The Big Storm

For over 70 years the old timers have referred to the winter of 1952 as "the big storm" in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Memories remain of the deep snow reaching the eaves of the house and children sledding off of the roof.

That year, Bertha Miller was a housewife with three school age children, but she had an old box camera and was able to capture scenes of the event on film. She also kept newspaper articles that detail the storm in the small town of Portola, CA.

It was a few years later that she took photography serious, but we are thankful for the snapshots and articles she preserved to stir up memories of "the big storm".