Public works snow removal, Portland, Maine, circa 1940

People operating plows and conveyer belt loaders remove snow from Portland's downtown streets and sidewalks, while dump truck drivers unload the snow into the Fore River in this film, made around 1940 by the City of Portland.
Portland maintained a snow dump and sand storage lot on Back Cove. Much of the work was done by hand, and the public works department hired out-of-work men to clear streets, shovel sand, and sprinkle bags of rock salt into sand to melt the ice.
Skidding cars, one with a damaged fender, demonstrate the hazards of the untreated, icy streets.
Collections of Maine Historical Society. Featuring City of Portland Public Works
For videos of Portland, Maine in the 1940s, go to www.mainememory.net.

[@thegreenskeep1]

As someone in this industry, I'm always fascinated on how things were done. Thank's for sharing.

[@Hiker33]

A Sargent Snow Loader, made by the Portland Company. When I was a kid in 1966-67, the city of Presque Isle had one and I saw it in action while walking home from 1st grade. It was retired after that year, replaced by a snowblower mounted in place of the bucket on an Allis-Chalmers front end loader.

[@maliamaxcy7065]

Hey Hiker33; went to 1st grade at Mapleton Elem. 1965-66 and remember that machine well, as well as the front mount blower on the A-C loader. Don't remember the loader, as such, but well remember the blower loading any dump body truck that was available,and dumped into the Presque Isle Stream. Saw some really funny stuff in those days.

[@Hiker33]

@@maliamaxcy7065 PI had a fleet of yellow International single-axle dump trucks and an old sidewall flatbed. I remembered the guy who drove the flat was probably as old as the century. I suspect it’s illegal to dump snow into the stream today because of the road oil and salt.

[@austinknowlton1783]

I'm from Maine and work in Portland. That conveyor that they were using to fill trucks looks more efficient than how they do it now.

[@austinknowlton1783]

Yeah looks to me like they could do a much more efficient job if they still used something like that. That footage was shot on Congress st. in Portland btw.

[@mike21302]

i was thinking the same thing ...now it is just plowed to the side and left to melt till may. they actually removed the snow then and now they dont wtf. ?? I live on high st. and close to commercial..

[@austinknowlton1783]

Lol my best friend lived @ 24 High st. for years. Yeah now if they have to remove snow it's with front end loaders and it's a much slower process. After the blizzard of 93 there was so much snow blocking the side streets on the Hill where I lived that the fire trucks couldn't get through so the city brought out this huge snow blower looking thing to clear it but that's the only time I saw it.

[@mike21302]

@@austinknowlton1783 wow I bet that was something to see...wonder if they still have the big snow blower thing

[@changer1285]

Totally

[@igotajopamerica3040]

Whats rare is actually see people using shovels. Good video.

[@johndoe-li8oy]

do you mean today or back then?where i live we just got a foot in boston and theres people shoveling everywhere. driveways, sidewalks, cars.

[@anotherdave5107]

They're shovel sand from down at the beach into city trucks to be spread around for traction.

[@joshfrost3028]

My grandfather was 18 during this. And he lived 20 minutes from there

[@whiteout1962]

wow my hats off to those men!

[@keithclark486]

Yeah I'd say everybody's hat was off , it's not appropriate to wear a hat at a funeral Since this was 1940 and most those men looked to be in their 40's.

[@alexdoucette887]

Ya real old but snows all the same here

[@Job.Well.Done_01]

Today’s Wirtgen milling machines used for grinding asphalt resemble the snow-conveyor in this video!

[@alexp362]

Amazing. As a DPW employee and plow/ sander operator its amazing how far we have came. Funny thing is the process is basically the same, just more modern.

[@GregSr]

Ahhh - the memories. I lived in northern Maine for almost 4 years - thanks to Uncle Sam. The first winter I was there the base got 188 inches of snow. The average winter snowfall was 144 inches. Being born and raised in southern California, I had never seen that much snow.

[@gilbertdare5921]

Living in maine most of my life, I have seen a few rough winters. I was talking with a guy I worked with at Fisher Eng.( makers of the plow) named Reggie Upham (lived in Union) about how we had more snow back in the day. Mid 50s. He said " well I can remember shoveling in front of the horses."

[@andrewbuzzell3542]

I think it's cool there was a short glimpse of a coles express truck in there too

[@donmunro144]

That's awesome. To think it's now 80 years later and we do it the same way. The equipment has improved, but we still use a blower to put it in trucks and haul it to the river or a field to get rid of it

[@TranscendentalAirwaves]

Are they mixing salt and sand at the end or is that just sand in the trucks?

[@austinknowlton1783]

Mixing salt with the sand.

[@oldhandyluke]

Looks like the KZbin algorithm is picking this one up!

[@vinnyscarpellini4507]

Yuupppp

[@zombanator3000]

Speak for yourself, this is pretty usual for stuff I watch.

[@eddyarseneau4822]

Really cool work trucks

[@NYDRAINS]

Great to see how thing were back in the day, and how hard people worked!

[@mahannoi]

80 years later randomly appears in my suggestions...

[@DanielCPurdy]

About 30 years ago, I lived on Back Cove, Portland. That was when December would have been the fourth or fifth coldest January. A huge amount of snow. Then, they piled it by Back Cove opposite Hannaford’s. They had to work that huge pile every day so that it would go away. One wag said that if they didn’t do that, it would have started a new ice age.

[@robwar2288]

What are they shoveling onto the trucks?

[@imadahmmad1965]

Lovely history thanks

[@dangarrity7449]

As a retired public works employee 2015, I'm amazed at how far we've come yet the dangers still exist, working next to a corkscrew auger, back in the trucks up to a ledge to dump, in riding in the back of an open truck to feed a salt spreader, many men have died Manchester NH, has over a dozen recorded during snow removal.

