Memories of Emmett Burg
In the Winter of 1936-1937 Erin had a big snow storm with lots of wind that made it impossible to get through the roads. When it did stop snowing, it got very cold. The temperature did not get above zero for a couple of weeks.
The Town of Erin had one old crawler-tractor with a plow, that broke down and could not be fixed. Town Chairman Mike Powell and Supervisor Philip Burg went to North Lake with Mike’s horse and cutter. They took the train to Milwaukee to Drott Tractor Company. They bought a new crawler-tractor and plow. They were unable to get a cab to fit the tractor that would protect the operators from the severe temperatures. The tractor and plow were delivered by train to North Lake. Four men - Stanley Goetz, Leo Powell, Leo Navin and Leo Ehr kept the plow going around the clock with two 12 hour shifts. It took some time, but they finally got the job finished. They also had to open some of the farmer’s long driveways so the milk haulers could pick up the milk.
Ten years later, in 1947, Erin had another terrific storm. There were some areas the Washington County truck plows were not able to clear due to the amount of drifting snow. One of the troubled areas was the hill on Highway K between the Nick Weber and Bill Burke farms. Washington County hired the Town of Erin to do the job with their crawler-tractor. The road was much lower than the land banks on both sides of the road. The wind blew the snow level with the tops of the road banks.
Many of the local men, young and old, went ahead of the crawler with shovels to break up the hard snow. With a lot of help & determination the crawler made it through!
Packing a lunch was not always a requirement for these hard working men. There were a lot of good cooks in Erin and the crawler-tractor operators were often invited in for a hot meal.
