of the usual afternoon time.

In the rural areas, the snow was piled so high that it was impossible to blow the snow to open the roads. There were stories of people getting lost and depending on their horse to take them home safely.

The works department of the city has done a good job this winter. Streets were cleaned as soon as possible and trucks are hauling away excess snow from the piles on the parking lots and the medians.

Who would want to live in a country where there is no snow? What would they have to complain about?

News reports this winter of a cougar in the Estevan area is a reminder of the sighting of a cougar in the Churchbridge area in 1952.

Alex Allary was out shooting rabbits in a field about four miles north of Churchbridge when he sighted a cougar about a 100 yards distance in the field. He shot at it with his last remaining 22 bullet, but the animal didn't move. It just stood there glaring at him.

Allary went slowly backwards until he was hidden in a bluff. He ran to a neighbour's and accompanied by three others went looking for the cougar. After tracking it in the snow for about four hours, they gave up the search.

Tracks in the snow showed the animal had taken four or five jumps before it walked off.

He estimated the animal was about five feet long and three feet high.

The cougar was again sighted by John Popwich, who farmed 15 miles south of Kessock. Mr. Popowich phoned the police, reporting he had shot at the cougar but it had jumped and kept running. He could see it running across the field as he was phoning the police.

It was again sighted in the Churchbridge area where it destroyed several calves and sheep. It had moved three miles north from where it had first been sighted a month earlier and was in the area about nine miles north of Churchbridge.

It is thought the animal had been in the area for over a month.

There were no further reports as to whether the animal was killed or had just left the area.