[@user-xs3hz1gz8z]

Awesome historical video

[@jacobplank]

Very interesting! People sure wasn't afraid of work back then. My grandpa lived in Ontario Canada at one time and always told the story of having to haul snow to the fields because it would pile up to much for more to come.

[@charliemartin5482]

In the 60s I saw this done in Portland Oregon they dumped the snow in the Willamette River

[@thejerseyj9422]

The city of Newark used to dump their snow into the passaic river. A great way to get rid of it. Until the EPA said no, you can't do that anymore.

[@LaidBackGolf]

im guessing there is a problem with a bunch of trash from sidewalks/streets mixed in with the snow

[@E-damnn]

@@LaidBackGolf good point.

[@LaidBackGolf]

did they just fill in part of back cove with sand? 3:30

[@josephfrench5377]

I'm a Portland kid thanks for the memories.

[@faengelm]

Very nice!. Please add some narration, I really like that "snow loader" for trucks

[@Jamestwothirteen]

We need that machine dumping snow into trucks back in action. I love those cartoon trucks

[@wilclark2272]

I lived in Portland for 34 years..., that one truck drove by my house on Munjoy Hill, that was built in 1860.

[@kleetus92]

Built in 1860? Interesting considering internal combustion engines didn't come around for another 50 years or so.

[@RyanCunningham12]

That is alot of snow compared to what we get now in Portland, wow. I can't imagine how much work that must have been.

[@vinceprouty6347]

That is how you clear snow on the street ,with that snow blower conveyer built to load trucks

[@janetcorey5102]

Maine knows how to handle snow! You

[@christianpedersen8354]

I grew up in a town in the suburbs of Boston. The local D.P.W. had three Barber Green endless bucket loaders that they used to clear the town square and the side streets running off of the square. As a child I used to beg my fa6to take me to see the "snow loaders"

[@thereviewer4173]

I think we no longer remove snow. We just push it out of the way and wait for it to melt and go away on its own.

[@XXX-qk2cq]

most big citys still remove snow after a big storm,

[@changer1285]

I need that snow hopper

[@MP-ef6mc]

Sometimes I wish things were this simple again.

[@baginatora]

They weren't simple with WWII, polio still being a thing etc. Those folks had a hard life.

[@kesselrunner]

Machines to load snow into trucks? Check. Machines to load sand into trucks? Uhhh... Here's a shovel. ;-)

[@ArmpitStudios]

Snow is a lubricant. Sand is the the opposite. Using the auger/conveyer with sand would destroy it within a couple hours.

[@michaellarkin3253]

In the old days they knew how to get it done! I remember seeing the old conveyer doing it’s job. Bring them back, they were the best and worked well!

[@darkstormy1545]

www.leeboy.com/products/3000c-force-feed-loader/ There relatively expensive, and are only good for one job, unlike a loader that can do 5 or 6 different jobs....

[@SamCyanide]

Very cool

[@MarkoVujanic-P88]

If they would remove snow like that in Portland it would make sense because it’s way more crowded now.

[@b.arborio2404]

Nice! I recognize down town and the docks. Can't dump snow on the ocean anymore so we "store " it next to low income housing , just to keep the Enviros happy. Thanks

[@psalm23sheepdog]

This was just awesome to see.

[@researchassociate4523]

I'm thinking where they will store or destroy all picked snow? Anybody know about it? I think in small rivers or sea... Where 🧐

[@MrRagefan2k]

Back when they had real snowstorms

[@colinmckendrick9803]

Imagine if we got snow like this today, lol cities would have no idea or space to put it

[@hondashadow8379]

Love the fact you dont see a single 4x4 truck, people really made what they had work then .

[@12jeeplover]

Look at that, people wanting to do manual labor to stay employed and not using machines to do every single task.

[@chrissullivan1756]

Team work and hard work 👍💪 now no one wants to work 😭😭😭 sad but true

[@jeff59rt]

KZbin....... It snowed at your house Here's a video from when it snowed at your grandfathers house

[@kennethhunt248]

They could have used a JCB front end loader backhoe to load those dump trucks. Dumped it away from the water and took a cat D10 bulldozer to pushed it in the water safely instead of backing close to the edge. That's what a southern would have done.

[@brandonwagner3873]

Cool

[@garyag45]

Awesome equipment for the time.

[@christoy8464]

I wish i could work DPW or Dot

[@gantmj]

Removal, instead of today's just shove it aside and make everyone who is parked have to dig themselves out.

[@zerohero23677]

Guess no front end loaders back then 😳

[@robertbiondo607]

Love a good challenge

[@murph55]

color video, that's cool

[@had2galsinthebooth]

Looks like crop and dirt handling turned to snow handling. Use what you have and know from yesterday to do the job today then put your backs in it for good measure. My complaining-sometimes-screaming body likes the modern methods and equipment much better.

[@JRLSprague3]

This must have been before the government discovered how cheap salt was.

[@joshua7999]

Then they all ate lobster and clam chowder

[@mikebarbacovi9851]

Hey boys, let’s dump it and then reload it!

[@jllrue]

Must be that modern day global warming! Oh Wait!

[@franciscomontelongo334]

PORTLAND cALIFORNIA?

[@mainehistoricalsociety]

No, Portland, Maine... the ca. means CIRCA which mean ABOUT 1940. I'll change that though. Not everyone knows that. thanks.

[@ront8261]

@@mainehistoricalsociety but then again, why would the Maine Historical Society produce a video about snow removal in a Portland, CA?? Thanks for sharing this history!!

[@brandonwagner4719]

COOL